Green Panchax

[dave_oddballs]

hi, i bought 2 green panchax on Tuesday, this morning the female one was as dead as a door nail. i thought for a little while about what could of been the cause of its death, with no joy.
in the tank is 3 small clown loach, 2 baby albino senegal bichirs, 1 small golden nugget plec and a goldring butterfly sucker, i added the pair of panchax (1 male, 1 female) all seemed fine, later on that day they gobbled down plenty of bloodworm, lights went out. when they came back on, on the floor stiff as a plank!
went back to lfs today, got another female (it was the female that died) acclimatised it and let it in. the male one soon started biting it and chasing it, it now spends its time sat near the bottom, i presume to keep out of the sight of the male.
are they known for killing each other? wold i be better to extend to a small group? although he now only has males left at the lfs.
just any help really please as i fear i will soon have another dead female on my hands
cheers
Dave

 

[BigC]

Hi Dave,
You are best keeping these in a small group. A trio at the very least. The male will constantly harrass the female to the point of death. A few dense spawning mops will usually help afford her some cover. But best to have one male and give him a harem of females. Some females can rest whilst he chases the others.
Males of most panchax species are very avid breeders
ATB
C

 

[dave_oddballs]

hi,
the pair are now together more or less permanently,
at night i even see them 'playing' and nudging each other in the cobomba at the surface,
all the panchax left at the lfs are definately males so i know this would make a bad situation worse if i added another male. he never has them in really so doubt i will see more for quite some time.
if they are seemingly getting along would it worth seeing how it goes, given a bit more time?
and if they get back to fighting, maybe seek out a couple more females?
basically i just want to know whats best to do taking into consideration i probably won't be able to get hold of any females in the near future, and also taking into consideration they are seemingly 'friends' at the moment.

Cheers
Dave

 

[BigC]

at night i even see them 'playing' and nudging each other in the cobomba at the surface,

Sounds like courtship behaviour to me.
Try affording them a couple of spawning mops and see if you get some eggs.
ATB
C

 

[dave_oddballs]

ok will sort that out for them, at the moment i have in the tank a small fluval filter with spray bar, under the water so not to make much current, and an under gravel filter with powerhead but turned it off when i read the panchax prefer still water, should i leave it off? the other filter is capable of filtering the tank!
thanks alot!
Dave

 

[BigC]

Yeah Dave I'd leave the powerhead off, but you could revert the U/G filter back to the airline method.

ATB
C

 

[dave_oddballs]

now after a few days of peace the tables have turned, the female, which is noticeably smaller than the male is attacking the male! is this normal??i put in the tank a couple of spawning mops, but is it normal for the female to attack the male??
she must have some guts this one!!
cheers
Dave

 

[BigC]

LOL...All normal behaviour Dave. It wont be too extreme in any case.
ATB
C