A. atahualpa biotope

[rasmusW]

Hi all!

Here's my new tank (155Liters, 120cm x 36cm x 36cm).
I got my trio A. atahuapla, 10 Copella nattereri and 5 Nannostrumus marginatus in it and they all seem happy with their new surroundings.
One of the livingroom plants i had growing as riparium plant, in the old one didn't like to get out of the water, so now i'll have to wait for it to grow back in.
I will be adding a few more leaves on the right hand side, to make a deep leaf litter bed.
I used as much of the detritus, sand and leaves from the old tank, as possible, aswell as seedpods and wood. -Though i did a little more sand and some new wood.
There is Redmoore, Beech, Apple and Prunus root and branches in the stew

-And now... the pictures. (Sorry, for the oddball in the reflections...)

Ps. -would it be terrible wrong to add some Mayacara Flutilans? -In TomC's tavelogue, I spotted something that looked like an aquatic plant. If any it might be Toninna Fluvatiles, but that is a bit hard to find.
I aim for Rio Itaya, because of TomC's pictures. That's where i have found the most inspiration/info on a actual biotope.

Thanks in advance.

-r

 

[rasmusW]

hey all!

some months ago i got a new trio for this tank. now they have settled in nicely and reaching 4-5 cm in size.
sadly i think i got 3 females, but to be sure i thought i would hear your take on sexing them.
i hope the pictures are good enough for it, though the smallest one (-which i first thought to be the male) is quite skittish and hides a lot in the top part of the tank. -so pictures of that one are surely not the best.

if they are all female, i'd ofcause like to switch one of them for a male. what would be the best choice in your opinion?
1: net out one female (preferrbly the smallest) and introduce the older and fully grown male (+/- 2 years old) i have from another tank?
2: net out one female (preferrbly the smallest) and buy one/two new males (thinnking two males, just to be on the safe side) and then sell of one pair and keep the other male?

here's the pictures. looking forward to hear your verdict.

-r

 

[rasmusW]

ps.. -maybe i should have posted this in the ID/sexing sub forum.

-r

 

[MacZ]

ps.. -maybe i should have posted this in the ID/sexing sub forum.

-r

"Report" your post and ask the admins/mods to move it there.

 

[rasmusW]

Ye! Might be a good idea. I’ll give it a chance here first.

-r

 

[MacZ]

Ye! Might be a good idea. I’ll give it a chance here first.

-r

Standard in case of a misplaced topic/post.

 

[rasmusW]

it's about time for a little update on this tank...
sadly i didn't get any pictures of the big male, but i did manage to get a few good ones of the dominant female aswell as some of my newest purchase, 15 hyphesseobrycon loretoensis.
they n. marginatus is now moved to another tank.

-r

 

[MacZ]

That's a tank I can just enjoy. Love it!

 

[rasmusW]

That's a tank I can just enjoy. Love it!

Thanks a lot Sir. I’m quite pleassed with it myself.

-r

 

[Wazaaaa]

Great job RasmusW !

 

[rasmusW]

hey!
i thought i could just as well keep this thread alive and post pictures of my "new" atahualpa setup.
i have recently caught the two subdominant males and replaced them with a female.
when i introduced the female i made sure to move some leaves and seedpods around as well as added a few more leaves, in hopes that the male will see it as a new area. -maybe naive, but i can always hope.

fingers crossed all goes well.

the copellas in here have laid eggs a few times now. once i did manage to get one or two wrigglers, but it something i need to solve for next time. i really like those little fellas.

ps. -the male atahualpa is in fact almost as red in real life as he is on the pictures.
-though the lighting and camera is shifting colors a bit.

-r

 

[rasmusW]

Small update…
I’m quite exited as it looks like something is going on in that cave.

Sorry. Only phone pics this time.

-r

 

[rasmusW]

Small update no.2: I have just spotted the free swimming fry, in the back of the tank. I was starting to lose hope a bit.

-so now both my apisto species rear young ones…

-r

 

[rasmusW]

time for a small update.
for a while now, I have been trying to figure out how to raise fry (-from eggs) of my copella nattereri. Therefore tried various plastic boxes and a hang-on breeding box. I also looked at lowells (-lowells fish lab), 3D printed box and thought one day I’ll buy that.
Untill I get that far, I have made my own little discount version of his.
It’s a small kitchen box. Filled the handle holes with coarse spongefilter foam, so that tank water can run through. A air tube and a clamp to fasten it to the side of the tank (it also serves as a air tube holder).

