A. macmasteri Biotope Info

[puertoayacucho1]

Yes, I will try to look for the N. eques, let see. I will keep you'll posted.

Thanks for all the help.

N. unifasciatus. Common throughout the Llanos region in Colombia and Venezuela.

 

[MacZ]

I'd also go for N. eques. They can deal with open water a bit better, N. mortenthaleri would profit from a rather overgrown tank.
Also N. eques would make for a great stand-in, as N. unifasciatus are not very common in the trade.

 

[luisramos126]

I found more information.

 

[Mazan]

Nice, I didn't have time to look at these properly last night. I already had the checklist, didn't send it before as I thought it was too general, but it does at least specify whether fish are from the Amazonian or Orinoco drainages or both. The Apistogramma one is nice, though mostly taxonomic it does contain some habitat information, and the Rio Arauca one looks very useful for you for determining which fishes occur in the same habitat types as A. macmasteri - I have a collection of papers about neotropical fish and I will definitely be keeping those last two!

 

[Tom C]

We collected many Apistogramma within the A. macmasteri-complex in the Rio Meta drainage of the llanos in Colombia.
One species was found almost everywhere; Copella eigenmanni ( = Copella metae):

In small shallow streams:

In the restwater inside "palm oases":

and in the small lakes / ponds:

I have no problems keeping Copella species as dithers for Apistogramma, I even keep them together with the small Apistogramma minima.

 

[luisramos126]

We collected many Apistogramma within the A. macmasteri-complex in the Rio Meta drainage of the llanos in Colombia.
One species was found almost everywhere; Copella eigenmanni ( = Copella metae):

In small shallow streams:

In the restwater inside "palm oases":

and in the small lakes / ponds:

I have no problems keeping Copella species as dithers for Apistogramma, I even keep them together with the small Apistogramma minima.

Thanks @Tom C for the information and the photos. Would you be willing to share underwater photos or videos of the A. macmasterie habitat?

Thank you in advance!

 

[anewbie]

I don't know if biotope correct but by a wide margin i great prefer nannostomus marilynae to the others i've tried; though one nannostomus i would like to try n. espei. Don't know if i would like them since i haven't tried. them.

What makes the marlynae a bit different is they are a much smaller schooling species that is more relaxed than some of the others mentioned.

 

[Tom C]

Would you be willing to share underwater photos or videos of the A. macmasterie habitat?

I don't have any. But in the dry season most of the streams look like this;

and I don't think you'll need underwater photos to see what it looks like beneath the surface.

I don't know if biotope correct but by a wide margin i great prefer nannostomus marilynae to the others i've tried; though one nannostomus i would like to try n. espei.

I keep Nannostomus in most of my tanks. I have 11 different locations of N. marginatus, never any problems. I also keep N. nitidus, N. marilynae, N. eques, N. beckfordi, N. mortenthaleri, N. rubrocaudatus, N. unifasciatus, N. sp. "Shapra" and the two new red ones N. sp. "Red Pencil 3"(Rio Amaya) and N. sp. "Red Pencil 4"(Rio Cenepa) without any problems. And I keep N. trifasciatus; although the males of this species are quite territorial, there are no problems, they don't disturb the Apistogramma in any way. They don't school, but if scared, they might shoal for a very short time.
My Nannostomus nigrotaeniatus are so aggressive that they live in a very crowded tank, and my Nannostomus anduzei lives in a tank without any other fishes, their small size means they would fit too well in the mouth of an Apisto.
The collector in Guyana who used to collect the N. espei and deliver them to the trade, passed away a while ago. After that I have unfortunately not seen this species offered anywhere.... I would love to see them again.

 

[MacZ]

The collector in Guyana who used to collect the N. espei and deliver them to the trade, passed away a while ago. After that I have unfortunately not seen this species offered anywhere.... I would love to see them again.

Oh. My last info was he had retired and his son refused giving away the location because he's not interested in the business.

 

[anewbie]

Either way no espei. It isn't that the other n's cause a problem i just don't appreciate them - I think i've tried 7 species: mortenthaleri, unifasciatus, eques, ...

