Death by Sex - inauspicious beginnings

[gwand]

My pair of Apistogramma cacatuoides-orange have spawn twice in our South American community tank. I decided to enhance fry yield I would place the pair in my new breeder tank. This was an inaugural event for the tank. I prepared the fully cycled breeder tank with black sand and two coconut caves. The male turned into a beast and killed the female after a few days in the tank. Tragic. The murderer is the guy who won Fish of the Month. Mohawk Man. He is a savage. I bought two more females who are now in QT. I will try again in 4 weeks. Any tips to avoid such aggressive behavior?

 

[Back in the fold]

Holy cow ! I don’t think I’ve ever heard of that happening . Maybe it happened because it was such a big change of everything and he liked the old set up and blamed her . An understandable conclusion on his part .

 

[MaloK]

Any tips to avoid such aggressive behavior?

Not much, the only thing that can happen is a good match, but a bigger harem would help,

I had the same with Neolamprologus Brichardi, the peaceful...

If the female was not "ready or unwilling" or the male didn't like her. The females where ejected from the tank or beaten to death.

 

[Magnum Man]

a classic case of becoming famous, & your friends suddenly aren't good enough anymore...

my Apisto trio, is not breeding , but no murder either... maybe put a cave on opposite sides, & pick up a pair of females... best gal wins... may have to move 2nd best if breeding get too violent... but you may have a male that has a gal in each side... My Tilapia, are recommended to have a harem of 4-5 to cut down on female abuse...

 

[gwand]

I have 2 females in quarantine now. Mohawk man will get his mini harem. Two caves are positioned on opposite sides of the tank. Fingers crossed.

 

[GaryE]

Dither fish. Target fish. You add some very fast fish of the upper reaches, usually tetras, and ideally pencil fish. There are ethics to consider, as for a week or two, the dithers get chased. But if you pick right, they just scoot away.

The dwarf Cichlids get too absorbed in protecting the nest to fight with each other.

I never got away with 2 female cacatuoides in a tank for breeding. I wish you better luck than I had in a number of tries. Break up sightlines repeatedly to increase your chances.

Sid Vicious won't have a harem. He'll have a partner, and a lady next door he may try his luck with.

 

[Innesfan]

What's the backstory? The two previous spawns--did they raise the fry, did you remove the fry, or did they not survive in a community setting? I ask because it is not uncommon for the cichlid pair bond to fracture AFTER being separated from their spawn one way or another. In addition to @GaryE 's excellent advice. this might not happen with a new female. I had a similar case with Blue Acaras but managed to save the female in the nick of time.

 

[gwand]

What's the backstory? The two previous spawns--did they raise the fry, did you remove the fry, or did they not survive in a community setting? I ask because it is not uncommon for the cichlid pair bond to fracture AFTER being separated from their spawn one way or another. In addition to @GaryE 's excellent advice. this might not happen with a new female. I had a similar case with Blue Acaras but managed to save the female in the nick of time.

Following the first and second spawn, these first time parental units did a terrible job protecting the fry in the community tank. No survivors. Following the third hatch on December 24 about 10 fry survived. I managed to capture 6 of them and placed them in a 5 gallon grow out tank. The other four Fry remain in the community tank. They have reached the size at this point where I do not think they are seen as prey.

To increase the yield of surviving fry, I then placed the pair in my breeding tank on January 5. There are two coconut caves at each end of the tank. The killing happened on January 11. May be moving the breeding pair into the new environment, fractured their relationship as you suggest.