ivanacara bimaculata

[waywardchild]

Would love to buy them from you if I could! No one seems to have them in Singapore/Asia where I am from. Perhaps wholesalers/shops would be willing to buy large batches off of you?

 

[Yvonne G]

Nice pictures. The fish look great!

 

[rasmusW]

thanks for the feedback. highly appreciated.
so far i'm holding of, of buying more fish or atleast not fry eating fish. -so, i guess i'll try to seperate them if it going to be a issue.
the shop keepers said they might be interested in getting some more, so that's really good.

@anewbie: i really hope "the story" of them as a good alternative to i. adoketa, gets out.

Would love to buy them from you if I could! No one seems to have them in Singapore/Asia where I am from. Perhaps wholesalers/shops would be willing to buy large batches off of you?

thanks, but yes, i imagine shipping to singapore would get rather expensive in shipping and taxes.

Nice pictures. The fish look great!

thanks, i'm also very happy about them.
next time i'll make sure to have cleaned the glass as well.

-r

 

[rasmusW]

Hi all!

I just spotted this little fry (~1cm), who apparently decided to move out and start life on its own (-well, atleast across the large branch)..

Ps. Its on the right side of the small pit, just below the twig..

-r

 

[anewbie]

Mine spawned for the 2nd time (the first time the eggs werent' fertilized):

These were clearly viable but she lost them over night. The tank had a L239 in there so i removed it in case it was eating the eggs.

I'm totally impressed how passive these fishes are - i have two pairs that have split the tank in half at the 24 inch mark. Whenever one member of the opposing group crosses the invisible line the others march over and start wagging tails and flaring and if it doesn't move fast enough the other one comes over and repeat. What i don't see is that nasty biting most species of apisto do. They also totally ignore the trio of a. ladisalo i had with them (i managed to move two out but the larger female refused to get near the net and I'm not quite willing to tear the entire aquarium up to get her).
--
Unrelated i have this mess:


Those are a pile of m. egregius; these so far are actually dwarf cichild size in the aquarium unlike their larger cousins m. mirificus who get around 6 inches. The parents can get free swimming frys in the community tank but can't guard them more than 3 or 4 days after that. Sorry for the thread crapping.

 

[rasmusW]

It’s time for a small update…
I bought a rack for my tanks a couple of months back. Since then I have been painting walls, setting up tanks, pulling one down and setting it up again..
I actually had to buy two racks because (stupid) I didn’t read the meassurements correctly on the first one..

This setup was actually intented for apistogramma atahualpa, but one night i came to the conclusion that the bimacs, would be better suited. Plus, then I Can utilise the light on the other tank better.
The fluval aquasky is not the best for blackwater, in my opinion.

All this just to say. Here is a glimpse of the pairs new home. They share it with 6 n. Marginatus. I also have a tank with a few glowlights, that I might add again. They did spend some time together in the previous setup.

Regarding the setup i have used all my usual suspects: plum, beech, a few birch twigs, fine sand and leaves.

I am trying with more pothos and monstera this time and the lighting is a plant growth light, that I wanted to try.

-r

 

[anewbie]

My group one female and several males in a 65 frequently breed but the eggs never hatch; the eggs are translucent and look viable but after a few days they are eaten. One of these days i'll probably take a few of the eggs and isolate them to see if they hatch. I'm thinking i should just try another female as i've had this problem before (replacing the female fixes the issue) but in truth i don't like the species enough and invest the effort and they are docile enough i can move them to a community aquarium and use their aquarium for something more interesting.

 

[illumnae]

After growing mine out for about half a year, I'm starting to drop the TDS with rodi water changes and adding botanicals to the tank. Some of the fish are showing red blobs near the anus - are those breeding tubes? Are these cave spawners or do they spawn on decor like hardscape and plant leaves? I have some large leaved echinodorus in the tank and can add more

 

[anewbie]

After growing mine out for about half a year, I'm starting to drop the TDS with rodi water changes and adding botanicals to the tank. Some of the fish are showing red blobs near the anus - are those breeding tubes? Are these cave spawners or do they spawn on decor like hardscape and plant leaves? I have some large leaved echinodorus in the tank and can add more

The females have 'red blobs' near the anus; they will be permanently visible; the male will not show such and will be 25% larger in most cases. I'm reluctant to call it a breeding tube even if that is the funciton.

 

[Mike Wise]

Females are also supposed to show a white patch around the anus that the males do not.

 

[rasmusW]

After growing mine out for about half a year, I'm starting to drop the TDS with rodi water changes and adding botanicals to the tank. Some of the fish are showing red blobs near the anus - are those breeding tubes? Are these cave spawners or do they spawn on decor like hardscape and plant leaves? I have some large leaved echinodorus in the tank and can add more

They are “open cave spawners”. They clear a surface, dig a pit and lay the eggs on a hardscape surface or maybe broad leaf.
-so they don’t spawn in caves like apistos do.
Mine usually find the most secluded and quite area. Some times a few areas gets dug out, either because they changed their mind or to have other places to move fry to.

-and yes, the females get this clearly and all time visible eggtube.

-r

 

[illumnae]

I have 2 females and 3 males. The females have that white patch that identifies them, and also a red blob sticking out that looks like a breeding tube.

So they are kind of like rams rather than apistos? The tank they're in has an aquasoil substrate and chunky hard wood as hardscape. I've placed some 2" and 4" flowerpots around sideways for them to hide in too. Would this have anywhere suitable for them to spawn? Or should I go get some broad leafed echinodorus to plant in the soil? I have some echinodorus already in the tank but they are the long stalked with leaves higher up in the water column variety, not those with low broad leaves near the substrate. I may not be able to find large ones, and they take ages to grow out

 

[anewbie]

The females are more aggressive than males I had 2 females with 4 males in a 65 and as far as i know i now have 1 female with 4 males. My female frequently breed but the eggs don't hatch (they are translucent and as far as I can tell they are fertile so either she is giving up and eating them or one of the males is sneaking in and eating them; one of these days i'll steal a few and make sure they hatch on their own).

The answer to your question is yes if the tank is large enough you can keep multiple - they are not as aggressive as i. adoketa but there is some aggression and a pair is better. I never seen them bother the dithers which are a combination of n. morthenthaleri and t. pauciperforata (i was a little surprise at the size of the t. pauciperforata as all other rasbora i've had are1/2 the size). My aquarium has a lot of caves in the form or slate covering driftwood and large driftwood where the non-pair males hide but they show up when i feed them.

In anything smaller than my aquarium (48x16inch ground space); i would recommend just a pair and in truth if i had to do it again i would only keep two - i actually had more males and managed to catch 2 and removed them (they are now with the b. cupido and pretty much harmless so males are a decent community fish); The problem is with the structure of my tank it is near impossible to catch the others else i would remove all the extra males.

She breeds on a piece of driftwood that is well protected and in truth all the others 'cept her mate remain on the other 1/2 of the aquarium so she has quite an area to herself.