P. taeniatus Moliwe....black widow?

[Nilsson]

Last month I added a w/c pair of Pelvicachromis taeniatus Moliwe to my heavily planted 28 gallon bow front. The only other occupants were 6 ottos and 4 Nerite snails. Later, six guppies were brought in from another tank . A coconut hut and small flower pot were housing choices. A barricade of EcoComplete substrate was built by the pair in front of the hut’s opening. Five days ago, I noticed fry in the tank, and each parent taking turns shepherding the babies which are about 1/2 centimeter. I don’t know when they hatched.

I enjoy the interaction of the pair and their fry and didn’t plan on moving anyone yet. However, I just read an old post in bristlenoseworld: “....the pics were of the female that was very gravid and ready to spawn. Unfortunately, as does seem to happen with these fish, is the female killed the male yesterday.†The poster was talking about his P. taeniatus Moliwe. Is this really common? Will there be any warning signs of impending violence? Is the killing a quick act or a slower stress related thing?

Yes, I’m being paranoid, but I’m also a proactive person.

 

[tjudy]

Females killing males is very uncommon in Pelvicachromis. I have experienced the opposite in two situations. First, when the fry are removed too soon and the male blames the female (I guess....) and he attacks her. I always leave some fry for the pair to guard when I remove babies that are still in the parents' care. Second, when the male loses trust in the female and drives her from the fry. She keeps trying to come back and he eventually gets rid of what he sees as a threat.

 

[wethumbs]

I had one case that the female "Moliwe" would not take the fry out of the spawning cave due to an aggressive male. Apparently, he wanted all the fry for himself. This went on for two weeks while I was feeding the fry by squirting BBS into the cave they were held up in. I eventually removed the male and within hours, the female was out sheparding the fry.

It is very common for males to kill or inflict harm to the females. However, based on my observation, most of the time, it was the females that would initiate the aggression due to missing fry or males being overly protective to the fry. In most cases, males would "take the beating" to a certain extend to the point of physical damage were observed. Eventually a breaking point would reach and males would instinctively protect themselves and challenged the females. When that happens, females will usually lose out. Only in one case with Pel. taeniatus "Wouri" that the male would continue to tolerate the beating and distance himself. He would then slowly reapproached the female with fry and regain her trust over a course of several days. That male reminded me of 'speak softly and carry a big stick', by the time he passed, he would measure 5+" in length, he was my gentle giant. It maybe due to the fact that "Wouri" is less aggressive than "Moliwe" as whole in general. One solution to solve this problem besides having dither fish would be to provide a big enough tank space for the male to retreat.

 

[Nilsson]

Thank you for your responses. I will continue to watch them very closely. The female is getting her brilliant orange and purple colors back and I noticed a shimmy attraction dance has begun. It is my intention to move the babies to another planted tank as soon as they start to stray from the parents.