Agressive Apistogramma

[doubledee]

I added a pair of Apistogramma Agassizzi about a week ago. They took a few days to settle and now they're readily eating Tetra Prima, Tetra Pro flakes and frozen food. The male has become agressive and chases everything that he sees. So far, it's all harmless stuff but it's concerning me a little. I feel sorry for the Cory's as they seem to bear the brunt of it but they always manage to get out of the way. The female also chases fish that encroach near the hole in the wood she hangs out. I built a cave of pebbles and stones but she has chosen to live in a tiny crevice in the wood!. The male and female don't appear to be in breeding mood but they do flare up to each other now and again. I thought Apistos only became agressive when they were breeding? Should I be worried or is this them just stamping their authority in the tank?

 

[thegnu]

It sounds to me that she has spawned in her cave in the wood. If she is a little brighter yellow and instead of a black lateral line down her side, she has a single black dot then that is a good sign. The cave opening need not be large because the male need not enter. He can stay outside and fan his milt in to fertilize the eggs.
when mine spawn in my community tank i wont see the female for a week. 2 days for the eggs to hatch and another 5 days for the fry to become free-swimming. Then she leads her fry out keeping them very close to the tank bottom. If i have room in my breeding tanks i syphon them out, if not they never last much longer than 5 days

 

[doubledee]

Thanks for the reply. I'll keep an eye out for fry. I did intend breeding them at some point but didn't think it would be this soon. My pencilfish have spawned a few times in the tank but the rummy noses follow them and just hoover up the eggs. When I get the time, I'll set up a couple of smaller breeding tanks and see if I can raise them.

The female is all yellow with no black markings at all. See pic below. They're a particular 'flash' variety that was imported from Germany. It's not a great photo (I'm trying out new camera) but I only managed to bag a few shots before she returned to the wood.