Hi from Liverpool, England

[Carl_L]

Hi, very new to Apistogrammas (but been keeping/breeding Discus for years). I have just recently started keeping them and originally wanted Abaxis, but they where difficult to come by in the UK. So I got myself a young pair of hongsloi about 2 months ago. I have searched for books ect and there does not seam to be a lot of Apistogramma specific boos about, lots of dwarf books though, so I am hoping this will be the place for me to learn and gain accurate information about this wonderful fish.

I decided I wanted to keep my Apistogramma hongsloi in a biotope so did research and made this tank based on the information I could find. The hongsloi have bred in here and I currently have fry in the tank at around 1 month old. (although only 8, the original spawn I only noted 10 so put this down to a young pair?)

My "Rio Vichada" Biotope.

Apistogramma sp hongsloi (Pair with fry)
Paracheirodon innesi x20 (Neon Tetra)
Limnobium laevigatum (Amazon Frogbit)
Cabomba sp.
Alternanthera reineckii
Echinodorus tenellus

Playsand
bogwood
Oak branching
Leaf litter (Oak and beech)
Alder cone conditioned water.

As you can see I don't have the best camera or photography skills, but it give a indication of my tank and its direction.

I am also currently building my Fish house (although the main aim of this id for Discus, I will find a space for some Apistogrammas)

As you can see still a work in progress.

So that's me and what I am up too, hope I can become active on here and learn about Apistogrammas from experienced members.

cheers Carl

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

......I have searched for books ect and there does not seam to be a lot of Apistogramma specific boos about, lots of dwarf books though, so I am hoping this will be the place for me to learn and gain accurate information about this wonderful fish.l

Probably your best bet are a couple of web-sites <"Martin and TomC's......"> and <"Bob Wiltshire's - Apistogramma.....">. You might also want to look at <"Tom's Poco pozo">

I decided I wanted to keep my Apistogramma hongsloi in a biotope so did research and made this tank based on the information I could find.

Tank looks good, if you look through TomC's travelogues there aren't a lot of aquatic plants, but there is a lot of leaf litter and sometimes floating plants.

The hongsloi have bred in here and I currently have fry in the tank at around 1 month old. (although only 8, the original spawn I only noted 10 so put this down to a young pair?)
............Paracheirodon innesi x20 (Neon Tetra)

Probably the Neon Tetras. Have a look at <"What's your favourite dither..">.

cheers Darrel
http://www.apistogramma.com/forum/threads/whats-your-favorite-dither-fish.10845/

 

[Carl_L]

Hi Darrel, thanks for your input. I have looked through those links but can't find any information specific to Hongsloi and the habitat of Rio Vichada of which I based this Biotope on. I know it is generalised that Apistos have a lot of leaf littler and little vegetation, but based on my research of this specific location I found it was slightly different from the norm.

The first information I got via Heiko Bleher was this location was a "crystal clear aquatic habitat", yet all other information pointed to it being a black water location, so I went with the blackwater.(Maybe dependent on season?) The other information I went with was again from Heiko that stated:--"Vichada of Colombia is one of the few places around the world where one can say: “that is like a natural aquarium“. Vegetation is not as abundant as for instance in the Rio Guaporé, but still plentiful. And the beauty is also that hardly predatory species can be found here." Also stated later on was:-- "white sand, some drift wood, redish stones and leaf-litter dispersed – in some parts thick layers. Aquatic plants along the banks."

So I pretty much based my Biotope on this, I tried to get a balance of plants (all plants used are native to this location, although some I did not use as they grow so big they would have looked silly in a small aquarium, again based on plants Heiko said where found here) and leaf litter with out planting too many plants, keeping it to a minimum. I tried to keep the leaf litter concentrated by the branches to try and give the effect of littler getting caught naturally in a stream.(although my pics don't show it very well.) If yourself or anyone has any links ect ect to this location I would be very interested to read them

When they originally spawned and went free swimming I only counted 10 fry, hence I though maybe a low number because of it being a young pair,? of the 10 I have 8 left. I have not noticed the neons predicating the fry or paying any interest in them. I did a search on the forum for ""What's your favourite dither.."" but it did not bring me back any results.

Cheers Carl,all information, feedback, discussion appreciated