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Recent content by Mike Wise

  1. Mike Wise

    Apistogramma Abacaxis Blackwateer Tank

    The Denver metro area has many suburbs that are not on Denver Water Department's water supply, which is basically mountain reservoirs that hold water from winter snows. Others parts get theirs from wells. Since I live in Denver itself I get soft water that runs pH 8 because the water department...
  2. Mike Wise

    Apistogramma Abacaxis Blackwateer Tank

    My tap water is relatively soft (~125µS/cm) but certainly not as soft as in my breeding tanks (~35µS/cm). Most fish are fairly adaptable. When acclimated to harder water they will not be severely impacted by it. I once saw a store that sold Cardinal Tetras that they slowly acclimated to 13ºdKH...
  3. Mike Wise

    Wild Caught Peru Apisto ID

    Rocafuerte is a cacatuoides-group species closely related to A. cacatuoides. TomC & I collected them near the borders of Peru and Ecuador - far from where Alto Tapiche is found. I tend to agree with Frank, your fish do resemble Rocafuerte more than any other species. Your photos show a very...
  4. Mike Wise

    Agassizii or Gephyra?

    It's available in many books on apistos. Does anyone read books anymore? OK, A. gephyra always displays a red/orange band along the top edge of the male's dorsal fin (some agassizii do too). The tips of the dorsal and anal fin are shorter on mature gephyra males. The ventral fin are shorter and...
  5. Mike Wise

    Apistogramma Abacaxis Blackwateer Tank

    I also grow out my blackwater species in tap water - but they only breed in soft water. As Darrel continually writes, pH values are unreliable in soft water using testing equipment that we use.
  6. Mike Wise

    Agassizii or Gephyra?

    There are several gephyra-like species. Without a catch location some are hard to tell from one another.
  7. Mike Wise

    Apistogramma Abacaxis Blackwateer Tank

    The upper Rio Tapiche is also a blackwater river. TomC collected Alto Tapiche there and measured the following values: pH: 4.62 Conductivity: 7 microSiemens/cm Temperature: 26.2 °C. Of course this probably isn't the actual conditions one needs to breed the species, but it does need softer and...
  8. Mike Wise

    Collecting in Peru

    Not them nor me!:D
  9. Mike Wise

    Collecting in Peru

    The first time I went to collect in the Amazon I used citronella insect repellent. The mosquitos considered it a condiment - and I was the main dish! When I last was in the Amazon I brought a mosquito repellent containing 100% DEET. I left what I had left with a group of Danish killi collector...
  10. Mike Wise

    Collecting in Peru

    Ttw has been going to South America for decades. He knows that rumor is overblown.;)
  11. Mike Wise

    A. ortegai fry care help

    Females only eat their own fry if the fry are threatened by predation or starvation. Female recognize that it is better to eat their fry and retain some of the nutrition than allowing other fish (even if perceived) to eat them or watching them die of starvation and do nothing.
  12. Mike Wise

    Collecting in Peru

    If you get near Pucallpa I would look in the Rio Shahuaya and see if the Pink Apisto (A. cf. eunotus Shahuaya) still exists. It was the original species sold in the hobby sold as A. eunotus - and it might just be the real A. eunotus.
  13. Mike Wise

    Stocking for 20 gallon

    I agree. Keep them with their mother for at least the first month or until they start to wander away from mom. They feed more regularly and grow faster. 10 tetras of any kind would be a distraction from brood care.
  14. Mike Wise

    Stocking for 20 gallon

    It depends on the tetra and the number. My mantra: a community tank is not a breeding tank.
  15. Mike Wise

    Breeding splash tetras....

    My practice with any tetra is that when I see fewer fry it is time to move them to a larger tank. I also use sponge filters which provide infusoria for the fry. That and dense clumps of plants (usually floating types or Java Moss) provide a source of live food.
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