A. sp. "masken"

[canon8838]

Today at my aquarium society auction i came across a mated pair of apisto. sp "masken" and 2 of their fry. I just had to have them, so i bid and got them for $22. I have just put them into a 10g tank, with plants, leaves, and clay pots, and a ph. of 7.

-Can anybody give me some information on this species?

-what genus are they in?

 

[Peter Lovett1]

Nice fish and very easy to keep and breed.

You should have no problems with them.

 

[Neil]

canon8838,

-Can anybody give me some information on this species?

As Peter has already said, they are fairly easy to breed, requiring only good food and clean water. Your water should be fine. They go by numerous other name, which you might want to know when searching for info about them - A. sp. "Masken/Masked", A. sp. "Apache", A. sp."Carapintada" (painted head) and probably a bunch more, but not the same as winkelfleck. It is a very nice and colorful species.

-what genus are they in?

Apistogramma :wink: I think you probably meant group. They are regani-group fish in the regani-complex, as far as I know.

Good luck with them and have fun!

Neil

 

[canon8838]

Are they harem breeders?

I will take pictures tommorow and post them

 

[fideltagamma]

Hi canon8838,

they are very nice fish. I do not know whether they are harem breeders, because I have only one female, but from the males behaviour I suppose so.

Actually they just spawned in my 80G display tank. I have quite a few fish in it and water conditions are not ideal. PH is about 6.8 and GH is 4.5.

The female defends her territory relentlessly the male chases other apistos around but he is not allowed close to the eggs. If there are any because I just cannot see the place where the eggs were laid.

And well I would like to ask the others what shall I do next. How will I know if the eggs hatched, or the fry is free swimming. And how can I feed them like this? The problem is that they spawned on a huge piece of wood, that I cannot take out of the tank.

So what shall I do?

Daniel

 

[farm41]

Just watch, and have some bbs ready. You'll see them come out when they are free swimming, then just give them a squirt of bbs 3 times a day.

 

[canon8838]

I have taken some photos of the pair. http://f2.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/canon8838/slideshow?&.dir=/f2a9&.src=ph

Along with the pair i got 2 of their older fry, should i move the fry to a seperate tank or keep them with the pair?

 

[Neil]

He is a fat boy, isn't he?!

If you remove the fry, they will likely spawn sooner. So I would say, yes.

Neil

 

[fideltagamma]

Hi,

thanks for the answer. If the fry is free swimming are they gonna be attacked by the others? Or eaten? There are hiding places, but about 25 cm farther from the place.

Thanks

Daniel

 

[fideltagamma]

Hi!

My sp. Masken fry is free swimming now, since Fryday. I have about 15-20. They are very cute swimming around with the female guarding over them. As they are in my 70 g display tank, i did not know how to save them from the others, but that task, till this point at least, is properly done by the female.

Though I have a huge problem feeding them. I would have artemia hatched, but I must do something wrong. I tried already 3 times, but they didn't hatch. I used salt water with 3% salt in it, airing is without diffusion, cannot heat them but its 20 C in the flat. Actually the water gets foamy. The salt is marine salt with no additives.


Is it possible that my tap water isn't good for hatching?

Can I use destilled water instead of tap water?

And in the meanwhile what can I feed the fry? I tried boiled egg yolk, but don't know if it helped.

Thanks

Daniel

Here are some quite bad pictures of my tank and fish.

http://mappa.prim.hu/fideltagamma?f=433934026

 

[mervin]

that is a really good looking fish in a simple yet beautiful setup.

good luck !!!

 

[fideltagamma]

Hi,

some update to the spawning:

So I had about 30 sp. Masken free swimming but their number decreased to 5 until I got some proper food for them. Though I was still unable to hatch the BBS.

Maybe the female was not sufficently effective protecting the fry in the community tank as at the moment I have only one small baby fish. At least yesterday evening I still had one.

Well I am a kind of sad to loose the fry, though the pair did a great effort trying to save them. Next time I hope I will have enough experience to have the BBS hatched and can give the parents the chance to raise their fry.

Actually I definitely insist on trying it in the community tank. And I give my reasons for that:

First Römer wrote in his book, that the apistos are definitely able to raise the fry in a community tank, and for example with A. bitaeniata this was his suggestion. I think that this might be a solution closer to what I try to reach in my tank, the natural circumstances. (Though I know I cannot really get close to that.)

And the other that my other tank works as a quarantine tank for newcomers, and has inhabitants until March.

Do you think it is useless to force spawning in the community tank?

Best wishes

Daniel

 

[Neil]

fideltagamma,

No I don't think that it is useless to try and breed in a community setting. It is just a little more difficult and the results (as you have already seen) are sometimes not as good. With proper feeding, you should be able to get some of the fry to a size that they can avoid being eaten. The parents have had practice now and may be even better the next time around.

As for hatching BBS, I am not sure why you are having problems. Try posting the specifics of your question in the Lounge. You will probably get more attention to it there. You can definitely use distilled water, if you are using Marine salt. Also, try a search for brine shrimp or haching BBS. You may find some useful info.

Neil

 

[fideltagamma]

Hello,

just some update.

All fry is lost, but the female returd to spawning lust. So some days ago, I thought, that they had already laid the eggs. How wrong I was!

The female keeps courting (?) but the male is not really interested. And I just don't know what to do with them. I've never heard anything like that before.

Dániel