Newbie Q re Apisto behaviour

[oneeyedfrog]

A month ago I put a couple of steel blue apistos in my planted community tank. I haven’t had any experience with these type of fish before so was wondering what’s up with their behaviour

They have been very cruisey till last night. Since then they have been chasing each other around – in and out of a particular cave. They look as if they are trying to slap each other with their tails – looks really funny. Then one will arch sideways and go really pale with a dark belly. Then go back to dark stripes or bluer then off chasing again. It’s pretty entertaining to watch.

Is this coz they may be teenagers now and are sorting out territories? Is this typical behaviour? I am guessing they are males coz they look pretty much the same except one is smaller and paler than the other.

Are they likely to hurt each other?

Should I add more caves or something? They are in a 4’x2’x2’ with tetra, guppies and gba. Thanks

[Adrienne]

imo its spawning behaviour

[ryanjury]

Yeah sounds like spawning or territorial type behavior to me, should be plenty of room in a tank that big for them to hide in if things get a bit nasty.

[oneeyedfrog]

Thanks. They have chilled out again now.

They have become my fav fish and I wouldn't have liked to lose any coz I didn't realise that this meant they are gonna kill each other or something like that

I've spent hours watching them - better than the telly!

[supasi]

Sounds like you have two males. If one was a female you would see a definate colour difference.

Here is my female in breeding dress

The tail slapping is normal and is common in territorial spats and/or breeding rituals.

They are neat fish