I finally got a good pick of my male. I was thinking of adding a second female to get a better chance of getting them to par. Also, he's harassing the female a little and hoping with two she won't get too much attention. There is also an African striped barb in the tank that is doing some chasing.
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New Apisto Macmasteri
- Thread starter Planton
- Start date
You are aware this species doesn't form pairs? Any female not ready to spawn will be chased from the males territory. If the male has claimed the whole tank this is a problem.
If you want to breed better make the tank a dedicated breeding tank and remove all fish besides the Apistogramma.
What species are we talking? Enteromius ("Barbus") fasciolatus? If so the behaviour would be strange.
If you want to breed better make the tank a dedicated breeding tank and remove all fish besides the Apistogramma.
I was not aware that they don't pair up. That is a little disappointing. They are in a 40 breeder so they have plenty of room. Im not sure what I really want to do as far as breading. I think It's I want to give the best environment I can and if they do fantastic if they don't oh well. The barb is indeed Barbus Fasciolatus. I had a nasty bacterial infection go through the tank about six months back and is one of the few fish that made it through. The Apisto are the first fish I have added sens the outbreak.
So should I try and get another female to help with the attention? Also If they don't pair off is it safe to add a pair that do to the tank? I know very little about Apistos.
There are species that do form monogamous pairs (I know of the A. nijsseni-species group, for others better ask Mike or Frank), but most are either non-monogamous, so the male breeds with any willing female in his territory and chases away all females not ready to spawn. A female ready to spawn can be identified by the wasp-like yellow-black colouration. If it is dull, maybe striped, and rather camouflage-looking the female isn't ready. Those get chased permanently and may fall sick or simply drop dead when the male harasses them too much. Now be also aware, the females are also aggressive among each other, so if you add another one, the first one will likely attack it, too.
I would rather separate the two you have for a while, rearrange the tank and reintroduce them again together.
But: If you want to breed and should be successful you might end up with a lot of fish. So before even getting them to spawn make sure you have a sure way of rehoming them. Talk to your fishstore whether they take them. Otherwise you might end up having to go the tiresome route of going through Ebay Classifieds or the like, where you rarely will be able to get rid of more than maybe 3 fish at a time. Too bad if you have dozens of fry.
Rehome it to someone who also has that species or get more of them. The behaviour is due to the fish being solo.
As described above: No.
Rather replace them. Because if you get a species that does form monogamous pairs they will be the terror of the tank once they start spawning. Any fish in the lower regions of the tank (other dwarf cichlid species, catfish, loaches) becomes fair game. Also the monogamous species can take 3-4 or more attempts with different males until the female accepts one as a partner. So if it doesn't work aafter 2-3 attempts of introducing the two, you'll have to get a different male.
