more unusual borellii behavior

[cootwarm]

I have a 10 gallon tank with a spawn of borellii (only free swimming about 1 week). There is a piece of driftwood and 2 Java Moss covered coconut shell caves in the tank.

The fish are:
3 borellii (2 males & 1 female)
2 beckfordi Pencilfish
1 Oto Cat

Anyhow, I just discovered the school of fry have been divided 3 ways, with each of the 3 borellii caring for a school. It seems that even the sub-dominant male adopted a school! 8O

Has anyone else ever experience this??

There is absolutely NO aggression in this tank. Perhaps the sub-dominant male is the real father (a sneaker) and the dominant male just thinks he is.

Michael

 

[P.W.]

Hi

I have experienced something similar with two males and a female guarding eggs. Both males were engaged in the defence of the spawning site. One male was the dominant male in the tank and the other one was a smaller subdominant male.
It was strange to watch both males helping each other defending the site. My guess is that both males had fertilized the eggs. One male from outside of the cave (he was to big too get in) and the smaller male by entering the cave.
Possibly there can be a mix of halfbrothers and halfsisters in that batch of fry.
Eventually the big male lost his patience with the small male when the fry came out from the cave. After a day or two, there was only the big male left, hanging around the site.

Best regards/ Per

 

[2la]

There's an account on another fish board of an A. borellii pair that have adopted some betta fry after a nest was built directly over the entrance of the apistos' cave and some of the eggs fell from the bubble nest, which the male betta didn't retrieve. It appears that A. borellii's parental instincts are remarkably strong, and indeed they seem to consistently make wonderful parents. A. trifasciata is another, and there are accounts of fry-napping amongst females forming a harem.

 

[P.W.]

Talking about adoption of fry from other species. Read this discussion from last year....

http://forum.apistogramma.com/viewtopic.php?t=1096&highlight=adoption+fast+food

Best regards/ Per