Two Female Apisto Cacatuoides Living Without A Male...

[mindwarpstudios]

My Male Cockatoo Dwarf passed on today due to a severe injury he acquired from his mate following a succesful fry hatching. Unfortunately, the female's protective nature set her on the attack with all of her tankmates and he suffered a serious bite to his flank before i had a chance to separate her from the group.

He held on for a considerable time and responded quite well to convalescent seclusion, aquarium salt, and daily water changes; however, in the end his healing process couldn't cope with the missing scales and flesh from the bite.

My concern is now for the females, and thus my question: how will they cope without a male in the tank? The two of them are arranging their dominance already. The smaller of the two is generally pale when stressed or hungry. Since the male went into the QT, she's only been colorful directly following feeding.

Will they adapt easily, or would i do well to place another male into the tank?

 

[KittyKat]

They should adapt without any problems, although it may take some time for them to settle down. If the tank is at least 3 ft long, you should not have trouble adding a new male assuming that it is well planted and has enough decor to give him or the females enough space to hide if need be. If the tank is under 3 ft long, I recommend against adding another male as  I found that smaller tanks were not quite big enough for a trio when I kept the species.