Re: Husbandry of A. panduro

[Kathy Olson <kathy@thekrib.com>]

> 
> IMHO, I would take out the other male, and watch closely to see which female 
> becomes the dominant one.  These guys are really hard on conspecifics and 
> won't survive with more than a pair per tank.  If you don't take out the 
> "losers", you will end up with only one pair in the tank anyway.  Shifting 
> the weaker pair to a second tank will leave you with two breeding pairs.


I totally agree with Bob here, I do species maintenance for nijsseni (for
four years now...).  When I set up a new breeding colony, I may put in a
couple pairs, let the dominant male emerge, and dominant female and pull
everyone else out, use the others to set up another tank, or give them to
a friend.

On a behavior note....(in response to Mike), I do think of behavior when
setting up fish in a tank.....borelli do fine in a small tank, my nijsseni
always go into a 20 min (okay Zman you can hit me here...cause I know you
use smaller tanks), aggies do great in a variety of tank sizes and
construction.  If they are really aggressive I will aquascape differently,
or depending on the species use leaves, and have played around with
different light level (to get my uaupesi (aka segelflossen, or Rotkeil) to
spawn I filled up a 40 gallon 3/4 the way with oak leaves and bog wood,
and no light except surrounding ambient).  So behavior defend changes what
I do.

In response to Gary's note, some females I have found to be very
aggressive.  I have lost nijsseni males to female aggression.  Others are
great and have harem spawned A. sp. Rotpunkt (aka Puerto Narino,
Schwarsaum), and currently A. sp Gelbwangen.  	The are very different
depending on species, and I have found even very different within a
species and if they are wild caught or tank raised.

I love watching apisto behavior, and have currently been playing around
with density spawning, and community tanks.  Observed really neat stuff in
terms of how males and females interact.  (the density is so high in the
Amazon after collected there it got me thinking about how in the world do
they spawn and reproduce as well as they do).

Too much to write at once, but one of the things that plays along with the
male/female interaction is that I have seen a lot of behavior that shows
that they can act as a pair defending the spawn.  So many times we talk of
male/female aggression to each other, it was amazing instead to see them
work together in a pair team to raise fry in a tank with many other fish.
Female inner circle guard, male perimeter, and then they would move fry.
One actually guarded while the other ate.  Now, all the tank conditions
are pretty artifical and with it I do think we bring out different
behaviour than what exists in the wild.

I am sure some other people have noticed some interesting spawning
behaviour of pairs in larger community tanks.  Love to hear from you.

Kathy 





-------------------------------------------------------------------------
This is the apistogramma mailing list, apisto@listbox.com.
For instructions on how to subscribe or unsubscribe or get help,
email apisto-request@listbox.com.
Search http://altavista.digital.com for "Apistogramma Mailing List Archives"!