Apistogramma Trifasciata gender discrepancy issues

[Snagrio]

Few weeks ago I bought a trio of A. Trifasciata thinking it was a male and two females. Later on it started to look like just one female. Until finally it turned out to be ALL males. They've since moved out of QT and even in a system of 125 gallons there's evident issues. Two constantly cower on opposite ends of the tank while one clearly dominate male rules over the rest of the open water with absoluteness.

I do have a genuine female in QT currently (got her a couple days ago), but I just called the LFS I got them from and they said they don't do return credits, at most they can swap out one of the extra males for another female they have in stock. But the question now is will the females each pair with a male or will the dominate male just take both females for himself and leave the other remaining male shunned? Or should I just get the female outright and see if the presence of females dispels the tension between the three males at all due to the odd stock numbering?

 

[HoldenOn]

It should be one male per 2 females for apistos. In a 125 I'd only get 2 males and 4 females.

@Wills probably knows more about apistos than I do.

 

[Colin_T]

Take one or two of the males back and swap them for females.
Put all of them in the same tank and see who the females hang out with, then move a pr out into another tank.

Adding a female or females to the tank with one male dominating the others will make him worse and he will become more territorial as he makes sure neither of the other males get the girls.

 

[Wills]

In a 125 I would have thought 3 males would have been ok, especially with no females to breed with as you wont get the babies to deal with... I know Apistos are fiesty but if you think its pretty reasonable to put 3 bigger cichlids in a 125?

If you add a single female with more males they will stress her out so need more males than females. Most Apistos do best with mutliple females so that one male doesnt harras one too much, they are not monogomous fish like say Acaras or Severums that pair for much longer.

Wills

 

[Snagrio]

So it'd probably be best to just take both males back and get the other female (if she's still there by tomorrow) I gather.

The problem in the first place was I wanted only one male with multiple females, but they were all just slightly before they started to mature when I bought them so it was hard to tell until a week after I brought them home, hence how I ended up with 3 males. And from what I've seen, the store predominantly carries male apistos on principle (in any given tank it's almost if not all males no matter the species), so it's been difficult to get females in general. Not to mention the LFS is the only local place that carries dwarf cichlids PERIOD. Anywhere else only has the same generic mix of central American and African species with the obvious angelfish here and there

And simply swapping them out for other, larger cichlids is out of the question. It's a live planted community with many small fish (neon tetras and the like) so anything above Apisto size would wreak havoc one way or another.

 

[Colin_T]

So it'd probably be best to just take both males back and get the other female (if she's still there by tomorrow) I gather.

I would try to swap at least one male for a female so you have 2 prs. Then if one fish dies, you still have a pr and can swap the spare partner around.

 

[Snagrio]

The problem is, as @Wills pointed out, the possibility of the main male taking both females for himself and going after the remaining male even more harshly.

And keep in mind, unlike a lot of people here I don't have extra tanks to transfer fish around. I have the main 125 system and a 10 gallon used for QT, which is currently housing a batch of fish that have been added over the past couple days. Setting up more is simply not an option for me either.

 

[Colin_T]

Put 1pr in the 10g and the other pr in the big tank. Let them breed and get a bunch of females and put a few in with the other males. Sell the rest and buy more tanks.

 

[Snagrio]

Sigh... Okay let me try to put this politely.

I have the one tank, and for multiple reasons ONLY have one tank aside from the QT that's set up for that purpose and that purpose only. I'm not interesting in breeding things, I'm not interested in getting half a dozen tanks. I just want the one community setup and have it in a way where fish don't want each other dead. This thread is asking specifically for solutions to reach that goal.

 

[itiwhetu]

Apistos are most probably not the best choice of fish for you. When you have any cichlids it is best to have multiple tanks so you can swap things around to keep everyone happy.

 

[Snagrio]

So I effectively wasted a good chunk of money is what you're telling me. Because I can't get store credit back for them as I've mentioned already and would be lucky to get half what I paid for back via Craigslist or whatever.

Not happy...

 

[itiwhetu]

This hobby is all about research, research, research.

 

[Snagrio]

Research eh? Research?

What do you think I've been doing for the past 3 months? Look through my past posts to see the intensive steps I've taken. I spent weeks studying Apistos alone and that's apparently not enough research because I made the slight blunder of sexing immature individuals incorrectly and now should get rid of them wholesale? Is that it?

Sorry for snapping but I'm not some clueless soccer mom who just threw some goldfish in a bowl and is wondering why they're dead a week later.

 

[Snagrio]

...Excuse that tiny outburst. It's just been a really frustrating time with this whole thing. Trying to do everything correctly yet I still keep getting things wrong and it's getting to me...

 

[Colin_T]

Just return 2 males then and get a couple of females.