A.trifasciata

[Apistomaster]

I managed to get a decent photo of one of my A. trifasciata.

An almost 5 month old male. Easy to see why this easy to breed and quick growing species is my most recommended "beginner's Apisto" but I'm no beginner and they are among my favorite species. The are not demanding of any particular water chemistry. They only ask that the water quality is high like all Apistogramma species. I have about 50 and the lot is skewed towards males but I still have at least 20 females to use to make sure I have a good supply of pairs next spring. I have been breeding this line for about 2 years.

 

[ktluvsfish]

Wow, what a beautiful male. A. Trifasciata is definitely one of the species I am interested in keeping in the future. I did not know they were considered a beginners apisto. That actually makes them more appealing to me since I have kept fish for years but have not kept many species of apistos. Good luck with your upcoming spawns

 

[Apistomaster]

Out of about 50 fry, survivors of 2 different spawns, now that all are mature I only got about 6 females out that many fish.
This is the most skewed sex ratio I have personally ever obtained from any group of fry.
The only unusual thing about these is they happened to come from spawns in water in the lower 70's*F. I normally keep and breed them closer to 80 to 82*F and get a better balance of sexes. What this means is that I have far fewer breeders to use to obtain the number of pairs I am hoping to have ready by next spring.
Interestingly, a few years ago, I bred some wild blue Apistogramma at the normal temp but allowed the eggs to develop at room temperatures and out of over 80 fry I obtained one of the most balanced sex ratios I have ever had.
I also raised over 170 fry from a A. cacatuoides white gold female bred with a triple red male. I got about 80 pairs from this largest Apistogramma spawn I have ever raised. Temps were about 82*F.
Makes one wonder why and what factors really determine the final sex ratios among Apistogramma spp. I hope the pendulum swings back to a more normal result from the few breeding groups I was able to set up from this larger group of mainly males. 40+ spare male A. trifasciata are likely to end up as LFS fodder for those who just want a pretty dwarf Cichlid or two and are not interested in breeding.