New A. Trifasciata

[Galaxiade]

Hi all.
Am new to Apistogramma, and decided to set my 90l tank up as a South American biotope-ish. After cycling it a with mature filter for week, I slowly stocked the tank with 6 Lemon Tetra and 8 Golden Pencil fish. Finally, after 4 months of running, I finally added the fish I'd always wanted to keep - A. Trifiscata. I bought a pair, and acclimated them very slowly. The male settled in brilliantly, and colored to full shine within a couple hours. He started chasing the female around, and she hides under the wood, and often staying in one place. She is also very slow to feed, and has little to no interest in the blood worms or brine shrimp I offer her. She is worrying me, and the other shoalers compete for food, often pinching it before see have have a crack at it. The male has none of these problems, but is very aggressive towards her whenever she gets in his line of sight. She has not gone into the ceramic plant pot cave I put in.
What should I do?
Should I remove her to my other 54l tank? Or remove him, or the pair? I have limited access to other foods, and I do intend on trying to breed the pair. Help!

 

[Mike Wise]

Typical behavior for male A. trifasciata. It's always best to have 2 or more females because males are very aggressive toward females not ready to spawn. The female is extremely stressed right now; not good. I would remove the male and see if she gets better, behaves normally. Make sure the tank is properly decorated, with adequate territories and hiding places, before introducing the male again.

 

[Galaxiade]

Thanks Mike!

 

[rasmusW]

sorry to butt in on this!

how long should they be seperated like that?
i sorta have a similare situation with my baenschi pair... -stupid rookie mistake. i should have kept one more female, before selling the youngsters.

-r

 

[Galaxiade]

I’m going to wait and see how the female does in the main tank. Once she’s hopefully settled in and feeding properly I’m going to move the male back in. (I moved him a couple hours ago, and it was a little bit rushed so he’s a little stressed.) I’ve heard that trifisciata males are often quite hard upon females who aren’t ready/willing to breed. So I’m just gonna let her settle down, and see how it goes down.