Two broods in same aquarium

[eranu]

We have a trio of aggies in the same aquarium, 22" x 15" x 12", both females have had free swimming fry for four days. There isn't much aggression at the moment, any advice as to what to do?

 

[Mike Wise]

Feed a lot of bbs and enjoy the show. Make sure the male has somewhere safe when the females drive him away. If one female becomes dominant, she may take over all of the fry. You may have to remove the other female & the male.

 

[eranu]

We suspect that one female is becoming dominant. I think I saw her frynap one from the other brood last night. What's the best action now? Remove the male and female, remove all the adults, remove the fry, leave them alone longer?

Normally how long would a brood remain with the female?

 

[Mike Wise]

So long as none of the adults are being damaged - and the fry are growing well - I would not do anything. This 'frynapping' is common among apistos. Sometimes they even take fry from different species.

 

[Apistomaster]

My advise is to start making room to grow out all the fry. Unless you have flow through water system or change about 80% of the water daily, pretty good results may be had by allowing about 1 gallon of water per fry. This will assure they don't become stunted and allows for their adult size.

Intermediate steps with greater numbers of fry per gal works fine as long as you perceive the right time to spread them thinner.