Apistogramma Literature

[Drammy]

Hi all,

I have just had the Mergus Cichlid Atlas Vol 2 bought for me. I was gutted to find that a lot of details aare actually in Vol 1, which I haven't been able to source at a price I can afford!


I am keen to find some more literature on the Dwarf Cichlids (particularly Agasizii). I am keen to learn more about their behaviours - I have seen a variety of behaviours but don't understand most of them and would like to know more...

Is there any good detailed literature on Dwarf Cichlid behaviour? Anything above the normal descriptions and breeding advice...


Any help appreciated,
Drammy

 

[Mike Wise]

Both of Koslowski's books (1985 and 2002) have an extensive chapter(s) on apisto behavior. Much of it is based on studies done with video.

 

[Drammy]

Thanks Mike,

I'll look out for them - they're not on eBay...


Do you know of any website resources with similar content? I'm especially interested in being able to watch the behaviour on video...

 

[Mike Wise]

Check Aquabid. I don't know of any web sites that have extensive detailed info of apisto behavior.

 

[dw1305]

Apistogramma behaviour

Hi All,
I've got a couple of references, there are some bits in George Barlow's book "The Cichlid Fishes, Nature's Grand Experiment in Evolution" Perseus Publishing 2000, although they are mainly unreferenced, and he says on pg 124 after some description of haremic Apistogramma behaviour "Sorry to say we know too little about the mating behaviour of these fascinating behaviour"the reference given is Burchard, J. (1965) "Family structure in the dwarf cichlid A. trifasciatum (sic) Eigenman and Kennedy" Zeitschrift fur Tierpsychologie 22 pp 150-162.

I haven't got the paper, and I'm not sure how easily obtainable it would be.

The only other relevant one I have is:

READY, J. et al. (2006)
"Colour forms of Amazonian cichlid fish represent reproductively isolated species".
Journal of Evolutionary Biology 19 pp 1139-1148.

Mate choice experiments used A. "caeti"
........Mate choice was assessed in a tank 1 m long by 20 cm deep and 30 cm front to back. Each half of the tank contained a half coconut and flowerpot for use as a male refuge and spawning cave. Males of similar size (<3 mm difference in standard length of between 4 and 6 cm) from different river systems were introduced and monitored for aggression and territory formation. Having similar-sized males prevents piracy (Mboko &
Kohda, 1999), size assortative mating by females (Beeching & Hopp, 1999) and sneaker male mating, as both males are clearly territorial adults (Makin, 1991). Males could be identified by general colour pattern associated with river system and/or individual markings on the body and fins. When each male had established a territory taking over approximately half of the tank, a
trial could be started. A mature female from the same population as one of the males was then introduced. Females were always selected from a different stock tank to the same-population male in the trial to prevent
previous contact influencing the experiment. Even so, imprinting on the population colour form may occur (Barlow, 2000). This could only be avoided through raising single fish in isolated chambers, which was prohibitive for this study. Cross fostering would not be a practical solution in this case as fry would be eaten rather than adopted. If accepted by both males, the female was allowed to remain in the tank until she spawned. Trials were stopped if one male lost his territory or if the female was being aggressively chased
by either male. Spawning usually occurred within 3 days to 1 week. Choice of male was assessed by recording the identity of the territorial male who controlled the spawning cave in which eggs were seen. Different individual fish were used in each experiment and replicate comparisons for each combination of males were carried out in different aquaria to control for any
imperceptible differences between aquaria....."

cheers Darrel

 

[Hassles]

Cichlid Atlas

Can anyone post a comparrison between the Cichlid Atlas 1 and 2 ? I have 1, love it and would purchase 2 if I could conveniently. I would love to know what its like.

 

[Mike Wise]

The difference between the volumes, in my opinion, is like night and day. Volume 1 is pretty old so some of the newer species aren't in it. There are several misidentiications, too. Still, the information is much more useful for the normal dwarf cichlid keeper.

Volume 2 can be considered a supplement to volume one. There are very few corrections to v.1, but there are several contradictions between chapters. When I was translating the species chapters of the manuscript into English for the author, I realized that many of the "new" species discussed were actually already known species under a new name. Sadly, this just confuses everyone. Now I won't say v.2 shouldn't be bought, but if I didn't have v.1 (and was not an avid apistophile) I wouldn't buy it.

 

[apistodave]

Cichlid atlases

Volume 1 is in works for being updated and re-printed with new pics and all. Vol 3 is almost complete and I have one copy of vol 2

 

[Hilde]

So what about the breeding environment?