• Hello guest! Are you an Apistogramma enthusiast? If so we invite you to join our community and see what it has to offer. Our site is specifically designed for you and it's a great place for Apisto enthusiasts to meet online. Once you join you'll be able to post messages, upload pictures of your fish and tanks and have a great time with other Apisto enthusiasts. Sign up today!

What sex is this fish ?

anewbie

Well-Known Member
Messages
1,366
Can someone confirm the sex/breed of this fish - thanks:

sex.jpg
 

anewbie

Well-Known Member
Messages
1,366
Could actually be. The colouration is washed out. Is the tanik very brightly lit?
Yes - that is the normal colour for this fish. The two confirmed males are much more colourful - but very different. One is gold colour other has red streak on the bottom. I purchased them on Jun 18th so 8 months ago - they were a bit under 1/4 of any inch (small). I don't think it is a runt as it doesn't have any obvious deformities.
 

anewbie

Well-Known Member
Messages
1,366
Still the tank seems too bright.
It is a 29 with a fluval 3.0 on the top. There is some hornworth and frogbit on the surface to diffuse the light. I think it is not overly bright - i might had the flash on when i took that picture - here are the two confirmed males:
 

Attachments

  • m1.jpg
    m1.jpg
    1 MB · Views: 151
  • m2.jpg
    m2.jpg
    999.9 KB · Views: 141

MacZ

Well-Known Member
Messages
2,959
Location
Germany
I think it is not overly bright - i might had the flash on when i took that picture

Na, those washed out colours are a reaction to bright backgrounds. Fish always try to fit in with their background. Dark tank, dark fish. Bright tank, bright fish. Too bright can be stressful over time, though.
These two guys here also look quite bright.
 

anewbie

Well-Known Member
Messages
1,366
Na, those washed out colours are a reaction to bright backgrounds. Fish always try to fit in with their background. Dark tank, dark fish. Bright tank, bright fish. Too bright can be stressful over time, though.
These two guys here also look quite bright.
When i redo the tank in a year i'll try to find a very fine black substrate instead of white. This is moonlight which is powder fine. The only black I can find is saechem flourite black - it is marginally thicker than moonlight (0.5mm vs .75mm). Here is the full tank:
 

Attachments

  • xxyy.jpg
    xxyy.jpg
    5.8 MB · Views: 145

MacZ

Well-Known Member
Messages
2,959
Location
Germany
You got me wrong, you don't have to get new substrate. The overall lighting is very bright. Some leaves on the sand and either some tint in the water or even more subdued lighting would be enough.

You keep them with plecos? Bold choice.
 

anewbie

Well-Known Member
Messages
1,366
You got me wrong, you don't have to get new substrate. The overall lighting is very bright. Some leaves on the sand and either some tint in the water or even more subdued lighting would be enough.

You keep them with plecos? Bold choice.
Young pleco. They are able to chase them away when they lay eggs. I do wonder if they have pleco in their natural environment....

When the pleco grow out a bit they will be moved to a larger tank - their adult size is 5 inches - but they have a long ways to go to get near that.
 

MacZ

Well-Known Member
Messages
2,959
Location
Germany
Young pleco. They are able to chase them away when they lay eggs. I do wonder if they have pleco in their natural environment....

When the pleco grow out a bit they will be moved to a larger tank - their adult size is 5 inches - but they have a long ways to go to get near that.

More because Apistos are diurnal and plecos sometimes tend to nocturnal lifestyle, which can conflict sometimes.
Many plecos share the biotope with many Apistogramma, though as far as I know they rarely interact due to different activity times and parts of the biotope that are preferred.
 

yukondog

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Messages
664
Location
N.W. Fl.
For me it's to bright, if your not looking to breed the plecos for now may be ok, like Mac said too bright. I use cheap opaque cutting boards under the light to defuse the light and leaf litter also.
 

anewbie

Well-Known Member
Messages
1,366
For me it's to bright, if your not looking to breed the plecos for now may be ok, like Mac said too bright. I use cheap opaque cutting boards under the light to defuse the light and leaf litter also.
Well I can let the forgbit regrow - when i did a water change on saturday i threw away 2/3 of it - the frogbit will shade the bottom. However - there are places in the back that are fully shaded - the fishes always go there the first 2 hours after a water change before the return to the front.
--
I have no intention of breeding the pleco in that tank. First they need another good 6 monhts of growth to be breedable second the only pleco i intend to intentionally breed are the L204 and that tank doesn't have the current nor water conditions.
-
Still we need to answer the initial question - can that fish be sex'ed ?
 

anewbie

Well-Known Member
Messages
1,366
I now believe it is 100% it is a she. However it picked the most odd place to lay the eggs - with all the undergrowth and caves she chose to lay them in the open on the sponge filter:
 

Attachments

  • ff.jpg
    ff.jpg
    1.8 MB · Views: 158

anewbie

Well-Known Member
Messages
1,366
Ok. I updated the substrate and reduce the lights a bit. The plants are doing better with the new substrate though it will need another 45 to 60 days to balance out completely. I turned the lights down about 25% - i actually used a par meter to make sure the par was above 30 at the bottom so the crypts do ok.


6.jpg

You got me wrong, you don't have to get new substrate. The overall lighting is very bright. Some leaves on the sand and either some tint in the water or even more subdued lighting would be enough.

You keep them with plecos? Bold choice.
 

Members online

Forum statistics

Threads
17,916
Messages
116,206
Members
13,028
Latest member
JaconieMalonie

Latest profile posts

Josh wrote on anewbie's profile.
Testing
EDO
Longtime fish enthusiast for over 70years......keen on Apistos now. How do I post videos?
Looking for some help with fighting electric blue rams :(
Partial updated Peruvian list have more than this. Please PM FOR ANY QUESTIONS so hard to post with all the ads poping up every 2 seconds….
Top