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A. Cacs Tail Slapping

FishMan10005

New Member
Messages
10
Location
South Carolina
Hey everyone,

Is tail slapping a form of aggression or courtship? I've got a trio of apisto cacatuoides, but I'm still unsure of the sex of any of them, but lately I've noticed them chasing each other and tail slapping beside each other. Most of the chasing and tail slapping is being done by one of the apistos in particular (the possible male). I'm just a little confused with it all going on especially because I'm unsure of the sex. Let's just label the apistos "A", "B" and "C" for now. I've seen "A" chase/tail slap "B" and "C"..I've seen "C" tail slap "B"...and I've seen "B" tail slap "C". Apisto "A" is the dominant fish in the tank and the possible male I think. I've also seen "A" lose it's black stripe on it's side and tail slap to it's reflection in the glass.

What's going on? Is it they're all just showing aggression towards each other or trying to court each other or just nothing in particular?

I've got a short video I've put together of them, so maybe it will help shed some light on the situation. I haven't been able to catch much of the tail slapping on video because it doesn't last long, but you can see a little bit here and there. Side note on the video - tank cleaning day is tommorrow so sorry about any algae or grime that's visible.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0md4Kwe4Hro

Thanks for the help,
Steve
 

briztoon

Member
5 Year Member
Messages
203
Location
Brisbane, Australia
G'day Steve,

In many species of apistogramma, females have a thick black band that runs the length of thier ventral fin along the front edge. From looking at your video, I would guess that all three of your apistos are female, with the largest being the dominant female.

I also noticed you appear to be feeding them bloodworm. You will find that many apisto keepers suggest not to feed bloodworms to thier fish. There is a belief that bloodworm can damage apistos intestinal tract, and lead to the death of fish.
 

dw1305

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Messages
2,755
Location
Wiltshire UK
Hi all,
Yes, they do look like 3 females, one dominant (the yellow one "A").
Are you in the UK? I've got plenty of sub-adults at the moment.

I feed mine a lot of live bloodworm and I haven't had any problems with them, but I do culture my own rather than buy them. A culture method is here, http://www.forum.apistogramma.com/showthread.php?p=34859 although I use the low-tech "bucket of rain water with a good handful of dead leaves and some grass cuttings", also works for mosquito larvae.

Having said that I would be a little worried about the bloodworms in the video too, I've never fed frozen, but I always discard any that aren't a very healthy deep red all over. Bloodworms (chironomid larvae)) are part of their natural diet of Apistogramma. http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?pid=S1679-62252005000300003&script=sci_arttext
Bergleiter (1999) reported a mixed diet but mainly cladocerans, copepods, chironomid larvae and other aquatic insect larvae in stomachs of A. gephyra from the rio Xingu.

cheers Darrel
 

FishMan10005

New Member
Messages
10
Location
South Carolina
Thanks guys.

I had no idea about the bloodworms. I have been feeding them to my fish for years now and they always seemed to love it (never had apistos before though). I'll have to find a better source of food from now on just in case, since I do not have the space to culture my own.

dw1305, unfortunately, I'm not in the UK. I'm in the US.

So if all three are females, is the tail slapping just a form of showing dominance? I've had the apistos for several weeks now and never noticed much of it until these past couple of days.
 

Raven

New Member
Messages
10
I've never heard that about the blood worms either... is it the general consensus that blood worms are bad for apistos? or all fish in general? Also, what other foods should we stay away from? What do you guys usually feed them?
 

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