Apistogramma agassizii double red

[Adithya]

Hi everyone!

I'm new to Apistogramma hobby. As you see in the image below. You see a white spots on them. I wanted to if this is an Itch or just the growing phase. And I also wanted to know if this is male or female? Can someone help me out

 

[MacZ]

Well, that's Ichthyophthirius multifilis (aka Ich), start treatment asap of the fish is gone in 2 weeks.
To completely make sure it's a female, the whole fish has to be visible. The coulouration maaaay mean it's a female, but I'd want to see the caudal first.

 

[Adithya]

Thank you so much. I will start the treatment. Come back with Pic

 

[Apisto Zack]

Hy guys!

Sorry not to open a new topic, but I have the same species. I've got a nice pair. I didn't know, how old are they. I bought them two months ago. First the eggs remained for 3 days,amd the female est them. The second time (12 days later) she eat the eggs at the following day. Yestarday they spawning the 3. time (13 days later),and today also she eat them.
What can I do to succeed? Should i separate the eggs from the parents?
They live in a 40 l tank,with external filter (Eheim 2224,full of bio filteres and reduced flow ofcourse),soft water 150 EC, ph 6,6.
I feed them with alive black mosquito larvae, alive grindal worms (1x/week), and frozen cyclops,artemia,white mosquito larvae.
Anyone have any suggestions?

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

Hy guys!

..... First the eggs remained for 3 days,amd the female est them. The second time (12 days later) she eat the eggs at the following day. Yestarday they spawning the 3. time (13 days later),and today also she eat them.
What can I do to succeed? Should i separate the eggs from the parents?
They live in a 40 l tank,with external filter (Eheim 2224,full of bio filteres and reduced flow ofcourse),soft water 150 EC, ph 6,6.
I feed them with alive black mosquito larvae, alive grindal worms (1x/week), and frozen cyclops,artemia,white mosquito larvae.
Anyone have any suggestions?

Sorry to hear she keeps eating the eggs, food looks pretty good, so can we have a full tank shot? It would allow us to see whether the <"cave, decor etc"> may be the reason.

cheers Darrel

 

[Apisto Zack]

Hi all,

Sorry to hear she keeps eating the eggs, food looks pretty good, so can we have a full tank shot? It would allow us to see whether the <"cave, decor etc"> may be the reason.

cheers Darrel

Hey Darrel,

Thank you for your reply.
This is the home of my pair.

I have received a proposal to reduce the lighting. I come from the aquascaping, so on the picture I set the lamp 50%. No I reduced 20%.
They don't use the cave. Every time they only use those catappa leaves. First and second time they put the eggs on the leaf. Last Time there is a stone under the leaves, and they put on the stone.
Maybe the ph is too high? (I asked two local breeders, they say the 6,8 ph is enough.)
In my external filter I used Eheim substrat pro. I know, this filter media raise the ph, so last week I changed the substrat pro in the frist basket to Aquario Neo pure. This filter media is ph neutral.
So I this is my idea, maybe the strong light and the high ph. Do you have any idea?

 

[Mike Wise]

IMHO a 40L/10 gallon tank is too small for beginning apisto keepers to be consistantly successful breeding apistos. Several things that I see as problems besides tank size are how open/unstructured the decor is and how brightly lit the tank is. Also does the male show interest in the female and bother her while she has eggs? My suggestions are to read how to properly decorate a tank for apisto breeding, add floating plants to shade at least part of the tank, and drop the conductivity some. Your female will more than likely never use the coconut shell-like cave. The opening is too large. If the male is regularly within 25 - 30 cm from the female's spawning site, he is bothering her and needs to be moved. Right now I think your problem is that the female is insecure and is inclined to eat her eggs and get the nutrition from them than let some other potential predator eat them.

 

[Apisto Zack]

IMHO a 40L/10 gallon tank is too small for beginning apisto keepers to be consistantly successful breeding apistos. Several things that I see as problems besides tank size are how open/unstructured the decor is and how brightly lit the tank is. Also does the male show interest in the female and bother her while she has eggs? My suggestions are to read how to properly decorate a tank for apisto breeding, add floating plants to shade at least part of the tank, and drop the conductivity some. Your female will more than likely never use the coconut shell-like cave. The opening is too large. If the male is regularly within 25 - 30 cm from the female's spawning site, he is bothering her and needs to be moved. Right now I think your problem is that the female is insecure and is inclined to eat her eggs and get the nutrition from them than let some other potential predator eat them.

Thank you for your reply.
Yeah, I know, should choose biger tank. Lot of hungarian description suggest the 40 liter like correct size.
It's not visible on the picture, but half of the surface covered by Phyllanthus fluitans. I saw the first spawning and the male cooperated. But you're right, later the female kept chasing him away. I am a little bit confused, 'cause I talked about the separation with one of our bigest hungarian fish breeder.
He said do not separate couples after they have chosen a partner. But I know, he isn't Apisto specialist. For this reason, I am more inclined to switch to a larger aquarium. What is your opinion about that?
It may be good if I reduce the conductivity to 100µS ?

 

[Apisto Zack]

Oo..I forget, which size do you recommend?
Now the 40 l is 45x30x30.

 

[MacZ]

45x30x30.

60x30 footprint is the minimum, Many recommend 80x35. Height: Anything between 25 and 45.

Here you will find some additional info and from there I linked to a description of how to structure a tank appropriately.

 

[Mike Wise]

Zack, your Hungarian breeder shows his inexperience with apistos. Most apistos do not form mated pairs. A. agassizii is a very polygamous species. Once the male has fertilized a female's eggs he has no further function with the eggs and fry, at least in an aquarium. He is now looking for an opportunity to spawn again as soon as possible. If there is only 1 female with eggs/fry he will try to breed with her. This stresses the brooding female and often leads to loss of eggs or fry, especially in small tanks. If the female is especially protective this can also lead to attacks, damage and sometimes death of the male.

 

[anewbie]

Zack, your Hungarian breeder shows his inexperience with apistos. Most apistos do not form mated pairs. A. agassizii is a very polygamous species. Once the male has fertilized a female's eggs he has no further function with the eggs and fry, at least in an aquarium. He is now looking for an opportunity to spawn again as soon as possible. If there is only 1 female with eggs/fry he will try to breed with her. This stresses the brooding female and often leads to loss of eggs or fry, especially in small tanks. If the female is especially protective this can also lead to attacks, damage and sometimes death of the male.

Unrelated but i wanted to comment on this - one thing i found problematic is many sites will only sell them in pairs; it is almost always difficult to get an additional female. However, for reasons i don't fully understand nijjensi are frequently sold with 2 females. I know they can be picky about partners and are quasi pair forming but I would naively think that would be a species that is best sold as either a group of juvi or pair after the male has found a suitable female.

 

[Mike Wise]

Here in the US most apistos are sold commercially as single specimens with the note "if buying more, we can't guarantee both sexes". This is why I prefer to deal with breeders or pick the fish out myself. When in doubt I buy at least 6 specimens. Statistics say that you should get at least one of each. This is especially true when I buy juvenile fish.