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[Pickyswamp]

Hi all!

I finally found a new tank for my apistos. Dimensions are 130x40 (height 35)cm. Earlier I had just A borellii 1+2 but then I got A macmaster 1+1. Macmaster male is pretty agressive towards all, but worst A borellii male, of course. I have had A boreellii with A cacatuoides harems over a year ago together and that combo worked well. Macmasters (both m+f) drives borellii male long away as soon as see him, but nothing worse than that. There is alot of hiding places, wood and oak leaves in the tank. My question is:

-Do I add more specimens of another species or both? How many would you suggest? Or...
-Do nothing, thats just their normal behaviour and so far situation is not bad (no ones breeding yet...) Or...
-Remove macmasters to another tank and buy more (how many?) borelliis? They are my favorites so adding them is more pleasant option. Or...
- ???? Ideas ????

Pics coming as soon as I find my camera!

Cheers, Maria

 

[Mike Wise]

Macmasteri-group males are well known for their territorial drive. There are reports of single males claiming entire (probably rather bare) 2m tanks. Your mac and borellii males are very similar in body and fin shape, so I am not surprised that the borellii is being harassed. A. borellii is not only a smaller species, but less aggressive. As for what to do, it is up to you to decide. Do you want a community tank or a breeding tank? It is extremely difficult to mix the two. If you want to keep the borellii in the large tank as a community, it would be best to remove the more aggressive macs and introduce less aggressive species like a resticulosa-complex form or something that has a different body/fin shape (bitaeniata, cacatuoides, agassizii, pertensis). If you want them to breed, then add 2 extra males and several extra females of borellii. Just realize that, when adding new cichlids to an established tank, the established cichlids will be dominant because they already have established territories. To give everyone an equal chance it is best to rearrange the decor to remove established territorial boundaries. It also help to have fish roughly the same size, too.

 

[Pickyswamp]

Thanks Mike for your reply. Macmasteris moved to another tank yesterday and I got 1+2 borellii more. Maybe later more as you suggest. Im not sure about breeding, but right now its not my target nr 1. Iv had boreelli fry so I know it pretty hard job to rise them succesfully here. My tapwater is quite nasty (bad for fry) so I use partly RO-water, unfortunately water is extremely expensive here so... Well see that too. And thats why Im carefull not to buy species known sensitive, blaah. My husband will leave me if I use more RO since we have five tanks (20->600l) right now. Borellii males have noticed eachothers but thats all so far, the old one has owned other end (the better....) of the tank and the new one the other end. Well see. Id really like to try some of species you suggested like A agassizii, wich might be possible to find, but some Apistos are rarely sold here, some like bitaeniata or pertensis are never seen!

Best wishes, Maria