Apistogramma + Platies aggression

[Flowerhorn_K]

Hi everyone! Happy Holidays!

I have a community of platies and a single apistogramma male. I've been noticing that he's been aggressive to the platies and chasing them off. There's about 10 platies.

The tank is planted with lots of caves and hiding places but he seemed to have claimed most of the lower bottom as his territory. Now, he was added the tank a good time before I got the platies. 

Any tips? I thought about removing him from the tank into a separate tank for a week or two and hopefully then reintroduce him and have him not be so aggressive.

[anewbie]

How large is the aquarium and how is it structured ? Also what species of apistogramma do you have ?

[Flowerhorn_K]

@anewbie 70 gallons, has wood and plants. And apistogramma cacatuoides.

[anewbie]

My guess is that he is trying to establish a territory but i had one very aggressive male (it was actually a runt); structure might help him to limit his area of aggression so you might try adjusting the wood to see if you can create an area that will content him - my guess is that he will want close to 2 sqft. The only thing a bit odd to me is that platy should spend more of their time near the surface and he should be spending large chunks of his time near the bottom; i actually had mine with swordtails (not platy) and he mostly left them alone but did harass other fishes at the lower levels.

[Flowerhorn_K]

@anewbie Yeah I think it's to do with territory too. It's only when the platies swim down to peck at food or algae or just when they're exploring/being curious too close to his area, that he chases them off. 

I'll probably set up a tank for just him and let him rule over that tank.

[anewbie]

Well if you give him a tank of his own you might hunt down a female and try breeding them...