P. taeniatus 'Moliwe' - Male Aggressive Toward Female

[Racine Vice]

I have a pair of P. taeniatus 'Moliwe' in a 15g aquarium and they recently spawned. A few days after the fry became free-swimming the male became very aggressive toward the female, chasing her throughout the aquarium every time she came into sight. The male only seems content when the female is inside the cave she moved the wrigglers to after hatching. The male cannot fit in this cave so the female is safe, but she spends most of her time there.

Currently, the male is in care of roughly 2/3 of the fry and the female has the other 1/3 (in the cave with her). There was no sign of aggression before this, but the male has not given the female any breaks since. The fry became free-swimming on 8/19 and there is a male bristlenose pleco in with them.

Is this common? I am worried about the female as I'd hate to lose her. Should one of them be removed (they both technically have fry)? Could the pleco be the cause?

Please offer your thoughts,

Scott

 

[ste12000]

Hi Scott, ive found Pelvicachromis to be very good parents with very little agro across the genus. However all fish are different and if yours are fighting i would remove the male and allow the female to collect up all the fry and resume brood care, you seem to have a headstrong male so i wouldnt risk the female. Id remove the male to avoid a bloodbath.

 

[geeks_15]

I had a pair that spawned 3 times, raised the fry together, and were very peaceful. Then after a fourth spawn, the male got very aggressive. I separated them for a while (weeks) and then put them back together in a different tank. Now they have peacefully coexisted for months, but have not spawned again. I'm not sure what happened.

 

[tjudy]

I suspect that the problem might be the size of the tank. Cichlids are hard-wired to protect fry and territory from other fish, and sometimes a small aquarium with only the two fish in there makes the males go a little stir crazy. They want to protect the fry from SOMETHING, and the female is the only target. I few hardy dither/targets that will not go after the fry too strongly may help. Large platies or small-mouth danios (like zebra or leopard) work well. Another option is to place a female P. pulcher in the tank; but in a 15 gallon I think the pair will kill her.

 

[wethumbs]

Just like Ted said, your tank maybe too small. If you are housing the pair in 10gal tank, I can see that happening. Moving them to a 20gal with some top swimming dither fish will solve this problem.

I keep multiple tanks side by side where each pair can see the pair in adjacent tank. This will let each pair channels the aggression outward. Even with this method, once in awhile some domestic disputes would occurred. If the pair is guarding a spawn while this happens, I would remove the male and let the female raise the fry. The dither fish method works great, however you may have to keep replacing them as they get kill off by the pair. I have a pair of Congochromis sabinae that even kill the BN pleco in the tank, I havent seen any of mine Pelvicachromis do that yet.