Apistogramma Morado?

[Chickenyeah]

I got these guys in as apistogramma "morado". What are their care requirements and are they a rare species? Never kept apistogramma before.

 

[MacZ]

It's a form of A. ortegai. "Morado" is a tradename, often mixing up the location "Pebas" and the attribute "morado" (means "purple" in Spanish). Compare yourself to these correctly identified A. cf. ortegai:

Welcome to Toms Homepage

 

[Chickenyeah]

My pictures are from when they were in quarantine. They looked nearly identical to the ones on that website when I had them in a blackwater tank. I currently have them with my group of l134s and the apistos laid eggs in one of their caves. Is it hard to raise apisto fry? I've only bred Hypancistrus and peckoltias successfuly before never cichlids.

 

[MacZ]

when I had them in a blackwater tank.

which would be appropriate. The parameters shpould be somewhere between clearwater and blackwater. EC 100µS/cm and pH 5.5 - 6.

I currently have them with my group of l134s and the apistos laid eggs in one of their caves.

Apistogramma and plecos is never a good idea. Better separate them to a species tank. Plecos are for the most part at least partially nocturnal, cichlids are fully diurnal. This is bound to not go well for the cichlids longterm.

Raising Apistogramma is not that hard, but:
Do you know where to put them? Usually once they successfully spawn and raise fry this will become an endless cycle with new fry basically once a month. Also the females tend to burn out quite fast.
If you have a spot where you can give them to, go for it. If not or if you have to rely on selling/giving away every single fish yourself, better stop breeding by separating them or keep them with tetras, those are reliable fry predators. 10-15 adult Cardinal Tetras or Glowlight Tetras and there won't be many fry surviving.

Also another important note: Apistogramma don't form permanent pairs, so if you move them it might happen they can't stay together.

 

[Frank Hättich]

Here you find some information about A. cf. ortegai (Pebas, Morado).

 

[MacZ]

Here you find some information about A. cf. ortegai (Pebas, Morado).

I linked Tom's site already above.

 

[Frank Hättich]

I linked Tom's site already above.

Sorry, didn't noticed it.

 

[MacZ]

It's fine. The forum simply puts link texts in such an annoying colour, one can easily overlook them.

 

[anewbie]

Wow that fish is very nice looking; big bonus if aggression level is not too high. Of course i am curious if the fish has much personality. I'm finding my keyholes and nannacara have fantastic 'personality' which i suppose to be more accurate to say interesting behavior traits compare to some of the apisto i've kept (my borelli was extremely nice looking but otherwise a very boring fish; the one i had was dark blue with opal face); my nijjensi and d50 i found their behavior a little more interesting; but that nannacara i coudl watch for hours he was always trying something new.

 

[Ben Rhau]

Re: aggression. Conventional wisdom is that the temperament of apistos varies a lot by individual within a species, but that there's less pronounced variation across species.

That said, I know a handful of aquarists who have recently kept A. ortegai, and they all had specimens that were among the most aggressive dwarf cichlids they'd ever seen. Other specimens were not.

They are beautiful, I agree.

"Personality" I think is subjective. In my experience, the interesting fish are the aggressive ones.

 

[anewbie]

Re: aggression. Conventional wisdom is that the temperament of apistos varies a lot by individual within a species, but that there's less pronounced variation across species.

That said, I know a handful of aquarists who have recently kept A. ortegai, and they all had specimens that were among the most aggressive dwarf cichlids they'd ever seen. Other specimens were not.

They are beautiful, I agree.

"Personality" I think is subjective. In my experience, the interesting fish are the aggressive ones.

I'm not sure about that generation; i did not consider my nanacara amoale an aggressive fish but so far he was one of the most interesting dwarf cichild i ever owned. Having said that my D50 were quite aggressive and while not super interesting they were at least more amusing than borelli i've owned. The D50 aggression was more so towards other species than themselves; and i suppose when we talk about aggression we should distinguish between territorial aggression and inter species aggression. A lot of people talk about ivanka but i am not sure if they are impressed by their looks or actual behavior though i know they are said to be super aggressive at times.

 

[Mike Wise]

One N. anomala is fine in a community, but a female with fry to protect is one of the most aggressive dwarf cichlids that I have ever kept.

 

[anewbie]

One N. anomala is fine in a community, but a female with fry to protect is one of the most aggressive dwarf cichlids that I have ever kept.

Yes i was just talking about the male's behavior in general; the one i had seemed exceptionally adapative to new situations; naturally if breeding the female is a little firecracker and imho not that interesting.