Apisto Guarding Cave

I recently added an apisto cave to my tank, and now the male( I think) is guarding the entrance. Does this mean eggs?(fingers crossed) or something else?

 

Is the apisto in a pair? If so it could mean baby’s
WEEEEEEEEEEE
you might be a dad

 

Is he more aggressive than usual, or had he always been like this? Apistos will be aggressive towards other fish if they have a mate, but they will definitely be more aggressive if they are near having/already have eggs.

 

They are a pair I think
One is bigger and more colorful, and one is smaller and duller. They have been together for two weeks, but I had just added the cave yesterday. I'm so excited!

 

Well it is only him and his wife in the tank, but he actually does seem more aggressive to her than usual. She has been kinda hiding from him and when she comes out , he chases her.

 

Now that I think I have eggs, I have a couple questions.
Firstly, how long until the hatch, assuming they were laid last night.
And the million dollar question, which is how do I care for them after they are free swimming.
I have sera fry food and hikarI first bites.
I am also not allowed to do live brine shrimp

 

I got my first pair of apistos just last week and I am noticing the same behavior, so I'll be watching with interest!

 

Is she hiding in the cave? If not, then there is no spawn. Most Apisto females turn bright yellow when brooding eggs or fry, and if there were eggs, she would be watching them closely.

 

Well , he just spent the last three minutes in the cave, and he actually just went back in.
I wish I knew what he was doing!
How long until the eggs would hatch, if it is eggs.
I took the poor female out because I could not stand to watch her in the corner all the time.
When is it safe to put her back?

 

He is out, and then after a minute went back in... what is this guy up to?!?

 

He's looking for the female. There is no spawn. Male Apistos do not guard the eggs, the females do. If she was not in the cave when you removed her, she did not have eggs. A female with eggs is even a match for a big male, and woud not leave them.

 

Is it at all possible that I mixed up males and females? I'm going to post pictures in a couple minutes.
Let me know which is male and which is female

 

Wait I'm so sorry, I didn't see your last post.
The one who I think is the male is in fact bright yellow, and he/she spends a lot of time in the cave. Would she have bullied the male into a corner. Is it bad that I took him out?
Maybe I got the sexes screwed up all along...

 

 

Fish #1 Was presumed female, and Fish #2 presumed male, is that right?
RainBetta SpaceKitten chromedome52 Ohio Mark

 

I wish I could give you good advice, but I'm still new to Apistos myself. Hopefully someone with more experience will weigh in!

 

Honestly I'd say just reach your hand in and turn the cave around and check. The apistos should go straight back to guarding it. But it is usually the female that does the work with guarding eggs, and she should also be more colourful than usual if she's just laid. It could just be that the male likes the cave and has claimed it, and maybe will one day invite the female in to breed there

 

Those appear to be Gold Cockatoos. If the paler one is smaller than the second, that's why it was chased away. From the shape of the caudal fin and the spines developing on the dorsal, it looks like a very young male. The second one has the color of a female, but the ventral fins appear a bit longer. The photo is a bit blurry, so I can't see the shape of the dorsal, but if it has spikes sticking up, it would be another male.

At this point I would agree, lift the cave and look with a flashlight. By now there would be larvae inside, on the verge of swimming. If you see nothing, I suspect you have two males, and the less dominant fish was chased into the corner.

 

Crossing my fingers for eggs!! I really don't want two males!

 

Here is another(better) picture of that one.
I also noticed that the smaller one appears to have more color on it's fins than the larger one.

 

Well, I could not see anything in that cave. Too dark. When would I notice babies swimming outside the cave chromedome52