Help needed- aggressive male aequidens sp. atabapo

[fishie111]

I have a male and female aequidens sp. Atabapo that I moved from my 75G to my 29G 3 days ago. They had been in my 75G for about 9 months. I had been hoping they would pair off, but I am not sure whether they are a pair.

The male is patrolling the whole tank. The female is cowered behind the spray bar. Every time she comes out, the male chases her relentlessly until she gets herself good and hidden again. He does leave her alone at feeding time, but that's about it. I'm pretty sure he is in full spawning colors- he's absolutely stunning looking.

There are also 5 black phantom tetra in the tank, but the male pretty much ignores them completely.

I'm not sure what to do. I can move the female back to my 75G (I don't want to move the male back as the 75G tank is a lot more peaceful now that he is gone (it contains severum and geos pindare) that coexist nicely.

I would love for the male and female to spawn, but I don't want him to stress her to death. I bought some more driftwood and plan to rearrange the decor so the lines of sight are more broken up (right now there is just a low piece of driftwood, a clay pot and lots of short growing plants).

Would moving him temporarily and then introducing him after the female gets comfortable in the tank with the new decor help at all?

Any other suggestions? Thanks!

[FSM]

I had the same problem with a Crenicichla minauno pair, and again with Gymnogeophagus sp paso pache II. Both pairs are now in my 75 doing a lot better.


You need a bigger tank.

[fishie111]

Things weren't a lot better when they were in my 75G. The female still stayed hidden except at feeding time, and I think that the severum was being harassed by the male acara. My 75 seems a lot more peaceful now that he has been moved.

I can try relocating the pair to my 46- would that be big enough (36 in long) or I can buy another 4 ft tank. I'm just leary about getting another tank and only having it fail to help the issue.

Is it possible they just aren't a compatible pair?

[honda237]

im having a similar problem too mine is only about 2" but he beats the snot out of everything in my 125g i dont know what to do with him.

[fishie111]

I'm thinking I might have to move the female back to the 75 until I figure something else out. The male has found her best hiding place and she's getting almost no peace.

[thatcichlidguy]

I had a similar problem with my Aequidens sp. Jenaro Hererra in my 125. The male beat the hell out of all the others that I bought. Eventually I was left with just the one male. Fortunately he was much less aggressive with the other tankmates. Cool fish , just wish he'd been more mild tempered with the others. I was really wanting to breed them.

[ryansmith83]

You should probably move the male back to the 75G and let the female recover from her stress for a while in the 29 by herself. Moving her again will add even more stress on top of what she's already experienced. The male shouldn't be as aggressive in the 75G without her there.

You may want to act pretty quickly. I had two spawning pairs of Laetacara in my 150 gallon so I moved each pair into their own 55 gallon tank in hopes of raising some fry. Within a week, both males had brutally attacked their mates. The females ended up with no fins. I moved the males back into my community tank. The females laid on the bottom for days because they didn't even have fins to swim with. It's been over a month but their fins finally grew back and they are doing well. I don't think I'll be putting them back with the males, though.

I'm afraid your Aequidens may do something similar if you don't separate them ASAP.

Good luck!

[darth pike]

I agree with moving the male back as the best option for the moment. The female will need time to recover on her own, and fatten back up. They may not be a pair, acaras tend to be more choosy with their mates and not every male/female becomes a pair like you see with say convicts. Or she could just not be ready to breed yet. Leaving her alone to fatten up and develop some eggs should help.

I do agree a 29 gallon will probably be too small though. I had luck with blue acaras pairs in a 40 gallon breeder (36"x18") footprint, I certainly wouldn't try any similiar sized acara like yours in anything smaller.

[fishie111]

Thanks for your help. I moved the male back to the 75G. The female is in the 29G with tetras and a bn. By this morning, she was out and exploring more of the tank. She's a little afraid of the bn and activity around the outside of the tank, but otherwise she's ok. The tank is in my bedroom, so it is a pretty quiet location most of the day.

I'm keeping an eye on the 75G for signs of renewed stress from the male.

After some recovery and conditioning time, should I try again, but in a larger tank than the 29?

[ryansmith83]

Thanks for your help. I moved the male back to the 75G. The female is in the 29G with tetras and a bn. By this morning, she was out and exploring more of the tank. She's a little afraid of the bn and activity around the outside of the tank, but otherwise she's ok. The tank is in my bedroom, so it is a pretty quiet location most of the day.

I'm keeping an eye on the 75G for signs of renewed stress from the male.

