apistos breeding help

[xander]

So I have 4 unidentified apistos in a 75 gallon planted tank with some keyhole cichlids, some tetras, hachets, and a bunch of BN plecos. I have two males and two females and one surviving fry that is almost half the size of a female. Well one of the males is harassed by the other male and seemingly by the females. I was thinking of pulling him out or does this help them to breed by having a little competition? Everyone gets enough to eat so I'm only worried about him eating new fry and being in the way of successful breeding attempted by the favored male. If I do pull the subordinate male out I will also pull the young one as he/she is also harassed.

 

[xander]

Anyone? Hello?

 

[meegosh]

Do you have any other tanks you could put them in? Sometimes rearranging the tanks is all that is needed to curb aggression. Giving them plenty of hiding spots and breaking up their line of sight sometimes helps.

 

[xander]

I have other tanks I can put them in. And the aggression is tolerable. I am just wondering if a sub male in the tank hurts or helps the process.

 

[meegosh]

If you are wanting them to breed I would watch to see what ones pair up and remove the pair to a breeding tank.

 

[xander]

Well they are harem breeders so I think I'll put them all in a breeding tank. I have a 30g that has green fire tetras,rubbernose plecos, amano shrimp and otos in it now. The plecos can go in a diff 30. The tetras I'll stick in the 75 with the pristella tetras and hope the shrimp survive.

 

[Gillie]

Do you have any pics of the fish I have kept and spawned many different Apisto species/color forms and may be able to help with an ID. As far as the sub dominant male the competition can be a good thing depending on the species, but if he is being harrassed by the females too then they have made their choice and he should be separated. The reason you only have one fry left is because everything else in the tank is preying on the eggs/fry, when breeding it is best to give them their own tank.

 

[xander]

yes I have pics up on this ID Norberti's? - Apistogramma Forums - The Dwarf Cichlid Connectionthread. The first set of pic are from when I first got them and the next page has pics of mature apistos. I put them in 30G with hatchets, otos, and amano shrimp so I am hoping the fry survival rate will go way up.

 

[Gillie]

Mike Wise is a great guy and dead on with his answers.
The your survival rate should greatly improve now. good luck with them they are very nice fish.