A. Panduro Bossy Female

[pawslover]

I ordered 2 pair of a. panduro a few weeks ago. When I received them, all were alive, but 1 was not doing well and died within the first few days, no color, never sure about the sex on the lost one. Now I have 1 nicely colored female who is dominating the tank. The other 2 hide all the time. There is 1 male that I see sometimes and the other is very small and I'm not sure about the sex, I think it's a male. The male that I'm sure about is almost as big as the female in length but not as well filled out.

Should I remove her and rearrange the tank to give them a chance to get settled and establish their own space? The tank is heavily planted with several areas for hiding. If I take her out, how long should I keep her out?

Thanks for any help. This is my first foray into cichlids.

 

[depthc]

How big is the tank? I would recommend you do something if she threatens them often. Maybe put her in another tank for a while and possibly she will mellow out as the other two establish themselves in the aquarium first.

Were did you get your apistos? Just curious ...

Andrew

 

[pawslover]

The tank is a 12 gal. Right now I don't have anything bigger for them, but I could set up a 2 gal for her as a short term solution.

Julie

 

[Mike Wise]

Your female A. panduro is behaving normally. Wait for the males to grow to her size. Once she decides on a mate, the fish left out is in trouble unless it is removed. Panduros can be rowdy little beasts.

 

[pawslover]

Update

The smallest male is dead. I'm not sure what happened to him. The other male is still in hiding. I had a good look at him recently and it looks like he has a big nip out of his tail. I'm not sure if he's getting enough to eat. The female is still dominating the tank. I have a Botia Dario (4.5 cm) in the tank as well who does not seem to be having any problems from the female, but it's a botia <g>. Should I continue to wait it out? Except for the tail nip, the male looked OK otherwise.