Sudden extreme aggression in male Cacatuoides

[Miss ATV]

Hi all,

Turns out my male A.Cacatuoides has decided in the past 48 hrs that his biggest enemy in the tank is his female partner. They have some fry with them, about 3.5 weeks old which both parents started to ignore in the past week. I saw the parents tail flicking a few days ago in the morning and the female was acting normal broody around the male showing her belly and giving him some pecks on the face (not sure what that means). Anyway that was a few days ago and it was all good. Yesterday morning she didnt come out from her usual sleeping spot, I fed them bbs the male and the fry ate however she still did not come out. I decided to have a check behind an ornament and gave it a gentle nudge and she decided to come out, was very dark in colour and came and hid under the filter. At that point I saw the male was after her, he turned almost black and sideways flaring at her and she was absolutely terrified and he chased her around the tank until she hid again and today its been over 24 hrs and she is not coming out.

I have no idea what turned him so aggressive towards her, he has gently nipped her before and she would just swim out of his way and he never gave chase so she always stayed out. But this time it's different, he creeps up on her slowly and becomes very dark and she darts like crazy out of his way. Should I take her out? I have a 25L set up for the fry (not needed anymore but its running empty so I could give her a a break in it if she's still alive) OR should I give him some time out and rearrange stuff in the tank and reintroduce him after?

What does this turning almost black mean? He does that only if I ever show him a mirror and he gets angry at himself, but he has never done that towards her before. Can they fall out just like that? They were all loved up literally 24 hrs before all this.

 

[Mike Wise]

It appears that the male is eager to breed again, but the female is not. In cases like this the male tries to drive unwilling female out of his territory in hopes that a more willing female appears. I would remove the male to another tank for a few weeks. Then I would remove the fry from the breeding tank, rearrange the decor and give the female a few days to re-orient herself to the new surroundings before adding the male.

 

[Miss ATV]

It appears that the male is eager to breed again, but the female is not. In cases like this the male tries to drive unwilling female out of his territory in hopes that a more willing female appears. I would remove the male to another tank for a few weeks. Then I would remove the fry from the breeding tank, rearrange the decor and give the female a few days to re-orient herself to the new surroundings before adding the male.

Thank you Mike really appreciate the advice. I have evicted him into the other tank and she came out and ate with the fry. Strange I didnt expect him to turn on her before turning on the fry but he allowed them around but not her. Hopefully in 2 weeks he'll be calmer and I can put him back.

 

[yukondog]

I had the same thing with a pair of Macmasteri, the male would not let the female anywhere near the fry, removed her [she was getting battered], put her back in about two weeks ago after a cleaning a rearrangement, they get along fine so far, she brought her fry out today and time will tell.

 

[Miss ATV]

I had the same thing with a pair of Macmasteri, the male would not let the female anywhere near the fry, removed her [she was getting battered], put her back in about two weeks ago after a cleaning a rearrangement, they get along fine so far, she brought her fry out today and time will tell.

That's my plan as well as I can't keep the poor dude too long into this 25L tank that he's in now anyway. Luckily my female didn't suffer any damage as she hid in an ornament in which he does not fit but I think she would have starved to death in there as she was not coming out at all.