I recently got a wild pair of Apistogramma agassizii from Aquatic Clarity and the male is constantly showing aggression towards the small, only female i have. the tank is 24" long x 12" wide x 14" tall. The only other tankmate is a few Otocinclus. Whenever he sees her, he opens up his fins and chases. I have heard this is a sign of wanting to mate, but it seems the female is not interested at all and only gets stressed out and gets a small amount of stress bars. The only place in the tank to hide was a cave in the middle, which the male took over, but today I added a small pot today for the female to hide in, but since the male's cave is in the middle of the tank, the female and male often come into contact anyway and the female is chased off aggressively. Would adding another female (tankbred, not wild) help by creating a harem? I'm not necessarily looking for breeding, just making sure the fish stay peaceful towards one another. what can i do?
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Male Female Agassizii Aggression
- Thread starter nick9809
- Start date
- Messages
- 203
- Location
- Brisbane, Australia
G'day nick9809,
I use the same sized tanks and only have otocinclus as tank mates. I never place pots or caves in the middle of a tank, unless it's hard up against the back wall of the tank. It's much better to place pots at either end of the tank. Do you have much driftwood and/or plants in the tank to create hiding spots for the female.
I do have similar problems with my agassizii and cacatuoides. At the moment I am keeping a female per tank, and have a "stud" male of each species that I move from tank to tank to spawn with each female. Otherwise I keep my males in seperate tanks.
Once a pair spawns and fry become free swimming, the aggression swaps around. I have had female agassizii and cacatuoides kill thier males becuase I did not have a spare tank to remove the male to. Now I make sure I always have a couple of empty tanks set up to remove males to.
I use the same sized tanks and only have otocinclus as tank mates. I never place pots or caves in the middle of a tank, unless it's hard up against the back wall of the tank. It's much better to place pots at either end of the tank. Do you have much driftwood and/or plants in the tank to create hiding spots for the female.
I do have similar problems with my agassizii and cacatuoides. At the moment I am keeping a female per tank, and have a "stud" male of each species that I move from tank to tank to spawn with each female. Otherwise I keep my males in seperate tanks.
Once a pair spawns and fry become free swimming, the aggression swaps around. I have had female agassizii and cacatuoides kill thier males becuase I did not have a spare tank to remove the male to. Now I make sure I always have a couple of empty tanks set up to remove males to.
- Messages
- 2,766
- Location
- Wiltshire UK
Hi all,
Both A. agassizii & A. cacatuoides are better as harems, in your tank you just have room for 2 females, but not any more than that. The male doesn't always need a seperate territory, but if both females have fry at the same time he may have nowhere to go, I usually hang a piece of piping in a top back corner of the tank as a refuge in extremis. Mine always totally ignore the Otocinclus, but you could add some dithers, the smaller Pencils (N. eques or N. marginatus) (or Black Neon Tetras if you can't get Pencils) are good dithers, and the tetras are also potential target fish.
I've found that any number above 3 is good for females (2 can lead to a pecking order and bullying), but you need more floor area. Have you tried 1/2 coconuts as caves? You can cut a very small nick in them which will allow the females access, but not the males. I plant mine with java fern and moss (fastened on with a small dab of silicon) and they soon merge into the "jungle". I say jungle, because the whole tank is full of plants and this helps break up line of sight. This is my A. cacatuoides harem tank, the fish showing male charactersitics is a very old female, and the Pristella Tetra was a "rescue fish" and hopeless as a dither as they are great fry hunters.
cheers Darrel
Both A. agassizii & A. cacatuoides are better as harems, in your tank you just have room for 2 females, but not any more than that. The male doesn't always need a seperate territory, but if both females have fry at the same time he may have nowhere to go, I usually hang a piece of piping in a top back corner of the tank as a refuge in extremis. Mine always totally ignore the Otocinclus, but you could add some dithers, the smaller Pencils (N. eques or N. marginatus) (or Black Neon Tetras if you can't get Pencils) are good dithers, and the tetras are also potential target fish.
