Apistogramma agazizii - how many to breed?

[JG]

Hi all,

As I'm fairly new to dwarfs, though I've kept German and Bolivian's before; I was wondering what combination of male to female ratio should be kept to breed Apistogramma agazizii?

I was thinking 2 males to 4 females. A group of us are putting together a bulk order of various fishes and I'd love to pick up some agazizii. Let me know what you think of the 2m:4f ratio. My order deadline is tomorrow night by 11PM EST.

Thanks for your input.

JazzyB 8)

 

[Tea]

how many to breed??

Hello there, if you are trying to breed Aggies , you are better to just keep one pair in a tank because the females are very aggressive when they are gaurding eggs usually chasing even the male away and not letting him near the eggs. I have two females in to seperate 15 gallon tanks that i put some java moss and a couple of plants in with a little clay pot. When the females are ready to spawn I put the male in and after they have spawn i take him out. This has worked out pretty good for me, I have had 5 spawns where all the fry have survived. Good luck..

 

[Apistt_ed]

agreed

Yes I agree. My greatest success for aggies have been just a pairs. I keep 3 pairs in 3 separate 10 gallon tanks and they do more than fine. I have kept Aggies (alanquer, double reds, red golds, and wild tapojos) in 20 gallon 1 pair per tank and have bred them fine also, but have noticed that 10 gallon tanks are far easier to handle and excellent when it comes to the cleaning part. Right at the moment, I have (4) pairs of wild fish (tapojos) and double reds, and they are constantly having new spawns before they can grow out the previous fry. The wild aggies have had 3 consecutive spawns within a span of 3months! as soon as the fry of the previous spawn was old enough to explore the rest of the tank and leave the mom alone for a second, she had a new clutch of eggs laid in the clay pot that she has repeatedly bred in. She shows aggression to the male but he does fine and is a great father! (maybe they're just a mellow pair). I have had to almost separate all the other aggie var. pairs because of the fear of the female killing the male, so I haven't had them be as productive as they probably could've been. Aggies are a little "tough" at first, but once you do learn them, they ARE GREAT PARENTS and can be VERY productive!
I say that the ratio you have been planning on is a good ratio of m/fm fish if you choose keep them in a community tank and just because they are a pleasure to have. Once you are confident enough to try breeding them, just simply isolate the pairs as i do. They are great fish and are as beautiful as the next, in my opinion the prettiest fish out there! good luck and please inform us on how they do!

 

[fishgeek]

just for a different opinion
i have a 2ftlong by 18inch wide tank with 1 male and 3 female's in, to my mind it is overcrowded, still the aggies dont stop breeding often all 3 females will have spawns in close succesion and the aggression is limited to guarding a prefered nesting site

just my 2 cents

andrew

really depends on size of the tank
i think i intially saw ted suggest about 1square foot base for females and 2 square ft for males

 

[JG]

The goal is to eventually breed them. However, I'm at the the stage where they are quite small, just arrived from Below Water (Montreal, Canada). I'm currently keeping them in a 10G which is divided up with two wood structures and some stones. That said, once a bit bigger they will go into a 42G tank which will have some other fish as dithers.

Once I have a pair I'm planning on settling them in a 10-15G for breeding purposes.

I've asked this is a later post, but I'd love some food suggestions. I usually keep frozen, freeze dried and flake. As these fish are still quite, females around 2cm whilst the male is around 4cm I'm trying to be careful not to overfeed and decide what to feed. Today was the first day in my QT tank. The previous two days were spent in a friend's tank. I thawed a frozen food cube and placed a few worms in the tank. I'll have to play the waiting game to see how things materialize.

Any further tips would be great as I'm new to Apistos. I've kept Bolvian and German Rams but the Apistos are a totally new field for me.

Thanks,

JazzyB 8)