# Anyone tried 1 male to multiple female green terror?



## toffee (Feb 11, 2006)

Are green terrors monogamy? Can one male handle multiple female in the same tank? Just curious.


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## Auballagh (Jan 29, 2003)

Won't work. When a pair forms up, the male and female pair will attempt to drive off all non-paired Green Terrors (or other Cichlids) from their claimed spawning territory. That territory (unless they are kept in an indoor pond or something....), is usually larger in bottom size, than the confines of an aquarium.
Non-Paired Green Terrors with no room to escape from the spawning pair in the aquarium, will be killed.


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## toffee (Feb 11, 2006)

Auballagh said:


> Won't work. When a pair forms up, the male and female pair will attempt to drive off all non-paired Green Terrors (or other Cichlids) from their claimed spawning territory. That territory (unless they are kept in an indoor pond or something....), is usually larger in bottom size, than the confines of an aquarium.
> Non-Paired Green Terrors with no room to escape from the spawning pair in the aquarium, will be killed.


sounded like male GTs aren't the player type that date a few female simultaneously.


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## Auballagh (Jan 29, 2003)

Hah! That's awesome.... :lol: 
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And no. With Green Terror's I can say: "Not exactly". When spawning, yes the male is committed to that spawning site and working as a team with the female to protect the eggs and fry from some pretty intense levels of predation. However.... once the babies grow out and start dispersing, the male will probably wind up chasing the female out of his territory. A new female, with yet another new spawning cycle, could then possibly happen again. In the aquarium when this happens, it's best to protect the female from male aggression by using a partial tank divider or something so she can escape to safety if he gets too rough.
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Not to say that in New World Cichlids, there aren't some Real Players out there! The mouth brooding Geophagines are one such type, with the dominant male spawning with multiple females in a 'harem' group. Apistogramma cichlids are yet another type that do best when kept in Harem groups. And, depending on how aggressive the male is in the Harem-keeping species, will drive how many females it takes to safely spread out the aggression in his group (1 Male to 4 Female Harem groups are fairly common).


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## sir_keith (Oct 30, 2018)

Auballagh said:


> ...Not to say that in New World Cichlids, there aren't some Real Players out there! The mouth brooding Geophagines are one such type, with the dominant male spawning with multiple females in a 'harem' group...


In species with a lek mating system, both males and females are polygamous. One such group is the tribe Ectodini from Lake Tanganyika, a diverse group of mouthbrooders that includes _Ophthalmotilapia, Cyanthopharynx, Callochromis, Xenotilapia,_ and several other genera. Males of these species build large crater-like nests in the sand floor, each nest immediately adjacent to another, such that large areas of the sand floor are virtually confluent with breeding sites. A male will attempt to attract a female to his nest, and if successful, breeding will ensue in the usual manner- eggs being deposited, fertilized, and taken into the female's mouth. However, before the female has released all of her eggs, she usually leaves the nest, and goes in search of another male, and then the whole process is repeated. In this way females of these species carry multi-paternal broods, which increases the genetic diversity of their progeny. You need a very large tank to see these behaviours in captivity.

A co-dominant male in my colony of wild-caught _Ophthalmotilapia nasuta_ Kipili Gold-










And a brooding female-


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## BC in SK (Aug 11, 2012)

Auballagh said:


> Not to say that in New World Cichlids, there aren't some Real Players out there! The mouth brooding Geophagines are one such type, with the dominant male spawning with multiple females in a 'harem' group. Apistogramma cichlids are yet another type that do best when kept in Harem groups.


