I need some advice/solutions
Got 6 juvenile trimacs from TUIC and was able to successfully get 2 to pair off. Fast forward and I moved the pair to a 180 gallon tank (6x2x2)
They were around 3-4”for the female and 4-5” for the male when I moved them to this tank and were a little skittish/scared. I added 6 juvenile silver dollars as dithers and all was good. The male was a little nippy towards the female and the silver dollars but nothing overly aggressive; the addition of the silver dollars seemed to make both trimacs more active.
Fast forward again to about 2 weeks ago and the day before we left for a 4 day vacation I noticed one of the silver dollars had been attacked and was missing its tail. It was alive but flailing at the surface so I euthanized it with some clove oil.
I did some investigation which admittedly didn’t take long when I noticed both trimacs had their breeding dress on. The male at this time was 6-7” and the female 4 1/2- 5 1/2”
And they had dug a pit in the sand underneath one of the rocks in the tank and laid a clutch of eggs.
Unfortunately the vacation wasn’t something we could delay or cancel so I moved the other 5 silver dollars to a 125 gallon I had 6 larger silver dollars in with a male red terror I’ve been growing out.
Fast forward to us coming back home about a week ago and the female trimac had been pretty badly brutalized by the male and was hiding in she corner of the tank.
I wasn’t super surprised as I’ve had experience with breeding cichlids and their unpredictable aggression in the past. (My previously mentioned male red terror killed his female after they had babies) But I was hoping with the large tank and given the relatively small size that she would have enough space and fare ok.
Long story short I was able to save the female and I moved her to my 90 gallon quarantine tank and she has mostly recovered.
I would like to try to reintroduce them at some point in the future and after some experimenting found a small pievepvc she likes and can fit in I think will be too small for the male.
Currently the male is still with the fry, so I would like some advice on optimal ways to attempt to reintroduce them.
Should I remove the fry first? Do you think the pvc will work ok? Do y’all have any suggestions on other caves or decorations etc that could give her a safe space?
Pictures below are from the day before we left for vacation after I had removed the silver dollars.
Got 6 juvenile trimacs from TUIC and was able to successfully get 2 to pair off. Fast forward and I moved the pair to a 180 gallon tank (6x2x2)
They were around 3-4”for the female and 4-5” for the male when I moved them to this tank and were a little skittish/scared. I added 6 juvenile silver dollars as dithers and all was good. The male was a little nippy towards the female and the silver dollars but nothing overly aggressive; the addition of the silver dollars seemed to make both trimacs more active.
Fast forward again to about 2 weeks ago and the day before we left for a 4 day vacation I noticed one of the silver dollars had been attacked and was missing its tail. It was alive but flailing at the surface so I euthanized it with some clove oil.
I did some investigation which admittedly didn’t take long when I noticed both trimacs had their breeding dress on. The male at this time was 6-7” and the female 4 1/2- 5 1/2”
And they had dug a pit in the sand underneath one of the rocks in the tank and laid a clutch of eggs.
Unfortunately the vacation wasn’t something we could delay or cancel so I moved the other 5 silver dollars to a 125 gallon I had 6 larger silver dollars in with a male red terror I’ve been growing out.
Fast forward to us coming back home about a week ago and the female trimac had been pretty badly brutalized by the male and was hiding in she corner of the tank.
I wasn’t super surprised as I’ve had experience with breeding cichlids and their unpredictable aggression in the past. (My previously mentioned male red terror killed his female after they had babies) But I was hoping with the large tank and given the relatively small size that she would have enough space and fare ok.
Long story short I was able to save the female and I moved her to my 90 gallon quarantine tank and she has mostly recovered.
I would like to try to reintroduce them at some point in the future and after some experimenting found a small pievepvc she likes and can fit in I think will be too small for the male.
Currently the male is still with the fry, so I would like some advice on optimal ways to attempt to reintroduce them.
Should I remove the fry first? Do you think the pvc will work ok? Do y’all have any suggestions on other caves or decorations etc that could give her a safe space?
Pictures below are from the day before we left for vacation after I had removed the silver dollars.
