Introducing A New Male Apisto

[Seb R]

Hi there,

My big male apistogramma cacatuoides sunburst recently died of old age, leaving his one female partner, now alone in an 80L tank.
As I want to keep breeding my apistos (i got several spawns with my pair), I introduced my male's eldest son (now around 1 inch and pretty much mature, but slightly smaller than the female) to the female apisto, however it didnt go amazingly. The second I put his bag in she started tail flicking and getting pretty excited, good sign I thought. When I put him in, it was more tail flicking from both of them. But then she stated to chase him and getting really aggressive. Whenever he went close to her she either lost all her colour and swam away terrified or attaced him , so I had to take him out back to his old tank.

Is this because of it being her territory? Anything I can do to make the situation better?

 

[Griz]

I think that what you are experiencing is to be expected. She will try to dominate him for teritorial reasons. All you can do is to make sure he has places to retreat to. Eventually her urge to breed should take over and they ought to be fine. Keep a close eye on them though, she IS capable of killing him. Moving some things around in the tank may help too, since she has a great advantage right now with it being "her tank". Plan B would be to rehouse her temporarily, redecorate, let him have the tank to himself for a bit, then reintroduce her. Good luck wiht it.

 

[Seb R]

I think I'm going to take a 30L spare tank and set it up tonight. Then take her out first thing tomorrow, using tankwater for the 30L, put her in it for around 24hours, whilst rearranging the 80L and putting the male for around 20hours.

I dunno if its a bit too short a space of time , might give it a bit longer if necessary.

 

[freddyk]

It isn't easy to establish a pair by simply adding a new one into the mix. Their cycles are going to different, the female is quite at home in her tank, and there's going to be aggression. One way you can try to overcome the problem is to remove the female for a period, rearrange the tank, and then add both the male and the female at the same time - but I would add a bunch of apisto's and let a pair form from them - even if it means your old female may not be involved in the outcome.

Also, although you had good luck with your last pair, this species has generally been found to do better in a harem situation.

 

[Seb R]

Well I have rearranged my tank, to include more cave areas and so it is divided up a bit. I do have another female, but is way to small (half an inch), so I can't really add her. But do you think dither fish would help? Either 2 guppies or 2 danios, as a tempory option.

Tis a difficult situation I am in , only want them to be happy

oh and atm my female is in a new tank, where she is doing ok (water parameters all identical to her old tank, so she isnt too stressed)

Think I might try a harem of a couple of female, but right now now lfs' have any in stock.

 

[freddyk]

But do you think dither fish would help?

Doubtful. You mean target fish (dither fish are meant to bring out shy cichlids) and it won't make a difference. The cichlids interest will be in the other cichlids.

 

[Seb R]

*Update*

Well now evrything is going great , both of them are now digging under a bogwood cave and coming in and out of it, so fingers crossed . It was a rocky start but now evrything is once again happy