Need Advice - Separation period for my pair of Apistogramma trifasciata

[bluetbk]

Hi,

I need some advise on how long should i separate the female and male away from each other. This is what happened yesterday.

Yesterday, i noticed that the male was chasing the female around the tank.
As i thought that it is an act of courtship from the male, thus i left them alone in the tank while i went out. However, when i return home at night,
I noticed that the male had taken over the cave and the female was nowhere to be found.

When i found the female, i noticed that her tail was broken, i mean there is 2 bite marks, which i suspect being bitten by the male.

Now i have separate the male away from the female. So i would like to ask all brothers here that how long should i separate them from each other?

Thanks for advise in advance.

[genes]

There are no hard rules on how long to separate the pairs. Remove the male, let the female recover and gain dominance over the tank before introducing the male again. This could span from a few days to weeks since different fish exhibit different behaviors. So, you have to judge it for yourself.

Sometimes a little bit of tear on the tail is ok. And as always advised, provide more hiding place for the female.

[exotic_idiot]

1. Why don't you add a breeder box inside put either male or female let them get used to each other first?
2. You can catch out your female first heal her wounds first before you put back in the tank.
I still feel that opinion 2 is better as you mention that you saw 2 bite marks if left unattended will get fungus and sooner or later your female will pass away. So it's important that we check our beloved fishes during feeding time, see if there's any "love bites" going on?

[mictok]

You can try to layout the space in such a way that there are some area which only the female can enter but no entry for the male in respect of their size.I have cave,wire mesh and bushy nanas or ferns to let the female hide for a while before the male found her again.

[bluetbk]

hi Hi,

I have created lots of hiding space for the female, but i think my male is a commando. Keep seeing him sneaking up on the female from behind.

i am so worry about the female after noticed the broken tail and fins on her. Thus, i brought a small breeder tank and shift the female into the breeder tank, which is put in the main tank.

Yet i still notice that the male still "Attacking" the female.

Now my main motive is to heal the female back to health and getting her ready to "fight" the male again.

I will keep you guys update soon.

Next post i try to post with pictures of the female.

[exotic_idiot]

If broken tail just a bit very easy to heal, no need put her inside breeder box but must provide cover for her to hide. Must take note if like got flesh torn off from body or head, very dangerous...

[bluetbk]

So far from what i noticed, it is only broken tail. so keeping my finger cross. Here is the picture of the female in the breeder tank. As you can see that her tail and top fins are broken.

[WaterH2O]

Your damage worse than what my male suffered from my female. I also got a breeder box the last time the aggression is bad and put the male in.Then one day the male escaped by itself and a spawn of fries appeared after a about a week.

[exotic_idiot]

Hahaaa lucky you...

[bluetbk]

You so lucky~! my female also escape back to the tank once by herself, yet i still see her being chased around by the male. thus, i decided to keep her in the beeder tank till she slightly bigger and when she is ready for the male.