44 Gallon Stocking

[Epos7]

Here are my plants. Just did my bi-weekly floating plant pruning. Tank has been cycling for about 6 months now. Plants are in pots until I finish building permanent stand/cabinet and can add substrate, rocks, and wood. Just a bit of sanding/finishing left on the cabinet so getting very close to the final tank setup

 

[Epos7]

I've been checking everywhere online I could find, and contacting private sellers for the past six months to see if anyone would be willing to sell male Borellis, and I've come up with nothing. I'm not sure Borelli males are a viable option in this part of the world. Everywhere that has responded says they buy them in pairs and will only sell them in pairs or unsexed. Dan's fish offered to attempt picking males, but said they couldn't guarantee it. My local fish store stocks Borellis, but they're so small and immature I can't confidently determine what sex they are. The odds of them having three males at one time are also slim, and I'm thinking if I went the three Borelli route it would be best to add them all at once.

So I'm thinking I might order one of the Abacaxis males. I bought 14 Rummy Nose Tetras the other day, and they are in and doing well. My cabinet is finished, so I should be able to set up the tank in its final form in the next week or so

 

[miniman]

I've been checking everywhere online I could find, and contacting private sellers for the past six months to see if anyone would be willing to sell male Borellis, and I've come up with nothing. I'm not sure Borelli males are a viable option in this part of the world. Everywhere that has responded says they buy them in pairs and will only sell them in pairs or unsexed. Dan's fish offered to attempt picking males, but said they couldn't guarantee it. My local fish store stocks Borellis, but they're so small and immature I can't confidently determine what sex they are. The odds of them having three males at one time are also slim, and I'm thinking if I went the three Borelli route it would be best to add them all at once.

So I'm thinking I might order one of the Abacaxis males. I bought 14 Rummy Nose Tetras the other day, and they are in and doing well. My cabinet is finished, so I should be able to set up the tank in its final form in the next week or so

to be fair based on my borelli pair, maybe aba would be better as rummys are very active and may not be suited to pair with borelli anyway? not entirely sure but that is my opinion

 

[Epos7]

to be fair based on my borelli pair, maybe aba would be better as rummys are very active and may not be suited to pair with borelli anyway? not entirely sure but that is my opinion

They are pretty active so far. Good data point, thanks!

 

[MacZ]

to be fair based on my borelli pair, maybe aba would be better as rummys are very active and may not be suited to pair with borelli anyway? not entirely sure but that is my opinion

I agree. A. Borellii and Petitella don't fit in their needs, so now the other Apistogramma is the best choice.

 

[anewbie]

I've been checking everywhere online I could find, and contacting private sellers for the past six months to see if anyone would be willing to sell male Borellis, and I've come up with nothing. I'm not sure Borelli males are a viable option in this part of the world. Everywhere that has responded says they buy them in pairs and will only sell them in pairs or unsexed. Dan's fish offered to attempt picking males, but said they couldn't guarantee it. My local fish store stocks Borellis, but they're so small and immature I can't confidently determine what sex they are. The odds of them having three males at one time are also slim, and I'm thinking if I went the three Borelli route it would be best to add them all at once.

So I'm thinking I might order one of the Abacaxis males. I bought 14 Rummy Nose Tetras the other day, and they are in and doing well. My cabinet is finished, so I should be able to set up the tank in its final form in the next week or so

there are a few places that will sell single males if you make the request - mostly small stores like aquaticclarity and jdaquatics - i'm not sure they have them in stock right now but they do get them frequently.

 

[Epos7]

there are a few places that will sell single males if you make the request - mostly small stores like aquaticclarity and jdaquatics - i'm not sure they have them in stock right now but they do get them frequently.

Maybe there's been a bit of a drought with regards to availability? I've tried reaching out to Aquatic Clarity but they weren't willing to sell males. I've been keeping an eye on Get Gills where JD Aquatics lists their fish, and have not seen any Borelli males since I started looking back in January. JD Aquatics does have the Abacaxis males I will likely order.

 

[Ben Rhau]

Maybe there's been a bit of a drought with regards to availability? I've tried reaching out to Aquatic Clarity but they weren't willing to sell males. I've been keeping an eye on Get Gills where JD Aquatics lists their fish, and have not seen any Borelli males since I started looking back in January. JD Aquatics does have the Abacaxis males I will likely order.

