Cacatuoides died suddenly

[rollj1]

Hi,

A sad thread for me as 2 out of my trio of A. Cacatuoides have died suddenly for what seems like no reason at all.

I posted a thread a few weeks back to say that my Male had paired with a female and was harassing the other female to the point I thought I may lose her. I added more hiding places (pots and caves) and planted the tank even more to provide barriers and distract the line of sight from the male. This seemed to calm things down.

I was feeding them on frozen Daphnia and Bloodworm, high quality flake food and sinking pellets. Their colours were very good and both of my females were a bold yellow and my male looked wonderful.

I woke up Friday morning to find that one of my females (the one the male had paired with and didn't harass) was dead. This morning I woke to find my male had also died.

I have checked water quality, and scanned the tank for anything out of the norm, but all seems well. I've really gone out of my way to ensure the water quality is good. I can't think what else it could be?

I have 10 ember tetras, 4 Sterbai corys and the remaining female all doing very well.

Has anyone seen anything like this before? Is it possible I could have purchased poorly bred fish in the first place?

Now I'm not sure what to do? Do I by a new male to add to the tank, or buy another pair taking me back to a 1 male and 2 female ratio? I don't want to give up as these are such fantastic fish!

Many thanks - John.

 

[Mike Wise]

Sorry to read this. It happens to us all of the time. If nothing else bad happens in the tank over the next month, then I would just replace what I lost, if possible.

 

[rollj1]

Sorry to read this. It happens to us all of the time. If nothing else bad happens in the tank over the next month, then I would just replace what I lost, if possible.

Thank you for your reply Mike.

Will a new male and female integrate with the existing female I have? Or would you advise on just getting a new male? I've read that 2 female to 1 male is a better ratio, but after seeing my male that I just lost chase one of the females 23/7 I'm wondering if that's such a good idea?!

 

[Mike Wise]

Do you want a community tank or a breeding tank? It's very hard to have both unless your tank is very, very large or very highly structured. I'm a bit conservative, but try to give each apisto a territory of around 12x12"/30x30cm that is blocked from sight from other territories. If you add another pair, I suggest you remove the present apistos, rearrange the decor somewhat, and then add all of the fish together. This give each an equal chance of having a territory without there being any with already established territories.

 

[rollj1]

Do you want a community tank or a breeding tank? It's very hard to have both unless your tank is very, very large or very highly structured. I'm a bit conservative, but try to give each apisto a territory of around 12x12"/30x30cm that is blocked from sight from other territories. If you add another pair, I suggest you remove the present apistos, rearrange the decor somewhat, and then add all of the fish together. This give each an equal chance of having a territory without there being any with already established territories.

Hi Mike,

In an ideal world a community tank. Breeding is not something I have pursued due to my water being quite hard by nature and from what I have researched, I wouldn't be able to provide an ideal breeding environment without going to town and using RO water etc...

I'll do as you suggest, Mike, and have a re-scape and then add a new pair along with putting my remaining female back in and see how we do.

Thank you for all of your advice!

 

[Mike Wise]

If you don't want to breed, why add females? A tank with several males makes a much more attractive community.

 

[rollj1]

If you don't want to breed, why add females? A tank with several males makes a much more attractive community.

Mike,

I was under the impression that 2 or more males in the same tank would fight and be aggressive to one another?

 

[Mike Wise]

I've found that females are much more likely to kill each other than are males. Males without females tend to only display, but not outright attack each other. Of course each fish is a bit different.