New to Apistos - My Cacatuoides Trio

[ScottieB]

This is a great forum - I've spent the last few weeks reading every post that looked relevant and have learned a ton.

After setting up my first planted tank with small schooling fish I decided I missed cichlids (used to keep a larger tank) and discovered Apistos.

I set up a 20 gallon long for a pair of Cacatuoides (sold to me as double red, but the male was definitely a triple - is this common?) with many plants, driftwood, and some dither fish (silver hatchets and some pencils). It's planted with med-high light and co2, but plenty of cover, caves etc.

Anyway after a few weeks I lost the male for no apparent reason. The female and all other fish were completely fine. After a few weeks of observation I found another pair (again sold as double red but male definitely has red on Dorsal, Caudal AND anal fins) and added them.

I'd read that Cac's do well in harems, but the new pair instantly took over and the original female has basically taken to hiding out in a cave. She is able to hide pretty well and get away, but when they see her, they go after her. The new pair isn't breeding yet - the female isn't yellow and actually has similar colors to the male (but not as intense - especially the red on the fins), but the male has been doing his little dance for her, and they hang out a good amount. They've been in the tank for about 3 weeks together (the other female was there for another 3-4 before that).

So a few questions - is this normal? Will the second female be ok? Should I move her?

My water is kh3, gh8, and ph 7.6 out of the tap. With co2, the ph is down around 6.3-6.4. I think this is pretty good for Cacs - are there other apistos I could keep in this water (in their own tank - not talking about sharing the 20L with the cacs)? I think I'm pretty lucky with this water, but I know apistos prefer it soft - is GH8 too high?

Also, they eat pretty well, just want to make sure I couldn't be doing better. I feed a variety of frozen foods, alternating between bloodworms, Spirulina Brine Shrimp, Misis Shrimp, and "brine shrimp plus". I also give them small sinking cichlid pellets but they don't take those as eagerly (although they usually do eat them).

Thanks,
Scott

 

[Melanochromis]

This is a great forum - I've spent the last few w

So a few questions - is this normal? Will the second female be ok? Should I move her?

I would probably remove the female that the male doesn't seem to prefer.

People like to say cacatuoides is an "easy" apisto but that doesn't mean they are always predictable. I have bred them for more than 20 times and I have found that many will behave differently from what is expected.

Although many males will breed quite readily in the harem style, there are some that prefer to breed with just one particular female in the tank but not the others.

Then, there are pairs that are seemingly perfect at first but will never ever breed for you, while the pair in the next tank are breeding like rabbits

 

[ScottieB]

Thanks for the reply, Melanochromis.

I honestly don't know that I'd be able to catch her at this point! She's pretty well hidden - and smart. She knows when it's all clear to come out and snag some food. I will keep a close eye on them though - if it gets any worse than this I will come up with a way to get her out.

 

[ScottieB]

Things seem to be working out. The main pair have chosen a cave and the female has been guarding it - not sure if there's eggs in there or not - can't really tell. How long before I'd be able to know that?

The other female stays hidden most of the time, but comes out for food. She no longer gets chased away during feeding time either, and the male had been disappearing back in her area from time to time, so maybe they worked out their issues... hah.

Oh, and for a cave, I actually used a plastic shell case from a Professional mini-dv tape case. (Picture an old VHS tape case, but about 1/4 of the size). I cut out a small notch in the front that only the female can fit in and buried it in the sand. She took right to it! The case is about 2.5" wide, by 4" long by .75" thick or so. If she's upright she can barely fit top to bottom. Love it when random stuff like that works out!

Here's 2 pics of the male:

 

[Melanochromis]

I'd look at the belly of the female. If it's sunken when compared to the day before this happened, then she's laid eggs. In my fish room, which is warm, they hatch in 3 days and fry start swimming in the next 3-4 days. Once you see them swimming, start the feeding.

Good luck!