apisto water parameters

[Gypsy]

Hi I would like some help on keeping apistos I am not new to aquariums but have gotten very interested in apistos after i got out of the discus hobby after about 20 years. These little fish are quite interesting. I got lucky and got 2male triple reds and 2 females but afterabout a month 1 female went into hidding and the a couple days later died then the other female did the same thing then shortly after the males died. I just got some wild caught apisto agassizi flame dorsal as they were called so i picked up 2 males and 4 females again the same thing the females just disappear in the tank after about a month and then a few days later die. The males are presently alive a well. The fish are in a 100 gal planted tank and water parameters are good no ammonia nitrates at 10 ppm 0 nitrites kh4 gh5 ph at 7.0 and water temp is kept at 80f water changes are done at 40% weekly. Tank has lots of cover and caves for the apistos. Any info would help Also i would like to know if there is any place in Canada to get tank raised apistos. I got the one's i have by luck as they rarely show up on the local fish stores list. ! fish store has neverheard of them. I've been trying to get the local guy that got the wild caught aggi's to contact Dave Soares and bring some in from him. anyway if there is someplace in canada that ships please let me know and if you can help me with my problem it would greatly be appreciated

 

[Gypsy]

come on folks i need some help with this problem

 

[Simon Morgan]

It always amazes me how much water some people choose to change in their tanks. You say 40% weekly in a 100gal tank containing 4 or 5 tiny fish.
If you consider that these fish live can in ever shrinking pools that go months without a "water change" 40% a week seems unneccessary. The stress caused would outweigh the benefits of clean water.
IMO apistos (and most dwarfs) like peace and and quiet to breed. Leave them be and see what happens!!

 

[fishgeek]

were the fish eating ?
sounds like they are ill rather than just a water issue
internal parasites can lead to slow declines and wild caught fih are more likey to be carrying these simple types of things than tank bred

perhasp pre-emptive treatment with an antiprotozoal and a wormer whilst in aQT in which it is easier to observe the fish and see early clinical signs of any disease process

 

[Gypsy]

thanks for the reply fishgeek yes the fish were eating and very active and they were quarantined for 4 weeks and nothing was observed and like i said the males are doing fine,this is a strnge problem i'm having. and to reply to the other post from 6fttnk i guess i didn't give enuf info but if i only had 6 fish in a 100 gal tank i would probably never hae to do a water change, the tank also has cardinals cory's and keyhole cichlids in it and is very heavily planted.