A. Baeschi

[georgedv]

I have three pairs of A Baenschi. One pair is in a well planted and with wood 29G High tank with two male platies. (I hope to find pecil fish soon). The other two pairs are in a 40G long with lots of wood lots of java moss and lots of floating plants.

Both tanks have many coconut shells, pots...etc

Temp is around 75F for the 40G long (on bottom shelf) and 79F for the 29G high (mis shelf).
pH is around 6.8 to 7.0 I can't remember exact hardness reading but was quite soft (1-3ppm)

I read two articles one in PF magazine (UK) and the other in dwarfcichlids.com. One article made this fish seem easy to keep and breed ( water parameters are flexible but within limits) and the other made this fish seem very hard to keep.

So which is it...easy or hard?

I want to know so I can plan spawning them...I don't want to realize 2-4 months down the road that this fish requires specific parameters...etc

Any help is greatly appreciated.

george

 

[georgedv]

Sorry I ment Apistogramma Baenschi

 

[Mike Wise]

How hard or easy to breed depends on what you compare them to. Compared to A. nijsseni, they are easy (less demanding of water values). Compared to A. cf. eunotus, they are more difficult. Right now your water values are not the best. You need to read some books on breeding conditions for this species.

 

[regani]

Mine are in a 2x1ft tank (single pair) at pH 6.2, conductivity 250uS, and temperatures between 75 and 90F (the room gets warm in summer). I didnt find them hard to breed. Your conditions are not too far off, so it should work.

Edit: if Mike says you better change your water, you should

 

[cichlidmac]

I have three pairs of A Baenschi. One pair is in a well planted and with wood 29G High tank with two male platies. (I hope to find pecil fish soon). The other two pairs are in a 40G long with lots of wood lots of java moss and lots of floating plants.

Both tanks have many coconut shells, pots...etc

Temp is around 75F for the 40G long (on bottom shelf) and 79F for the 29G high (mis shelf).
pH is around 6.8 to 7.0 I can't remember exact hardness reading but was quite soft (1-3ppm)

I read two articles one in PF magazine (UK) and the other in dwarfcichlids.com. One article made this fish seem easy to keep and breed ( water parameters are flexible but within limits) and the other made this fish seem very hard to keep.

So which is it...easy or hard?

I want to know so I can plan spawning them...I don't want to realize 2-4 months down the road that this fish requires specific parameters...etc

Any help is greatly appreciated.

george

Wetspot has pencils

Sent from my Android using Tapatalk 2

 

[georgedv]

Thanks for the input everyone. If I am close enough to the parameters then I will be ok. I avoid using chemicals to adjust water parameters and use natural ways, leaf litter, rain water (no RO unit for now)...etc. I'll have to figure a system with containers that will sit for 3-4 weeks till the pH..etc drops and can do water changes at least once a week. I hope I will not need too many water buckets.

Ap Baenschi are beautiful fish and I can't waite to get it right to see all their colors and behavior. Right now the female is bright yellow with dark brown patterns all over her. The male has his caudal colors, but I have a feeling they can get livelier.

Thanks again to everyone.

george

 

[georgedv]

Regani, what kind of a diet did you condition them with? Also did they breed at the high end of the temperature spectrum or low end? Any other bones you can throw my way would be great like substrate, plants...

Mine keep behaving as if they had eggs, the female turns on here yellow and patterns and the male looks fantastic. They both keep going into a coconut shell...but nothing ever happens.

thanks
george

 

[regani]

I feed all my apistos good quality flake or micro pellet (Ocean Nutrition and New Life Spectrum) as staple food together with the occasional life food (BBS, black worm).
Fine sand is the best substrate as it brings out their natural behaviour - they are close relatives to geophagus (earth eaters) after all. I have some floating plants to dim the light a bit, a couple of pieces of driftwood and some java fern. The female has dug her own cave on der one of the DW pieces. Of all my apisto tanks this is the barest as the fair seems to get along quite well.
They don't seem to be too fuzzy about temperature. I have had them breed between maybe 22 and 29 C. They slow down in winter as their tanks are not heated

 

[georgedv]

Thanks. I am going to try 100% sand and just use java, and anubias with floating plants. My substrate might be a little too "peabbley" for them.

george