agassizii !

[rawdog]

took these tonight

thought i better share

 

[Apistt_ed]

beautiful aggies there!!! looks like the girl has alot of color too... would love to see more pictures of her also!!

 

[nightowl1350]

Great pics.

Question: do all female apisto do that lay flat thing as part of pre spawning displays? My female C. does this, but she is still pretty small compared to the male.

 

[rawdog]

ok appist_ed, you caught me, i was holding back with the female shot - she isn't very photogenic atm, a bit battered from spawning - i can assure everyone i am keeping an eye on her though - she is pretty rough with him too at egg guarding time

hard to get a shot with her fins up

night owl - i would guess all apistos do this, not really sure what it means though - she seems to be showing him her belly (like my eggs ?) althogh a lot of cichlids assume this submissive stance

 

[KenL]

Great male and the first pic is very impressive.

 

[nightowl1350]

Thanks rawdog. I wondered if my female was a bit too young to spawn, but this may be normal behaviour before spawning. Unlike my angels where both are agressive some other cichlids seem to let the male think he's boss. My blue ram female is sometimes the agressive one, but then the male starts chasing her back.

 

[Mike Wise]

Belly display by the female is used on several differnt occasions. She will use it to let the male know that she is ready to spawn. She also uses it to lure the male to her preferred spawning site. She even uses it (usually not while on her side, close to the substrate) to show submission when she is not ready to spawn, but the male is courting her. After this she usually quickly leaves the immediate vicinity of the male.

 

[Roach]

Rawdog if you can get any fry out of those two I'd be interested in getting a few sent up to Sydney.
Good Ags are pretty rare up here at the moment

 

[rawdog]

no worries roach,
they are only on their second attempt at the moment (and i havent got the heart to steal the eggs) but if they pull it off this time i'll let you know

 

[Roach]

How are the two lovers going? Any results from their fooling around?

 

[rawdog]

the lovers are about to get flushed down the toilet if they dont breed soon , they are on their 5th attempt atm - getting some spectacular spawning displays though they really give each other a good beating untill its time for dinner then they happily eat together.

they are becoming extremely comfortable in their tank too almost jumping out to snatch food from my hands the little buggers

i have actually thrown in 2 huge sterbai cories (thought she might be more protective of her eggs if she had a reason to defend them - i dont know im getting desperate

i will remove the cories if i get swimmers

heres a shot of mum eating her eggs (she obviosly doesnt like any of my caves)

 

[blueblue]

oh.. eggs-eating female aggie!! would you consider providing some wallpapers to provide more hidden or unseen areas for the fish to spawn? Usually, female aggie are very good mothers...

 

[Konigwolf]

the lovers are about to get flushed down the toilet if they dont breed soon ,

well if ya do flush 'em, give'm directions to my tank :biggrin: , having trouble tracking down a decent male in brisbane

BTW good luck with them

Andrew

 

[rawdog]

haha ok Konigwolf
i wouldn't really flush them, i'd feed them to my oscars instead

have you tried asking your lfs to see their suppliers fish list, you will be suprised what is available in australia, the shops dont seem order rare fish ?

most shops in melbourne have no appistos at all, when i checked the list there were about 7 types, i picked the "german bred double red agassizii" that was from a supplier called Aquarium Industries, who supply nationally.

BlueBlue - i think the wallpaper idea is excellent, i will do that - thanks ! a nice tartan maybe or paisley

i do have plenty of caves though and a great piece of wood with a small tunnel right through it (the male seems to own that tunnel though) she usually spawns in a cave (only once on the glass)

thanks again