Apistogramma Caetei.

[ellamaesdad]

Hi,I am new to keeping Apistogramma but not new to cichlids(I keep Tropheus).I have a few questions to ask.I have 1 male Apistogramma Caetei with 2 females and 9 corydoras.My tank has plenty of natural caves in the bogwood and a floor covering of leaf litter.The water is soft and tea coloured and within 5 days of introduction the male had bred with one of the females.Another week on and the fry appeared but the male now spending all of his time with the other female,keeps harrassing the mum and trying to eat the fry.Now all the fry have gone.It seemed to me that he was trying to evict the female that he had an affair with and was trying to move his new girlfriend in.Is this tank to small for the three of them(should I take a female out)and was I right to feed the fry cyclops as a first food?

 

[Mike Wise]

I am sure that a 125 L aquarium is more than large enough for a trio of A. caetei or any of the caetei-complex species. I certainly am not surprised that you lost your fry, however. Nine corys can quickly decimate any school of apisto fry and there is little that a single female can do to stop it. As for intraspecies aggression, my guess is that your aquarium is too open, without clearly delineated boundaries. Caetei-complex males typically aren't highly aggressive toward females with fry. Usually it is the other way around! If you really want to reproduce your apistos, I suggest that you remove the corys and re-arrange the decor of the aquarium so that it has visual boundaries and breeding territories that are not visible from wide areas of the tank.

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,
Apistogramma caetei I'm just over the Severn Bridge and I like the idea of A. caetei. I know Jo had some imported, so did they come from Rare Aquatics?

cheers Darrel (in Bath)

 

[Mike Wise]

Any idea which "A. caetei" you have?

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,
Mike assuming they were from "Rare Aquatics", they are these: <http://forums.rareaquatics.co.uk/showthread.php?t=1807>.

I know Steve knows Jo quite well so he may have seen them in the shop.

cheers Darrel

 

[ellamaesdad]

The caetei were purchased at maidenhead aquatics,cwmbran.I had never seen them before and really liked the look of them.

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,
Can you get a picture? they are a fairly uncommon fish in the UK and it is just they possibly aren't A. caetei at all. Maidenhead Aquatics do get some unusual cichilds in, but their fish are often wrongly named.

Do they look like these? <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWJ7m4Hp37Q>

cheers Darrel