They probably won't list males separately. Just reach out to Jacob (JD Aquatics) directly, or ask other sellers. I'd be surprised if you couldn't find any. Ask on the BAND group, but be sure to follow the group rules for posting format, so that the admin doesn't delete your post: https://band.us/band/78632746

 

[Epos7]

They probably won't list males separately. Just reach out to Jacob (JD Aquatics) directly, or ask other sellers. I'd be surprised if you couldn't find any. Ask on the BAND group, but be sure to follow the group rules for posting format, so that the admin doesn't delete your post: https://band.us/band/78632746

I have inquired with JD Aquatics, Wet Spot, Dans Fish (will attempt to pick males but no guarantees), Red Fish Blue Fish, Aquatic Clarity, Tristan's Tropical Fish, and Aquahuna. Borelli males are hard to come by. Most places don't want to sell just males as they'd be left with some unpaired females they may not be able to sell, which I can understand. The Wet Spot said they could let me know if they had some extra males toward the end of a batch, but I've checked in with them several times and that hasn't happened yet.

BAND may be worth a shot. That I haven't tried.

No big deal, with the Rummy Nose Tetras it sounds like Borelli may not be the best fit anyway, so maybe it's fortunate I haven't been ablet to find any.

 

[Epos7]

No luck on BAND either. JD Aquatics responded to my post saying they don't have any. Think I've given it a valiant effort to source a male, but seems the only males currently available anywhere are the Abacaxis and Baenschi Inka. JD Aquatics had some Agassizii 'Blue Flame' males but those look to have sold out. I'm reading a lot of conflicting info on the Abacaxis. Some say it's really timid and others say really aggressive.

 

[anewbie]

There is a reliable seller on ebay you could message - i suspect he doesn't have spares right now but you could ask him if he expects more and if so when.

 

[Epos7]

There is a reliable seller on ebay you could message - i suspect he doesn't have spares right now but you could ask him if he expects more and if so when.

Thanks! If I'm thinking of the right seller, they also list fish on Get Gills and I've reached out to see if they expect any males. They did not. In fact, of the 5-10 sellers I've attempted to contact directly, none have shown any interest in selling only males, at all, now or in the future. Several sellers have responded saying they specifically don't sell just males.

 

[Epos7]

Found a couple more options for males at Imperial Tropicals - Agassazii Fire Red, Hongsloi.

 

[Epos7]

New find! More males listed on Vivvy. Not a site I was familiar with, looks pretty new.

Add Macmasteri, Trifasciata, and Agassizi 'Double Red' to the list of options.

 

[Epos7]

I ended up ordering some male apistos from tolstoy on Vivvy, and got some nice healthy fish.

Purchased a male Agassizi 'Double Red' and a male Abacaxis. They're both young adults and living in the 44 gallon tank for now. I've observed a little bit of chasing (usually the Abacaxis chasing the Agassizi for a split second) but most of the time they take advantage of the hardscape and pick caves on opposite sides of the tank where they can't see each other. I have a 22 long I'm working on setting up, so if more aggression develops as they get more mature, I'll move one into the 22 gallon.

 

[Epos7]

Tank photo at 5 weeks. Apistos are hiding as I'd just been working in the tank. The stem plants had reached the surface but were struggling with diatoms so I trimmed them back right before this photo. So it's more open than normal. Turned the lights to 100% for photo purposes, typically I have it set to peak at 50%. Will post another pic in a few weeks once the stem plants grow back.

Really happy with how the epoxy turned out on the Seiryu stone. It was a lot of work, and I'm not sure I'd do it again, but the epoxy vanishes underwater and prevents leaching from the rocks.

I had one tetra jump out in the first five weeks, so I may need to try to keep the water level a bit lower. I didn't see when it happened, but I wonder if it was during feeding if I dropped some food close to the edge. Since, I've been trying to feed at least a few inches in from the sides.

 

[Epos7]

Today I picked up three Parotocinclus haroldoi. They're in quarantine for a little while then I'll add them to the 44 gallon.

I moved the Agassizi to its own 10 gallon tank as the Abacaxis was being a bit aggressive and I noticed some damage to the Agassizi's tail. That was about a month ago and the Agassizi is looking much better. He'll get moved into a 22 gallon long in a month or two.

I've had a few more of the rummynose tetras escape the tank by way of jumping, so I ordered a lid.

 

[Epos7]

Sadly my Agassizi jumped out of its tank last night. I didn't know apistos to be jumpers, but something must have spooked it. More lids ordered.

 

[anewbie]

Sadly my Agassizi jumped out of its tank last night. I didn't know apistos to be jumpers, but something must have spooked it. More lids ordered.

They generally aren't jumpers and something must have spooked him - i believe Abacaxis might have been part of the reason he jumped but that is wild speculation on my part.

 

[Epos7]

They generally aren't jumpers and something must have spooked him - i believe Abacaxis might have been part of the reason he jumped but that is wild speculation on my part.

He was in a tank by himself and was still in there when I went to bed. Nothing turned on or changed overnight, but something definitely spooked him.