Looking for Cacatiodes or other apisto proven pair, PLEASE!

[Ben Bergman]

Please let me know if I can buy a pair that has already bred but will keep breeding for a while.

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,
Welcome to the forum.

There aren't really any proven pairs in Apistogramma, other than the nijsenii group. Apistogramma cacatuoides is a harem breeder, which means the male will breed with any receptive female in his territory.

Problems are likely to come when the female isn't receptive, the male will try and drive her out of the territory and wait for the next female.

What does your tank look like? It will give us a few more ideas.

cheers Darrel

 

[Ben Bergman]

Thanks! Glad to be here, the tank is a 20 long with two inches of leaf litter and twigs.
I guess I am looking for a pair that has experience breeding and raising eggs/fry the is likely to breed within a short while after getting it.

 

[Ben Bergman]

Any breeders looking to pass their fish on?

 

[Mike Wise]

It would help to know where in the world that you live.

 

[anewbie]

This isn't what you want to hear but in general a 'proven' pair is an over age group that is well past their prime. I.e, while people charge extra for 'proven' pair they are selling junk that probably have less than a year left.

You are way better off in the long run buying some young adults and if you are actually interested in fish keeping young juvi.

 

[Ben Bergman]

Thanks, for all the advice I was just hoping for a pair that would breed soon after getting and breed readily Just wanted them to maybe have gone through a spawn or two, so they are already consistently raising fry.

I am in the us South Dakota probably no local puck-ups near me so shipping is fine.

 

[anewbie]

I know but that isn't what usually happens when someone actually sells a 'proven' pair. What i can say is i purchase a pair of young wc nijjensi and in less than 3 weeks despite being 1/3 to 1/2 adult size they spawned. It is more important that you give them a proper home to get spawning behavior than to be a 'proven' pair after all a male and female that spawn in one environment might not spawn in another environment.

 

[Ben Bergman]

Okay and would they be more easily adapted if they were young?

 

[anewbie]

Okay and would they be more easily adapted if they were young?

That is a tough one to answer as it depends on species but generally i find young ones look to reproduce once mature as they age they slow down.

 

[Ben Bergman]

okay so would it be better to buy a pair that is young and at breeding age, or a pair that has breed three times and was bought by the owner in April as a younger fish?

 

[anewbie]

I personally would go for the young pair but each to their own; still and don't take this wrong; you sound very inexperienced and i would learn how to care for the fish before you purchase as they aren't like guppies where you mix with water and get young fishes. They have more strict requirements around proper care.

 

[Ben Bergman]

I have a female borellii and a fairly confidant that I can do this, I am currently breeding bettas, so I have at least the basic husbandry skill required to keep fish, thanks sooooo much for the insight I has been very helpful since I am a relatively novice fish keeper. I have an offer for either or, and with your recommendations in mind I am thinking about getting the young pair instead of the parents.

 

[anewbie]

You can get borelli easy enough wetspot always have them - i recommend borelli opal as a good starting point.

Just be careful as with polygamous species like most apistogramma the aggression level can be quite high in a small aquarium - the larger the aquarium the less aggresion.

 

[KenL]

Ideally, being able to examine the fish so that you can see that they are of good enough quality to breed from is what you want to do.

 

[Ben Bergman]

Also I think the younger pair are from the same spawn is that a problem?

 

[anewbie]

Also I think the younger pair are from the same spawn is that a problem?

Nearly all domestic (as oppose to wild caught) fishes are going to be heavily inbred.

 

[Ben Bergman]

Will they still breed properly?

 

[MacZ]

They will breed, yes.

Ok, let's put it this way. Domestic breeds are line bred to look the way they look. The original species often does not have that flashy colours in many cases and the fins also are not as exotically shaped as you see in domestic fish. This is because breeders bred fish with the most promising shapes and colours to bring these traits forward. They always inbreed over generations. Inbreeding has negative effects, though: reduced overall health, the immune system not working properly, fins and inner organs deformed, sometimes until unable to work. Such negative traits get worse over generations of inbreeding.
So if you get fish from such a line you will just end up with more of these.
Your choice if you want to be part of this.

Hate to break this to you.

 

[Mike Wise]

Line breeding is not all negative. It really depends on the person doing the breeding. If the breeder is very selective in which fish to use for breeding and culls heavily line bred fish are fine. It's like comparing breeders of show dogs vs. puppy mills.