After some recovery and conditioning time, should I try again, but in a larger tank than the 29?

If he was harassing her in the 75G prior to being moved to a 29, the chasing is probably going to continue regardless of the tank you put them in. Sometimes if fish aren't compatible they just aren't compatible.

If you do decide to try it, make sure you watch them really closely and pull one of them if it gets nasty.

[darth pike]

It sounds like a pain in the arse, but once she is nice and fattened up I would switch their tanks, giving her the big one to get used to first ... then later introduce the male. The other option would be to completely rearrange the 75 gallon before adding the female back.

[ryansmith83]

It sounds like a pain in the arse, but once she is nice and fattened up I would switch their tanks, giving her the big one to get used to first ... then later introduce the male. The other option would be to completely rearrange the 75 gallon before adding the female back.

lol, that was my thought, too, but I didn't even say it because it sounds completely backwards from my first recommendation. The truth is, once the female has recovered from her stress, you can swap her and the male out again to let the female get used to the 75G and establish herself, then try re-adding the male. It depends on how much effort you really want to invest into it.

For the record, this did work for my four severums. I had two reds and two wild-types and they were all in quarantine together, but one day three of them decided they liked being a trio better than a foursome. One of the wild-types was aggressively chased and nipped by the others. It went into a tank by itself to recoup and regrow its fins that it had lost, then it went into my 150G community for a while until it was fat and happy. Eventually I moved the trio into the 150G and I never saw a problem again. They're all happy together now.

[darth pike]

Oh, I don't mean right away. I agree with moving her so quickly again would add to the stress. Rest, recovery, and food first then switch around.

[fishie111]

So far, the male and female are doing much better now that they are separated.

The female is timid, but explores the 29G tank as long as I'm not in front of it- she's a bit braver at feeding time. The male is no longer aggressive to his tankmates in the 75G.

I may try again in a few weeks, or I may just leave them separate. I can put the female in my 46G with angelfish and keyholes.

Alternatively, I can leave her in the 29G as a "wet pet".

Do you think that the 29G is too small for this long term (she's only 3.5 inches head to tail and about a year old)?

[ryansmith83]

So far, the male and female are doing much better now that they are separated.

The female is timid, but explores the 29G tank as long as I'm not in front of it- she's a bit braver at feeding time. The male is no longer aggressive to his tankmates in the 75G.

I may try again in a few weeks, or I may just leave them separate. I can put the female in my 46G with angelfish and keyholes.

Alternatively, I can leave her in the 29G as a "wet pet".

Do you think that the 29G is too small for this long term (she's only 3.5 inches head to tail and about a year old)?

After she's all healed up I'd try her with the angels and keyholes to see how she does. She may enjoy the company. She'd be in a slightly larger tank with other cichlid companions. If she doesn't get aggressive, it's basically a win-win, right?

[fishie111]

Well, I tried her with just the keyholes (I was nervous that she'd be too rough on the small angels, so I moved them to the 29G where she had been) in the 46G and she sort of immediately took over. She beat up one of the praecox that came to check her out and then starting hunting the cherry barbs (surprising because all of these fish are bigger than the phantoms that she shared the 29G with).

I decided to move her back out quickly while I thought through how I could relocate the smaller fish.

So, I rearranged the decor in my 75G and added several artificial plants. Then, I put her back in with the male and his current tankmates. After some initial chasing, everything settled down. She is now out and about often as are all of the others.

Now, the 75G tank has way too many cichlids, but is peaceful. I think that there are enough robust fish to spread out the aggresion, while still enough room for the fish to get alone time in their own spaces.

I'm going to have to move some fish to the 46G- but I've got to get some of the smaller fish out first.

[fishie111]

Well- I _might_ have a pair. The male is chasing the female, but not as incessantly and this is alternating with periods of the two hanging out together. Unfortunately, now that they are happier with each other, I think they are trying to claim most of tank.

I'm thinking moving the pair to the 46G might be best for all, but I'm trying to figure out what might be able to coexist with them in that smaller tank. I do think that having the extra cichlids around might be helping distract the pair when they are in ugly moods.

I could move an adult festivum to the 46G with them, or keep them with the 3 keyholes that are currently in the 46G. I also have the 2 angels I mentioned earlier.

My main concern is that the angels or keyholes will not be robust enough to handle living with a pair of "aequidens". Also, two of the keyholes are also paired.

Then there is the matter of dithers and something to keep the bottom stirred up. I think that whatever goes in the tank with the acaras needs to be pretty tough.