Apisto eating my tetra

[MikeNYC]

Hello,

I recently received 2 pair of wild caught Apistos (Eliza) and tetras. One of the small cardinals was having a real tough time acclimating, and I caught my male Eliza, only about 1 inch long, doing its best to eat it. That was yesterday, then today I caught the same male circling and biting at a much larger female "coffee bean" tetra who seems to also being having a little difficulty (this particular female tetra was being chased by the male tetras to breed, I am assuming, and she was stressed.)

I have never heard of Apistos being so carnivorous. Has anyone else had this experience with Apistos? I fed them a healthy amount of frozen brine shrimp yesterday, so it is not like he is starving.

How do I mitigate this potential problem killer Apisto who is going at anything that seems stressed or sick?

Any insights appreciated. Thanks!

 

[Chris(wildcaught!)]

I have had a similar experience with a male A. Irinidae. He was biting at one of my "riotetra" Hyphessobrycon flammeus. He was behaving almost like a dog playing with a rug. What i mean is that he was biting to the stomach of the tetra and then shaking head from side to side. Then after a 10 seconds maybe letting go. This tetra was also not in best shape. So I think the description you gave matches my experience.

I put the male in another tank together with some Nannacara species. The reason I did this was that he was killing of his own females, and I deemed him unsuitable for breeding, due to his very aggressive nature.

I also had a few "kardinaltetras" Paracheirodon axelrodi disappering in another tank with A. Irinidae. I'm not sure if they were killed by the apistos but i saw them eating at the dead tetras on several occasions.

It would definitely be interesting to know if more people have seen this behaviour in your tanks. I have not found anything in aquariumlitterature describing this for apistogramma.

Regards / Chris

 

[Mike Wise]

Any fish that is in "trouble" is fair game to any fish that can catch it. Blackwater species like A. elizabethae & A. iniridae are highly oportunistic because there is so little food found in their natural habitat. Many are known fry predators.

Have you noticed that these fish do not attack heathy fish? The best way to eliminate this problem is to quarantine all of your fish & separate the weak ones from the others - if for no other reason than remove the possibility of them transmitting diseases.

 

[Cowboy]

It is not uncommon.

I once put 6 green neon tetras (dithers) in my tank with a wild cacatoides. By the next morning, only 3 were still swimming and there was a nice buldge in the males stomach.

 

[Microman]

I had the same experience with an old Male Wild Cac. He had actually taken a Juvenile Cac into his mouth,tail first,and only half of the dead Juve Cac was visible(The head and half the body).
I wish i had thought to take a pic.
I had to catch the Cac and pull the dead Juve out as it was far too big for him to swallow.
I never saw him do this again.

 

[Roach]

I've had a similar experience with a male caca and a cardinal. Cardinal was swimming upside down and round in circles. The caca took his time and finally when it came close enough he nailed it. Juggled it in his mouth for a second and it was curtains for little cardinal.

Great to see.

 

[Chris(wildcaught!)]

Blackwater species like A. elizabethae & A. iniridae are highly oportunistic because there is so little food found in their natural habitat.

Newer thought of that before, but definately a good point.


This is a spin-off but a follow-up question that springs to my mind is if the bodyshape of blackwater species are more slender and elongated due the fact that blackwater are so poor in nutrients and therefore food for apistos.

Every blackwater species i have encountered so far are slim. Are there any deepbodied larger species that are blackwater fish?

 

[Mike Wise]

I don't think that there is any correlation between body shape & blackwater. I think it has more to do with the popularity of the more slender blackwater species. I can think of several blackwater species that are deep bodied: A. hippolytae & A. sp. São Gabriel from the Rio Negro, A. nijsseni and related species, & A. sp. Masked/Masken from Peru, and A. moae just off the top of my head.