Agassizii domain

[Pavel]

Anybody have experience keeping several agassizii colonies in the same tank. I have an old A. agassizii male in a standard 4ft tank. I wonder if I can put another male into the same tank and will they co-exist? This question probably comes down to 'how bit is a territory of an agassizii male'?

Pavel

[wickedglass]

it's not only the male you will have to worry about, once there's a dominant male which has established his harem with the girls in the tank, the girls will defend their territories against other males (and females of the harem) as well! the dominant buck will go and visit each female in her territory to see if she is ready for spawning. unless there are a lot of hidey spots I wouldn't recommend keeping more males than the old buck you already have. ;)

[arjay]

I have two males in a 95L tank and they coexist without too many dramas. I think as long as there are plenty of hiding places and you divide the tank up with driftwood and/or rocks into natural territories you'll be fine.

I didn't realise the male already had a harem... Each one of those females will also potentially defend her territory against the new male so he could end up with no where to go... Maybe just wait for the old guy to kark it before replacing him...

[fishgeek]

my standard answer would be 2 sq ft for each male territory and 1 sq ft for each female territory, these can be within the males territory

i would feel that you could have 2 males ina 4 ft tank

wild males though are known to have territories of 1-2m square, so both answers above are quite right

if the male has already claimed the whole tank a new male will ahve a hard time

if you wish to add hi i would be inclined to remove the existing male
mess with the internal planting/scape and then place the new male in first allow him to settle and return the male

hopefully the new layout would lead to broken lines of sight accross the tank and therefore diffuse any aggresion and help delineate boundary's to territory's

andrew