Agassizi General

[CopabX]

I've had a pair of agassizis for a few months now and I haven't seen any of the behavior usually described like the fighting, territorial, or feeding habits. Is this because the pH is too high (its at 6.8) or is it because I am using the wrong foods?

 

[jakeowen]

Your ph should be ok. You also might want to check your other parameters, such as hardness, ammonia, etc.

What are you feeding them?

It would also help if you could offer a little more info about your set up. Tank size, tank mates, types of decorations.

 

[CopabX]

no ammonia and very soft water since I use RO. very low to no nitrates/trites also.

I feed them frozen brine shrimp/bloodworms and occasionally live shimp when i have time to raise a batch. They seem to like pellets and sometimes flakes so usually its that twice a day and the shrimp/worms every other day.

i have a 13 gal nanocube with a large castle in the middle and a bunch of ferns covering most of the bottom. Theres also a couple clay pots in there. As for tankmates, theres one ghost shrimp, 2 bloodfins, a guppy (no clue how it got there), one opaline gourami (female), and a gloden algae eater(usually sits and watches). I thought the opaline may have been a problem but i havent seen my apistos have a problem with her and vice versa. The male and female follow each other around and i barely ever see them more than a few inches away from each other except when chasing food.

The apistos are a pair I got at a local fish store. Fire red. When they were in the store, they all just kinda stared at each other. So could it be that strain or batch or are they still recovering from shipment? Im not sure if they are wild or bred.

 

[Mike Wise]

Obviously the fish like the tank and aren't bothered by their tank mates. No stressful situations means not fighting. If you feed them enough, then they don't need to look for more. What more can you ask? ... well maybe to breed, but (need I say it again?): a community tank isn't a breeding tank.:wink:

 

[Apistomaster]

I feed breeder Apistogramma newly hatched brine shrimp and any mosquito larvae and live blood worms i manage to culture in fair weather in an outdoor pool.
I find if I feed live black worms that many females will begin to guard any colonies of black worms as if they were their fry so I avoid using them unless the tank is set up bare bottom style. This may sound strange but I have seen most species I have kept exhibit this unproductive behavior.

 

[CopabX]

Ok, thanks. I was just really worried since they're my first in this species.

 

[CopabX]

My apistos started to spawn and I can see eggs inside the castle.:biggrin: I moved the rest of my fish out of that tank and now its only the pair. Should I move the fry out since I cant get any BBS down there with the current or let mother nature take its course? I also removed some of the seashells and added a couple pieces of wood to lower the pH since I read somewhere that they do better in slightly alkaline conditions.

 

[Mike Wise]

Don't remove the fry. You will be sure to lose most of them if not kept with their mother. Apisto fry orient strongly to their mother's signals. Without their mother they typically just sit on the bottom afraid to move and eat. With their mother, they are out and looking for food. If the current is so strong, then just turn off the filter for an hour while feeding. Apistos don't really need a strong current anyway. I guess that you're using a power box filter. These need the intake tube covered with foam to prevent fry being sucked into the filter. I lost about 80 Pv. pulcher fry that way. Happened only once - disposed of the filter and replaced it with a sponge filter.

 

[CopabX]

Well the filter is a built in multi-stage so im not sure if I can put in a sponge one...

 

[Mike Wise]

This tank uses a surface skimmer for water intake, right? Then don't worry about it trapping fry; they won't go near the surface. Just shut off the filter when feeding and turn it on afterward.

 

[CopabX]

Its two grills on the left side of the back side. One high one low. I've covered one of them but then the pump doesn't get enough water and makes a fan noise until it refills again.

 

[Mike Wise]

My guess is that the top grill is the intake and the bottom grill is the outlet. If so, then I wouldn't worry about losing fry to the filter system. If it is the other way around, then you will have problems.

 

[CopabX]

They both are intake and there an outlet for the pump on the other side. I put up a couple brine shrimp nets over the grill so hopefully... Not counting that many though