Loss of Apisto

[MikeNYC]

I just found my jeuvenile (4-5 mos old?) A. Eliza dead laying on the bottom of the tank today. I was away for 3 days, so I was not able to monitor her over the weekend. She was desperately hiding last night when I got home and did not come out to feed, so I knew there was a problem. No signs of illness or trauma, other than looking bloated with bulging eyes after death, which I assume is a normal occurance after a fish dies. BUT, her tail did look seriously nipped.

I had 2 pair of Eliza, and did notice the other female, who is larger, being very aggressive with her and I am wondering if this could have caused her death.

I am relatively new to this and I am wondering how to tell if the death could have been caused by aggression. What are the signs? Is this common for same species Apistos to kill each other? The 2 pair were in a 40 gallon breeder.

Thanks

 

[Fatts]

Mike,
I have noticed that my Elizas are VERY aggresive compared to other dwarfs I have kept. I put my small pairs into a 20L gal and I couldn't leave them there for long. One of the males took the entire thing as his territory, no matter how much I broke it up. I ended up separating the pairs, but the males are still mean.

 

[blueblue]

Hmm... eliza can be very aggresive; while i used to keep 1 male with two female together in a 25 liter tank without much problem. The trick i used is to
include more hiding places and flasks in the tank. In some cases, i will
put a mirror next to the tank so that the most aggresive eliza (no matter
it's a male or female) will have a never-die target to attack... it reduces
the chance of killing fish when there's a madly aggresive fish in the tank. You may try.

 

[Apistt_ed]

great tip blueblue!