Apisto borellii a top swimmer?

[digitallinh]

Hello,

I am a little concerned about my a. Borellii. Everything I have read says they are mainly bottom dwelling fish, but mine spends all day hovering near the top. He goes down sometimes but When I bought him he wasn't in great shape -- poor uncoordinated swimmer, tailfin a bit ragged, so I'm curious if a disease could be causing this? He does his weird vertical swim (head up, tail down) move sometimes as well to get up, which I've never seen fish do.

It's also worth mentioning I have 6 peacock gudgeons in this 29gallon, 100% jungle planted tank. Could they be hogging the bottom? Could it be because there is no open space?

Anyone else experience this? Thanks.

 

[Linus_Cello]

My male swims in both the lower and upper parts of the tank, but mostly I see it in the upper regions. I think it swims in the upper regions in the hopes of blackworms (more at he upper regions as other fish eat them before they get to the bottom). I also have lots of floating plants so there is shelter in the upper regions. Maybe you could add some plants in the upper parts of your tanks?

 

[CopabX]

It could be because there's a lack of oxygen in the tank. The gudgeons could also be hogging the bottom. I have seen this with plecos and my fish. Try adding stacks of caves elevated off the bottom by a couple inches.

The odd swimming reminds me of a gourami that had a bladder problem...

 

[gerald]

Peacock gudgeon males will threaten each other but I really doubt an Apisto would be intimidated by them. The odd swimming behavior sounds like something is wrong internally with this fish. Is it eating well and does its breathing rate looks normal? If not it may be sick.

 

[Mike Wise]

A. borellii in the wild is known to live in the roots of floating plants, and even spawn in them! If the fish actually struggles to swim to the top, however, it might have swim bladder problems.