Blue Acara woes

[Lyllie]

So I have two male Blue Acara's in our main tank who are trying to mate/breed. They're digging holes, they've coloured up, they've become super territorial, they keep shimmying at each other etc. But nothing happens of course. We thought they'd eventually work it all out and settle down but they've now been terrorising the tank trying to protect their non-existant eggs for weeks. Any ideas on how we can settle them down?

And in another tank I have a pair of actual breeding Blue Acaras who laid eggs this week and I was super excited to see my first ever wrigglers a couple of days later, only to discover this morning that they've eaten them all Any tips for preventing that?

[joller]

Try changing up the decor in the first tank. They'll have to reestablish territories which can change their attitudes. How bigs the tank?

And for the breeding pair give the a few goes they might just figure it out with practice. Or they might be 2 females I've had that before

[DeBree420]

Try changing up the decor in the first tank. They'll have to reestablish territories which can change their attitudes. How bigs the tank?

And for the breeding pair give the a few goes they might just figure it out with practice. Or they might be 2 females I've had that before

Two females? Either you read the first post wrong, or you have some immaculate conception going on there...

Give the breeders a few more go's, Americans are great parents once they work it out. Also you can stick a bit of aquarium backing on the tank near where the nursery area is if the tank gets a bit too much traffic near it

[joller]

No conception. They just put on a show and then eat the infertile eggs a few days later.

[aquaholic99]

They are behaving in a normal healthy fashion. Why not sit back and enjoy the fish interaction. Just make sure weaker fish have hidey holes.

[Lyllie]

Thanks guys. Great idea with the backing DeBree, thanks

Just to clarify, the egss hatched, we had wrigglers and they were what got eaten. But we'll give them a few more tries and see if they get the hang out of it.

As for the two males who think they are breeding, surely that's not normal behaviour? They've decided an entire 4 ft x 2ft tank is their territory and are physcially injuring any fish that come too close to whatever random spot they've chosen is theirs at that moment and that's been happening for 4-5 weeks. We've read that Blue Acara's are quite peaceful unless they're mating, but I didn't take fake mating into account. Is that really normal? If it is I might have to give one away and hope they other settles.

[aquaholic99]

As for the two males who think they are breeding, surely that's not normal behaviour? They've decided an entire 4 ft x 2ft tank is their territory and are physcially injuring any fish that come too close to whatever random spot they've chosen is theirs at that moment and that's been happening for 4-5 weeks. We've read that Blue Acara's are quite peaceful unless they're mating, but I didn't take fake mating into account. Is that really normal? If it is I might have to give one away and hope they other settles.

Yes that's normal behaviour.

[Lyllie]

Oh. Feck. I really like them too. But they've really taken a nasty bite out of one of the other fish today so it looks like I'll have to move one one. Thanks for the help Aquaholic

[narserj]

Blue Acaras besides Convicts are one of the easy South American Cichlid to get to breed, if this is the first spawn it is not unusual to have the wrigglers eaten.

As time goes on the fish will get to the idea and become very protective of the fry.

Your two males, if you have another tank separation is one answer or place a divider in the tank, maybe if you have available aquarium space procure another one or two females, some of the members may be able to help you out.

[aquaholic99]

Oh. Feck. I really like them too. But they've really taken a nasty bite out of one of the other fish today so it looks like I'll have to move one one. Thanks for the help Aquaholic

They are quite placid compared to some other american cichlids but nasty compared to say gourami's. However, that's the joy and challenges of keeping american cichlids. Rather than saying you have woes, try to appreciate, watch and understand their behaviour. And if all fish were easy to keep than fish keeping would be rather boring.

[Lyllie]

They are quite placid compared to some other american cichlids but nasty compared to say gourami's. However, that's the joy and challenges of keeping american cichlids. Rather than saying you have woes, try to appreciate, watch and understand their behaviour. And if all fish were easy to keep than fish keeping would be rather boring.

Yes I know they are supposed to be placid in comparison to other cichlids. That is why we chose them for our tank and that is exactly how they were. Before their faux mating started. I'll start to appreciate them when they're not tearing my other fish to shreds I'm sure.

[Doug]

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