I've found that any number above 3 is good for females (2 can lead to a pecking order and bullying), but you need more floor area. Have you tried 1/2 coconuts as caves? You can cut a very small nick in them which will allow the females access, but not the males. I plant mine with java fern and moss (fastened on with a small dab of silicon) and they soon merge into the "jungle". I say jungle, because the whole tank is full of plants and this helps break up line of sight. This is my A. cacatuoides harem tank, the fish showing male charactersitics is a very old female, and the Pristella Tetra was a "rescue fish" and hopeless as a dither as they are great fry hunters.
cheers Darrel
- Messages
- 203
- Location
- Brisbane, Australia
G'day dw1305,
I have tried trios with both species in my tanks, and with both species the male has spawned with both females in thier tank within a couple of days of each other. Needless to say, I lost both males once the females both had free swimming fry.
This is why I am trying out this new arrangement of one female to a tank and keeping the male seperate when not trying to get them to spawn.
I have tried trios with both species in my tanks, and with both species the male has spawned with both females in thier tank within a couple of days of each other. Needless to say, I lost both males once the females both had free swimming fry.
This is why I am trying out this new arrangement of one female to a tank and keeping the male seperate when not trying to get them to spawn.
This problem is driving me crazy. I had the same problem with a pair of blue rams I had in the same tank in a previous tank layout. Maybe my tank footprint is just too small for Dwarf Cichlids? Would Panda Corydoras make a good dither since they are small and found at the bottom of the tank like the apistos? But they don't seem to move a lot so maybe not. I also have the option of getting Lemon Tetras, but they grow quite large and probably wouldn't serve as much use except as fry or egg eaters if there was potentially any spawning.
- Messages
- 2,766
- Location
- Wiltshire UK
Hi all,
I really like both Lemon Tetras and Panda Cories, but neither is very suitable as a dither, the Cories will have nowhere to go when the female has fry, and she may well inflict quite a lot of damage on them. Lemon Tetras pose the same danger as Pristellas, they are bottom orientated and will pick off fry. Rams have more of a problem with protecting their fry than Apistogrammas, as the fry tend to be much less bottom orientated. Panda Cories also like much cooler water then Rams.
cheers Darrel
I really like both Lemon Tetras and Panda Cories, but neither is very suitable as a dither, the Cories will have nowhere to go when the female has fry, and she may well inflict quite a lot of damage on them. Lemon Tetras pose the same danger as Pristellas, they are bottom orientated and will pick off fry. Rams have more of a problem with protecting their fry than Apistogrammas, as the fry tend to be much less bottom orientated. Panda Cories also like much cooler water then Rams.
cheers Darrel
If I'm not too worried about having fry survive, would lemon tetras serve as decent dithers? I'm doing an Amazon clearwater biotope, and there surprisingly aren't that many small, common tetras except the lemon tetra. There are a few pencilfishes, but my local stores NEVER have them, but they have lemon tetras.
- Messages
- 2,766
- Location
- Wiltshire UK
Hi all,
Yes Lemon Tetras would be fine as dithers other than the fry hunting. The only danger would be if they got too brazen and the female managed to inflict some damage on them.
I really like Lemon Tetras (Hyphessobrycon pulchripinnis) as fish, if you give them a good diet and soft water they (males particularly) colour up really well. They are from the Rio Tocantins area of the Amazon basin, so they occur together with some Apistogramma species.
cheers Darrel
Yes Lemon Tetras would be fine as dithers other than the fry hunting. The only danger would be if they got too brazen and the female managed to inflict some damage on them.
I really like Lemon Tetras (Hyphessobrycon pulchripinnis) as fish, if you give them a good diet and soft water they (males particularly) colour up really well. They are from the Rio Tocantins area of the Amazon basin, so they occur together with some Apistogramma species.
cheers Darrel