So far it’s been working fine or atleast I have been able to keep fry alive in it.

Here is a few pictures of my marvel

-r

 

[anewbie]

The big difference i see between your box and some store boxes is that most of the store boxes either use screening and fit inside the tank using tank water or use air to push water into the box and have a method for the water to overflow back into the tank without the frys escaping. The key difference between this and yours is the constant filtering of the water and prevention of ammonia build up. You of course added sponges but it isn't quite the same level of volume of filtering - there is this screen box that fit in the tank that is fairly cheap that ziss makes. For what they are they are kind of over priced and they are a bit of pain when doing water changes but they work well enough if the fry is too large to fit through the screen bottom. I used one with some mesonauta egregius a year or two ago as well as some krobia frys and angels frys - the angel fry thing was 5 or 6 years ago - i will never intentionally raise domestic angels again.

I do want to try breeding some of my less common tetra and n. epesi once of these days - hopefully before they age out so maybe one day i will use it agian.

Swisstropical (usa) has a box designed in germany so it should be availalbe over there that is similar to ziss box that uses the same idea:

German Breeding Rings - SWISSTROPICALS

German Breeding Rings US and Canadian customers, see terms for shipping rates. For all other countries, please, Email me first to receive a shipping quote for your order. GBR with airstone Sm Betta Ring GBR with jetlifter-Catfish Lg GBR with jetlifter-Cichlid Check out our new taller GBRs for...

www.swisstropicals.com

They float which solve the water change issue so maybe you can find them in europe for not too much.

 

[rasmusW]

Thanks for the tip. I’ll try to find it.

My box can absolutely be improved, but where it wins over many actual breeding boxes is the height of it. It is rather shallow which is needed for hatching of the copella eggs, atleast from my experience.

-r

 

[MacZ]

The big difference i see between your box and some store boxes is that most of the store boxes either use screening and fit inside the tank using tank water or use air to push water into the box and have a method for the water to overflow back into the tank without the frys escaping. The key difference between this and yours is the constant filtering of the water and prevention of ammonia build up. You of course added sponges but it isn't quite the same level of volume of filtering - there is this screen box that fit in the tank that is fairly cheap that ziss makes. For what they are they are kind of over priced and they are a bit of pain when doing water changes but they work well enough if the fry is too large to fit through the screen bottom. I used one with some mesonauta egregius a year or two ago as well as some krobia frys and angels frys - the angel fry thing was 5 or 6 years ago - i will never intentionally raise domestic angels again.

I do want to try breeding some of my less common tetra and n. epesi once of these days - hopefully before they age out so maybe one day i will use it agian.

Swisstropical (usa) has a box designed in germany so it should be availalbe over there that is similar to ziss box that uses the same idea:

German Breeding Rings - SWISSTROPICALS

German Breeding Rings US and Canadian customers, see terms for shipping rates. For all other countries, please, Email me first to receive a shipping quote for your order. GBR with airstone Sm Betta Ring GBR with jetlifter-Catfish Lg GBR with jetlifter-Cichlid Check out our new taller GBRs for...

www.swisstropicals.com

They float which solve the water change issue so maybe you can find them in europe for not too much.

Why do they call them german? I've never seen those or any DIY version of this.

 

[anewbie]

Why do they call them german? I've never seen those or any DIY version of this.

Read the description:

German Breeding Rings or GBR (“Aufzuchtringe”) are a genius invention by several of my German pleco friends.

 

[anewbie]

Read the description:

German Breeding Rings or GBR (“Aufzuchtringe”) are a genius invention by several of my German pleco friends.

In truth it is just a sad play on fish GBR and i have no clue if his German friends live in Germany or USA.

But i do like at least on paper the idea of them floating (never used them); the biggest complaint i have with the ziss box is i have to slide it down during water changes and then back up and things always go wrong in the process.

 

[MacZ]

Plecos... Possibly something they use in that subset of the hobby exclusively, but I would have seen sth. like that somewhere at least.