Does anyone know how to get a male ivanacara adoketa to stop chasing the female? They have been together for over a month now and I didn't know if they were a pair since their coloring was the exact same until two weeks ago when the female suddenly turned fully dark and white and the male was dark red. There's no actual damage done by the male but he spooks the female and chases her all around the tank until she hides . I'm just worried she might hurt herself on the glass one day. Is there any way to get them to get along and pair up? Maybe I need to wait a bit longer and they will eventually pair up.
Need help stopping aggression between a pair of zebra acara
- Thread starter Dumbo123
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Definitely sounds like they were in breeding dress. If they didn't naturally pair off that may be the issue. Hopefully someone with experience with them will chime in.
I’ll leave Ryan to answer. My experience with them are limited.
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What size tank are they in? What are their tankmates?
I found adoketa to be solitary, retiring species that would all retreat back to their own territory unless they were feeding. I usually kept them in 40 breeders or 55 gallon tanks, and they would always stake out an area in a silk plant or a cave and basically hover there. They are fairly intolerant of each other, so giving them space and lots of hiding spots and sight breaks is the best thing you can do.
Usually female Ivanacara/Nannacara are the aggressive ones but that is often after spawning takes place.
I would make sure they have adequate space, lots of hiding places instead of open water, and add some dithers if you don’t have any. I usually kept mine with some kind of tetras and sometimes other cichlids (growout Heros fry, for instance).
I found adoketa to be solitary, retiring species that would all retreat back to their own territory unless they were feeding. I usually kept them in 40 breeders or 55 gallon tanks, and they would always stake out an area in a silk plant or a cave and basically hover there. They are fairly intolerant of each other, so giving them space and lots of hiding spots and sight breaks is the best thing you can do.
Usually female Ivanacara/Nannacara are the aggressive ones but that is often after spawning takes place.
I would make sure they have adequate space, lots of hiding places instead of open water, and add some dithers if you don’t have any. I usually kept mine with some kind of tetras and sometimes other cichlids (growout Heros fry, for instance).
They are in a 33 gallon with 6 cherry barbs and 2 platies that I use as dithers maybe I will add more pots to the tank
I would definitely add more solid cover like caves so she can get out of the male’s line of sight if he’s determined to chase her around.
This.
I would put some slates in a flat angle on the back and on one or both sides of the tank, so it provides some elongated caves with two openings. Also I would add some wood till the surface and some plants with big leaves. There should be more structure than open water.
Agree. I find there's more than one way to do it, driftwood, rocks, heavy plants, or some combination-- or there's pvc pipes and that sort of thing but I never use them. Instead, since I'm often out collecting wood for my woodworking hobby, I'll find the right driftwood/bogwood piece or even carve something out for a similar effect.
Ime it doesn't necessarily need to be a cave per se. I've done tangles of driftwood branches, rocky nooks or defensible 'forts,' nooks, holes, and arches (sort of like a troll under the bridge effect) in rocks or driftwood. Ime sometimes this gives the less dominant fish a spot to hide or defend itself from, but sometimes the more dominant fish takes it over and is content to chase other fish off-- as long as there's enough real estate and/or complexity in the tank to allow the less dominant fish to get far enough away.
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