Meanie McGrouchyPants !!!

[kindafishy]

A pair of Apisto Baenschi in my tank, purchased this weekend, and I thought they were settling in nicely. Yesterday, they were exploring the tank together. They are eating, and the two have taken on much brighter colors since I bought them.

Today is a different story. They still look great, are still eating, but the male has decided that the entire tank is H-I-S HIS and is making life quite difficult for the female. She has some hiding places among the plants and rocks, although not many because he has claimed the majority of the nooks and crannies. I have a small flower pot that has become his man cave kingdom of doom. I had sort of put it in there for her so that she could hide, but apparently it belongs to him.

He does these stealth sort of attacks when she is anywhere within 6 inches of him -- he sort of cocks his body sideways, gives her the stink-eye, and then shoots like a bullet after her. He does this constantly, and even if she is not within striking distance, he will seek her out all over the tank and do this. HE IS SO MEAN!

Did someone pee in his cheerios? Is this normal behavior? Could he kill her?? They are only 4-5 months old, so I don't think this could be mating behavior. Help! What can I do?

 

[LyndaB]

It's called "new to tank and establishing hierarchy". They should settle down soon.

 

[kindafishy]

Thanks for your response. I am new to this cichlid thing!

 

[severum mama]

Sounds to me like he's ready to spawn and she isn't. If he doesn't let up soon, you may need to separate them, get her eating well and fattened up, and then put them back together and see what happens.

I haven't kept baenschi, but I've kept many other apistos. This isn't what I would consider normal behavior. What size is their tank?

 

[kindafishy]

It is 64 liters (17 gallons), they are the only inhabitants and it is pretty heavily planted.

 

[kindafishy]

I am noticing that he is sometimes tail slapping her -- I assume this is to establish dominance? Or is that breeding behavior? Or both? If no one is getting hurt, and she doesn't appear stressed, is this a problem? What are some of the signs that things are getting out of hand?

 

[Mouth-Brooder-Fanatic]

breeding behaviour normally, especially if she isnt getting stressed. bear in mind u may have some very happy fishes in there. or 1 anyway

getting out of hand: torn fins/ scales, utter stress of female when male is anywhere near her and constant territory claim, female has next to no land for a long time and isnt allowed in his space. imo.

 

[kindafishy]

breeding behaviour normally, especially if she isnt getting stressed. bear in mind u may have some very happy fishes in there. or 1 anyway

getting out of hand: torn fins/ scales, utter stress of female when male is anywhere near her and constant territory claim, female has next to no land for a long time and isnt allowed in his space. imo.

No torn fins or anything, nothing really violent, just a lot of chasing / tail slapping. She does not appear stressed. She has kind of made herself a pit in the sand behind a plant for when she needs cover. She'll hang out there until the coast is clear, and then emerge again into the area that he has set aside for her (it's only about 1/4 of the tank). IF she tries to go outside of that area, she is chased right back out.

She is definitely not allowed in his space.

On the rare occasion that she ventures in his territory --- if he doesn't chase her out right away, he does this weird sort of thing where he cocks his body to the side, lays kind of inert with his tail bent, usually ending with a tail slap before chasing her out of his territory. When he is doing this contortionist thing, she stays swimming in place, like a show-down.

I have noticed that her colors are a bit more yellow and vivid today. Once or twice, she has boldly gone into his territory, only to be chased out again.

I might add some more obstacles in the tank, like driftwood etc if that will help. I don't want any dead fish -- nor am I ready to be a grandma just yet!!!

 

[severum mama]

LOL... not much you can do about it now. Once the females start turning yellow like that, I've found that spawning is imminent. I guess she has started to change her mind about being ready for a spawn. It might be a couple days, it might be a couple weeks... but you're gonna have eggs!

 

[Mouth-Brooder-Fanatic]

good luck and post if anything happens

 

[kindafishy]

good luck and post if anything happens

Thanks ! And I will definitely let you know if something happens. With pics, of course !!