A. vijeta II 'Super Red' and A. sp "Fresa"

[M0oN]

I'm look'n for information on both of these species, mainly aggression levels, but anything out of the ordinary from other apistogramma species is appreciated as well.

Trying to make my final decision between one of these two or panduro before I make my purchase from Jacob's, would either of these two species be better suited to a community tank setup or are they just as violent?

 

[cootwarm]

Hi MOoN,

I had 7 adult F1 viejita II (3m4f) in a 30 gallon tank for many months. I write this in past tense because a short time ago I moved 2m & 2f to a second 30 gallon tank. The only reason I did this is because I wanted some viejita fry, not because of aggression. I think the extra viejita were eating the fry at night when mom & pop couldn't see so well. I think dad was responsible for losing most of the fry. He would take half the fry and bring them all around the tank. The problem with that is that he was too careless with them. He'd let them spread out too far and he would leave the stragglers behind! The next day he would take half of the remaining fry from the mother and do it again.

Anyhow, there is a large piece of driftwood, 3 clumps of Java Moss (with 3 coconut shell caves somewhere in each clump) and 2 small piles oak leaves in the tank. There is also a couple large Java Ferns attached to the driftwood. So I've got plenty of cover.

Under these conditions, the agression wasn't too bad. There was no fighting, just a little chasing. The extra (subdominant) males knew their place in the pecking order and tried to avoid trouble. They mostly had to watch out for the females. All 3 coconut shell caves were occupied with a female in each vigorously defending it's perimeter. But all in all, the extra viejita were able to carry on normal activities, they just had to sneak around a little. There was enough cover and there were a couple small pockets of neutral territory.

For comparison, I also have a 30 gallon with the same number of borellii (3m4f).

This tank is structured the same as the first, with driftwood, plants, caves and leaves. Again like the first tank, there is 1 dominant male with 3 spawning females. Here there is no aggression at all. The spawning females only defend a small radius around the cave entrance. The tank now has about 40 large juvies (up to 3/4") and about forty younger juvies (up to 1/4"). The extra adult borellii feed right along side the fry and don't even attempt to eat any!

After a couple months, 2 of the spawning females gave their fry up to the third female and spawned a second time. This is how I ended up with 2 sizes of fry. Currently there is no spawning behavior going on. I think it's too crowded. Soon I'll be moving the adult borellii into two 20 gallon longs and the fry to a 55 gallon to grow out more. I need to make room for some new apistos from Mike Jacob in a few weeks. :wink:

Michael

 

[M0oN]

Thanks cootwarm

How about fresa? I understand they stay fairly small compared to most other apisto's...maybe this would work out better in my setup:
29 gallon bow front, heavily planted
6 cory cats
2 clown loach
6 praecox rainbow
6 oto's
2 platty's

Look'n to add 6 apisto's to the tank, could be less, though. But I'd like a decent amoutn in there as they're supposed to be the centerpeice of action in the tank.

 

[cootwarm]

As for the "Fresa", I'm considering that one myself.

I read somewheres that "Fresa" is a bitaeniata.
If this is so, Dr. Romer wrote that he had good luck with colonies of 10 to 20 bitaeniata in a large tank.

Michael

 

[mervin]

Fresa is a super beautiful fish !!!!

i have managed to spawn them !!!

:lol:

 

[Rolo]

Hi,

better you call your Viejita II "super red" Ap. macmasteri, that's more correct, because they are no Ap. viejita. ... but if you want, you can call them Macmasteri "Super red" ;-)

The Ap. sp. "Fresa" or Ap. sp. "Barbarossa", as it is called here in germany, is not the same species as Ap. bitaeniata, but it's close related to it. Both are in the Ap. bitaeniata complex.

greetings,
Rolo