I will say the morthenthaleri drove my female Blutkehl crazy so i moved them to another aquarium. The chief problem here was the height of a 20 long but also even in the 29s i find the more passive nature of the marilynae lead to less worry behavior of the brooding female.

 

[luisramos126]

First update of the scape.
Any feedback it will be appreciated.

Next step it will be adding white sand and some leaves.

 

[MacZ]

That many rocks are rather what I expect from a tanganyika tank. Better replace at least 2/3 of the rocks with wood.
Also it doesn't offer the necessary sight blocks. I'd probably close off the right wing to the glass otherwise a dominant fish might claim all the front area and that leaves no room for anybody else.

 

[luisramos126]

That many rocks are rather what I expect from a tanganyika tank. Better replace at least 2/3 of the rocks with wood.
Also it doesn't offer the necessary sight blocks. I'd probably close off the right wing to the glass otherwise a dominant fish might claim all the front area and that leaves no room for anybody else.

Thanks, @MacZ, for your feedback. I will close and spread the rocks on that area.

I used this video as a reference:

. In this video, you can see that all it has are rocks, white sand, some branches, and leaves.

Do you have some other videos that I can take as a reference?

 

[luisramos126]

@MacZ
Added more driftwood.

 

[luisramos126]

Latest update: took out more rocks and added more driftwood. I try to follow the rules of 1/3, from right to left.

 

[MacZ]

Thanks, @MacZ, for your feedback. I will close and spread the rocks on that area.

I used this video as a reference:

. In this video, you can see that all it has are rocks, white sand, some branches, and leaves.

Do you have some other videos that I can take as a reference?

As they say in the video it's an unusual situation that is not happening year round.

I would rather recreate this with only one layer of rocks, and placing wood on top.

What you are still leaving out is the necessity of sight blocks and territory-borders. The current design looks great, no question. But a dominant Apistogramma will just claim most of the tank for itself. Sight-blocks have to be 10-15cm above the sand, the fish should not be able to look (let alone swim) under it or look around it. So it's best to have them glass to glass. If they can perceive the open areas as one plain there will be no territory markings.

In the current state, as is, I would only keep a single male in it, not more.

 

[luisramos126]

As they say in the video it's an unusual situation that is not happening year round.

I would rather recreate this with only one layer of rocks, and placing wood on top.

What you are still leaving out is the necessity of sight blocks and territory-borders. The current design looks great, no question. But a dominant Apistogramma will just claim most of the tank for itself. Sight-blocks have to be 10-15cm above the sand, the fish should not be able to look (let alone swim) under it or look around it. So it's best to have them glass to glass. If they can perceive the open areas as one plain there will be no territory markings.

In the current state, as is, I would only keep a single male in it, not more.

Thanks for the information.
My intent is to keep just one pair of Apistogramma macmasteri, a school of red phantom tetras and a school of pencil fish (if I found N. eques). Also, I am going to add some Amazon plants, and some stems.

Here is an update:

 

[anewbie]

I think it is fine - it might not be biotope accurate but there is sufficient room for the mac to separate if needed. I will note one concern i do have is the choice of tetra - the tank does not seem to have a lot of height and they will of course go after the frys. If you do go with tetra and you don't mind them going after the fry (though it create stress on the female trying to defend them) I would still go with a slim or streamline dither that can deal with the obstructions better.

 

[MacZ]

though it create stress on the female trying to defend them)

i.e. leading to a quick burnout and death of the female after a few months. I'd only add a single male in a display tank, anyway.

 

[luisramos126]

I think it is fine - it might not be biotope accurate but there is sufficient room for the mac to separate if needed. I will note one concern i do have is the choice of tetra - the tank does not seem to have a lot of height and they will of course go after the frys. If you do go with tetra and you don't mind them going after the fry (though it create stress on the female trying to defend them) I would still go with a slim or streamline dither that can deal with the obstructions better.

So, it will be better just the N. eques and a pair of Apistogrammas? Or it will be better just a pair of Apistogramma and nothing else?