fighting Pelvicachromis pulcher

[HarveyH]

Hi!
I am having a problem with a pair of Pelvicachromis pulcher.
I have a 50 gallon 'community' aquarium with lots of plants and wood. Inhabitants are 10 glass catfish, 1 siamese algae eater, a pair Pelvicachromis pulcher and a pair Anomalochromis thomasi.

Four days ago I noticed the male and female pelvicachromis swimming around with a cloud of approximately 40 fry; at this time, both parents were looking in great condition.

However, one day later I noticed that the male and the female are constantly fighting each other; both were missing at least half of their tail fins! They are not bothering the other fish and the other fish are not bothering the parents or their fry. All the other fish are looking great.
I feared that they would kill each other if I left them both in the aquarium for another day, so I moved the female and the fry to a spare 5.5 gallon tank. Now (3 days later) both the male in the 50 gallon tank and the female are looking a little better.
Can anybody tell me why they started killing each other and what I could have done to prevent it? And when it will be save again to put the female & fry back in the community tank? I am not looking forward to having to catch them again, so i won't put them back until i am reasonably sure that it will work out.
Any suggestions?

HarveyH

 

[Randall]

Fighting Kribs

Dear Harvey,

Usually when the union of a pair of Pelvicachromis pulcher results in free swimming fry, that means that the subject pair are compatible and have bonded. It doesn't make sense to me that your pair would display such intense aggression toward each other when fry are present. Surely, at 50 gallons and lightly stocked, it doesn't sound like there are "social" issues at play that would result in intrafighting. Did you change the mix in any way; i.e., rearrange the tank, add new fish, etc.?

After both fish have sufficiently healed and the fry are more independant, you could try returning the female and watch the pair's interaction. Should history repeat itself, it might be easier to remove the male to separate quarters, leaving the female in the community tank to raise her fry in peace.

I've experienced intrafighting with bonded dwarf cichlid pairs before, but usually only if there were problems with the subject pair prior to spawning. In your case, do you think it's possible that the male is ready to spawn again but the female isn't? That could explain some of what might be going on.

Good luck!

Randall Kohn

 

[tjudy]

:?
Is it possible that the male was predating upon the fry? Randall's suggestion that the male is ready to spawn again makes sense, but I have not seen that happen until the fry are at least a couple weeks old.

Truly odd...

 

[Neil]

HarveyH,

WELCOME TO THE FORUM

I have had this happen numerous times. The pairbond issue gets thrown out the window. This is why I repeatedly suggest an individual personality factor in Dwarf Cichlids. Some just don't like to follow the rules. Kind of like my youngest daughter! :? When there are as many other fish in the tank as you have, the males job is to fend off the other fish, protecting the fry and the females ability to care for them. In a perfect cichlid world this would not be happening, but sometimes the male will be so intolerant of the female soon after spawning that it causes real preoblems. I don't think that it necessarily has to do with spawning again. It is just a personality conflict. this may sound funny, because I am personifying these fish. But they do have personalities and are not static, easily understandable creatures. It might even be that the male thought that the female was good enough to have his offspring, but not good enough to raise them. Regardless of what it is - seperation is probably wise. Personally, I usually take the female out, but that is me. I have paid the price for that a couple of times before, but way more often the male is an excellent parent, even when he brutilizes the female.
Good luck,
Neil

 

[coenga]

Hi,

I agree with the personnality when speaking of Pv taeniatus. It's easy to fall in anthrpomorphism but relationship between these fish is sometime surprising. It is easy to witness with Pv taeniatus which can have color changes at light speed according to its mood.

A well bond pair may have troubles especially when free swimmers are just out.
When I witnessed fights and jawlocking, I thought that the female was trying to make the male more active in brood care and defence of the surrounding area. The male overall attitude was as if he ignored that there was duty at home and a parental care job to assume.
easy to compare with humankind, isn't it ?
The female was allways busy and efficient, never staying too long at distance of the fry.
the male ended with dislocated jaws which did not seem to bother him too much.

Colin