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Hi Per
That was an interesting thread. Thanks for linking it!
I finally got rid of the two cories -- it took me two hours to catch them. They weren't going for the bottle, but the male apisto kept trying to go in. So I finally gave up on that idea and just cleared out one corner of the...
Thanks Zapisto. I figured this could be a good chance to learn a little more about this species. And if they're truly an F1 hybrid, we should see some fry with characteristics of the original two species. That's another reason why I want to clear out the other residents -- so we have as many fry...
Well one of the cories is humongous (I've had him for over 10 years), and it takes two of the apistos to get rid of him. And if I remove him from the tank, I don't want to leave the other one alone, so I'll have to get him out too. So tomorrow night I'm gonna make a real effort to catch them...
They were free-swimming, but they still liked to settle on the bottom. Can't dispute the fact that about 30 fry disappeared overnight.
Plus the other female's fry aren't yet free-swimming. They're still just wigglers. Except for the few fry that she adopted from the other female.
I'll feel...
Thanks Mike. I've used the pop bottle trick before and it's great. So yeah, I tried it last night. Walked away for a minute, came back, and I'd caught both the male and the female apisto. :rolleyes: And the fry were on the outside of the bottle trying to keep close to momma, in danger of being...
I think there were some casualties last night. The first female's brood seems to be down to about 10 fry now -- it could be more, because they're pretty well camouflaged against the gravel, but that's all I've been able to count. It could be that the cories snagged a few in the night, or perhaps...
Well I'm very curious to see what these fry look like when they grow up -- whether they'll all look like the parents or if there'll be some that exhibit characteristics of other species.
The fry are swimming a lot more confidently, straying further and further from the female. I count about...
An update. Last night I decided that the apistos were harrassing the other inhabitants of the tank too much, so I tried to return the other fish to the pet store. Unfortunately, I could only catch two of the cories, so there's still one small and one large cory in this tank. But it seems a lot...
Thanks Per. (Wow, I don't know whether to congratulate you or offer condolences!)
I hope everyone else isn't completely bored by this thread. I just thought that since so little seems to be known about this species it would be helpful to post as much detail as I can. Especially regarding...
She's moved the eggs yet again, this time onto the first piece of driftwood that she was originally favouring. Everything still looks good -- LOTS of wigglers! She's defending them and fanning them, and even though he's trying to start yet another family, the male is still defending them too...
Thanks Joost. Here's hoping!
I got home tonight and checked the tank, and they were all gone. Not a single one left. And the female was hanging out at the front of the tank, nowhere near the cave. I was totally bummed. And then I noticed a little grey mass in the gravel. She'd moved them all...
Well I've been away for a few days and didn't get a chance to check the aquarium until last night, and I noticed that the male is now ignoring his current mate in favour of flirting for the other girl. And she's responding quite favourably. The other female was still guarding her cave.
Then...
Yeah, it'll look nice & lush once the crypts grow and it fills in. But more of the plants will be lower with the driftwood sticking up (instead of the old layout where all the stemplants totally hid the driftwood).
Joost, thanks for the link. And funny you should mention the plants. My tank actually used to look like this, but I just decided to rework it. I took out most of the stem plants, added more driftwood, and planted several baby crypts in the foreground. They will grow and fill in, but I know it's...
Hey fishgeek. Ph is 6.0-ish and hardness is <1.
And my boy is officially an idiot. After all the time and effort he put into getting the girl to move into his cave, now that she wants him to join her he just keeps swimming away. I've seen her actually swim all the way across the tank to where...
Things are pretty much the same today. The pair are still defending their cave and the female is still trying to lure the male to come into the cave with her. Her markings are staying dark and pronounced all the time now, and she's also showing a bit of yellow colouring. The male, however, is...
Thanks fishgeek. I'm trying to be as detailed as possible since no one really knows much about this fish.
Both of my females were showing pretty intense yellow colouring in the store, but once I got them home they switched to the blue-ish colour. I keep waiting for the yellow to come back...