Apistogramma eremnopyge!!

[raymond82]

Hi!

This weekend I had the opportunity to obtain wild caught specimens of A. eremnopyge, one of the (many) species I had on my wishlist. I traded around 25 vielfleck + 12 nijsseni fry for two trio's and I like them a lot!

Here are some pictures:

I thought they would have a bit more red in the face but I hardly see any, however the metallic kind of blue on their sides is quite spectacular.

What size does this species grow to? I've been reading some different things online

What kind of water should I aim at to increase the chances of them breeding?

 

[merlin]

I also have these. 3 pairs in fact. They are all spawning readily in ph6
But not raising fry. They are very shy always seem to be hiding in their breeding tanks. One pair is in a show tank and keep bringing out fry but I cant catch them without taking the tank to bits. Mine seem to be red in the face (see pic) approx 3 inch maybe a bit less, but I think I read that there was also a blue faced morph.
Derek

 

[raymond82]

Thanks Derek, the picture in your avatar was actually one of the reasons I had this fish on my wishlist! Mine seem to be a little less colorful but maybe they're still young, the males are around 1.5 inch only.

I've noticed they are quite shy, they like to hide among the leaves a lot. This I had actually read both in TomC's website and on the BCA forum, I have no other species of apisto's that do this.

Shame the spawning does not result in fry, do you have any idea why?

 

[merlin]

I want to try more dither fish to see if they help in the breeding tanks. I have a group of fry in the show tank at the moment but they dont survive long enough with lots of tetra and discus about

Derek

 

[raymond82]

I see, it's good to know why the fry is disappearing. Also good to know that spawning and egg development and free swimming fry can happen in a pH of 6.

I was also thinking of putting in some dither fish, although most dither fish start bothering me at some point. Also, the eremnopyge's are out and about quite a lot already, only when I approach is when they go into hiding...

 

[Brown Water]

beautiful fish. wish we had more oppertunitys here in the usa to get these fish/rareer apistios more regulary at fish stores or local auctions.

 

[guits]

My experience is that they are extremely shy, even the F1 and F2 fish. Without any dither fish, they hide almost all the time. Right now, I have 3 juvenile in a 5 gallon tank, and they would never come out of hiding until I put some lampeye killies into the tank. Now they swim out in the open, although once I approach the tank they hide again.

 

[Brown Water]

I have a pair and one juvie A. Alacrina that are the same way.. Sucks because they are butiful fish and would love to see em more.

 

[raymond82]

Thanks for all the info! The aquarium that they're in is right across the couch on the other side of the living room, from the couch I can see them swimming around and being active quite a lot already. Maybe I should get some binoculars to be able to observe them...

Anyway they're still in a tank that is not fully decorated, I'll add some floating plants, put some more wood etc. and then see how they behave. If they keep being too shy I'll add some dither fish.

 

[Microman]

Tom and I found these in Peru in 2010, along the Iquitos-Nauta Road which was quite a surprise as according to the locals it had not been collected there before. Slow flowing clearwater quebrada, pH4.87 ,111.2ms and Temp 35.3c
Well Tom actually found them because I was lying on my back in a stream, near to exhaustion, under the mid-day sun.
I like this species alot, especially the Alto Nanay form from the Rio Tigre.
Mark...

 

[merlin]

Is the alto nanay form the blue faced colour ot the red. Where is the other form from.

Derek

 

[raymond82]

35 degress... that would fry a discus!

I had a closer look at the other male I have (he's a bit more shy) and he has considerably more red in the face, although not as much as the pictures I've seen before...