[bbrock]

I don't think switching the male back and forth is a good idea. The male plays a critical role in egg tending and possibly tad transport. There's more than a good chance that moving the male back and forth will doom the breeding effort and it could also stress the crud out of him has he constantly would have to readjust his territory. The best bet is to remove a female and leave the remaining couple undisturbed.

 

[bbrock]

In my own opinion, I don't believe switching pumilio males back and forth will help increase breeding activity. As Brent mentioned earlier, males play too critical a role in tad care, deposition, and maintenance to separate from the females. Actually, I think the stress alone from the moves would inhibit breeding to some degree. On the other hand, I'm always curious about new techniques, so it sounds like a very interesting experiment!

My only other comment here will be that I would rather see such experimentation done on some better established pumilio like bastis or bri bri. There seem to be a lot of Almirante in the hobby now but how many will be here in 5 years? If past experience is any indication, they could be quite rare because very few will get set up in successful breeding programs. I do think this switching males would be an interesting experiment but what we know about pumilio natural history already suggests it is more likely to disrupt, rather than enhance, reproduction.