Harem breeding is not at all peculiar to just these new world cichlids. Pretty much any substrate spawner can be polygamous. As far as green terror, yes there are numerous examples on the internet of people keeping a male with 2 or more females and having the male breed with all the females over a span of time. But usually you need big tanks and a lot more then just 3 or 4 cichlids in the tank for them to coexist.
I've had Convict males breed with 2 females at the very same time on at least three occasions. Females are in separate territories with the male dividing his time. In terms of the male's time allocation, courting another female can actually take priority over defending eggs, though fry protection definitely takes priority over either. I've had male convicts pair up with 3 females at the very same time.....though the last time this happened the male was of mellow temperament and did not keep the females away from each other. The 3 females fought and he ended up breeding with just the victor. When i kept only convicts in my 180 gal. for a number of years i had usually about 4 males (sometimes more) and any where from about 6-15 females. I had 2 females that had bred with all 4 males, and all had at least mated with more then one partner. Under these sex ratios, single females will often try to court any male they can get. Males appear to me to be a little fussier in choosing mates though that may just be a reflection of the skewed sex ratios. When i had 2 pairs of convicts in my 180 cichlid community tank, eventually after a span of over 2 years they swapped partners (and all 4 convicts had had different partners in an earlier period of time). In a span of over 40 years....I've never owned a convict that didn't have more then one partner in it's life time. Serial monogamy at best. Give them a little space and some choice of partners and they definitely won't stick to the same partner over time. 
I generally kept salvini in a harem situation. One male to 2-4 females. Given more then one female in the tank, the male will almost always switch partners every succeeding spawn. 
When I had 5 jewels (2 males, 3 females) in my 75 gal. I had every possible pairing combination as well as 2 different trios. That's right, one male paired up with 2 females with all 3 fish acting as a breeding team. Videos of it in this thread:https://www.cichlid-forum.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=404042 (the better quality video of trio protecting fry, on my last post on the bottom of pg.1).
I really don't think apistos are all that much more inclined to be polygamous then many other substrate spawners. IMO, their much smaller space requirements coupled with a much greater tolerance for each other in a small glass box, makes them better suited to be kept this way by aqaurists.
As far as observation in the wild of substrtate spawning cichlids being polygamous with males breeding with more then one female at the very same time, there has been some observation of convicts, kribs and Texas cichlid amongst others. Though I think it is not as common as a pair since the males have to be very dominant and own larger territories.


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## jwakeley73 (6 mo ago)

I have a 55 gl. tank with only one fish, a Female Green Terror that is caring for 11 fry’s that are about 10 days old. Right next to that tank I have a 5 gallon tank that has 3 baby green terrors that were from the female in the bigger tank. So she has noticed the 3 fry’s and is constantly go over to them and she kind of freaks out. So do the fry’s. So my question is does she recognize them as being hers? And if she does can I reintroduce them to her in the big tank? How would the month old Fry’s get along with their 10 day old siblings?


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## Auballagh (Jan 29, 2003)

Keep everyone together? 
Ummmmmm.......


jwakeley73 said:


> So she has noticed the 3 fry’s and is constantly go over to them and she kind of freaks out. So do the fry’s.


NO.
That is, unless you have just sort of gotten tired of those 11 baby Green Terrors or something? And, would like to thin out the three older ones by one or two? Best to remember, that this is a highly PREDATORY species of South American Cichlid. She and the babies are 'freaking out' because she knows just how dangerous those other Green Terrors are in this situation.
If placed in the 55 gallon tank with them, the older juvenile Green Terrors, will almost certainly eat their much younger siblings (just like they do in the wild). And Mom Fish, will definitely not appreciate these 3 (hungry?) interlopers being placed in her personal territory! The 55 gallon tank is too small for that sort of thing with an established, adult Green Terror in it. So, those introduced 'new' Green Terrors will almost certainly be attacked. She won't recognize her former babies as anything but totally unwanted competition - or a threat. And yes, your Mom Fish will eventually decide she has had enough of those 11 babies she has in there now, when they grow out as well. And ultimately, when half-hearted chasing doesn't work to move them along out of that little aquarium - she will almost certainly decide to just eat them.
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So, *IF* you want to keep more than one (adult size) Green Terror in an aquarium? You will definitely need to get a bigger aquarium than the 55 gallon tank you have now. A 55 gallon tank is the absolute minimum sized aquarium I would consider suitable for keeping a single adult Green Terror in - long term. (A 75 gallon tank is a much better size for that...).
An individually kept, so-called, _'WET PET'_?


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## jwakeley73 (6 mo ago)

Auballagh said:


> Keep everyone together?
> Ummmmmm.......
> 
> NO.
> ...


Thank you for taking the time to respond to my inquiries. I appreciate it. I will definitely look into getting a bigger tank.


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## dstuer (Mar 27, 2013)

Not quite, but almost the same.....I keep Andinoacara coeleopunctatus (close cousin to GT)
I started with about a dozen wild caught 2" juvies 4 years ago.








At about 1 years (maturity), the alpha male killed all other males, and a few non-cooperative females in a 180 gal tank.
He allowed 3 females in that space, and has spawned with each of the 3, every breeding season (Dec thru April) over the last 3 years.


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