• 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!

Shy Apistogramma cacatuoides

There Be Whales Here

New Member
5 Year Member
Messages
1
My Apistogramma cacatuoides don't seam to swim out in the open very much. They are housed in a heavily planted 75 gallon tank with blue rams, gold rams, one angle, and several tetras. They were the last fish to be added into my tank; about three weeks ago. When I have seen them out in the open I did not see any of the other fish harassing them. They seem to spend most of there time at the back of the tank. Do they need more time to adjust to my tank? I would very much like to see them swimming about.
 

AquaAlbatros

New Member
5 Year Member
Messages
51
Location
Azul, Argentina
Are they comercially breed or nature captured ?
Maybe they just need more time but check water parameters, nitrate and nitrites, sometimes shy behavior is the first warning.
You have a really dense planted aquarium ?, your plants are fast growers ? (like hygrophila polysperma, ludwigias and alike) don't get overconfindent with plants making all the filter work.
Another way it's to serve daphnias in the aquarium (turn off the water movement first). When the fish learn that in the open areas there is a better food, they will go hunting :)
Greetings, Juan.-
 

MarkG

New Member
Messages
6
I have a similar problem, my Male comes out once in a while but the two females have all but disappeared in the plants. Mr. brings one out for about 30 minutes once or twice a day. Also, my M isn't eating the flake food and I have no idea what the 2F are eating.
 

chris1805

Active Member
5 Year Member
Messages
333
Location
Odijk, the Netherlands
Apistogrammas mostly refuse to eat dry foods, I would therefore recommend frozen brine shrimp or live food. Apistogrammas come from dense areas with lots of leaves and low light. They like to hide if they don’t feel secure. I’ve had apistos hide for over a month before they felt secure enough to come out all day.

My experience is that the more hiding places you have, the more they are out in the open. If they know they can hide any second they want they feel secure enough the swim out in the open. If they only have 1 or 2 hiding places, they will keep hiding.

For example my 60 liter tank contains 4 small apistogramma sp. D37. This tank is heavily planted with about 12 savu pods and 2 coconuts to hide in, combined with lots of wood structures and lots of dead leaves covering the savu pods and coconuts. They are always out in the open, but once I scare them by taking of the lid, they hide in a second. Then I proceed to put the food in and close the lid. Within a second they are out in the open again and eating. I think this is the most natural behaviour for them.
 

MarkG

New Member
Messages
6
Hey Chris, thanks for the feedback!

I have frozen brine in the freezer... Hmm rather obvious place lol.

I've read conflicting info on water movement. I have a powehead with a small sponge filter to polish the water and provide circulation along with a sponge filter rated for a 75 gallon tank.

As for hiding I have 2 clay pots and there are 3 natural hiding places in the scape.Do I need more?
 

dw1305

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Messages
2,755
Location
Wiltshire UK
Hi all,
I've read conflicting info on water movement. I have a powehead with a small sponge filter to polish the water and provide circulation along with a sponge filter rated for a 75 gallon tank.
Water movement is fine, you can have a lot of flow, as long as you have enough structure to diffuse it.
As for hiding I have 2 clay pots and there are 3 natural hiding places in the scape. Do I need more?
Basically the more structure you have in the tank the more secure the fish feel. If you have a floating plants, structural leaf litter, wood, caves etc and some dither fish the Apistogramma will come out.

Have a look at <"Best Plants?">, <"Dither question">, <"Trio in a 2ft"> and <"Ideal spawning cave">.

cheers Darrel
 

chris1805

Active Member
5 Year Member
Messages
333
Location
Odijk, the Netherlands
A photo of your tank would help as well. Also make sure the enterances of the caves are not too big. For example my sp. D37 female chose a small savu pod right in front of the glas to breed. If you look closely you can see a few white eggs inside the cave.

I also provided a full tank picture of my tank as an example

B0DB6DCB-341A-4604-8364-FE8EC38ED3FE.jpeg


F249EAA1-B816-403C-BCDF-5871918C26BE.jpeg
 

Members online

Forum statistics

Threads
17,916
Messages
116,204
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