Apistogramma sp Abacaxis F0

[Daniel Almeida]

Hey everyone
I'm new to this forum. Im Daniel Almeida from Portugal, i'm 17, and recently apistogrammas became my election fish. Today i've received a couple of A.Abacaxis F0. They are in an aquarium of 50cmx25cmx25cm. the filter is an aquaclear 20, im buying an eheim liberty when i have the opportunity, 1the substrate is sand, hardscape is composed by 1 piece of wood, leafs, and one rock. I have Pistia stratiotes only, becaus of the water, its so dark that plants wouldn't do well there. the apistos are in the aquarium with 1 small L-177.
They are very tiny, male has about 3,5 cm and the femal are already eating everye 2,5 cm. They are already eating everything. here are the pics.

Enjoy!

 

[blueblue]

Welcome! The Abacaxis look nice. For L177, please be very careful as L-number fish cannot survive long in acidic water... apistos and L-number can co-exist only in neutral water...

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,
I wouldn't worry about the acid water for L177, it is from the River Iriri (tributary of the Xingu), which is a clear water river, but has very little buffering. <http://www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/content.php?sid=70>

Having said that all Baryancistrus species are very difficult to keep long term, as they are aufwuchs feeders and need constant food and very warm water.

<http://www.plecoplanet.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1799>

They also grow much too big for your tank, but only over a very long time period.

cheers Darrel

 

[Ruki]

Only I think that photos are too big?

 

[blueblue]

Have you kept and bred L numbers before?
I have kept a lot of L-numbers and bred over ten species (i fail to breed blue-eye pleco though). I recall the time when I was naive to believe that L-numbers can survive in acidic water with apistos and my L128, L177, L66... all passed away as a result. I now have two big tanks of L-numbers, one for L46, L236, L173 kind of small fish,
and one for big Royal Plecos L27, L190, L191, and blue-eye plecos (both from Columbia and Venezuela)... NO fish has passed away for over 2 years and I bred many L46 and L173. My belief is L-numbers are actually rather robust if the maintenance is proper... One key is: Avoid acidic water which negatively affects the enzyme inside their disgestion system...

Hi all,
I wouldn't worry about the acid water for L177, it is from the River Iriri (tributary of the Xingu), which is a clear water river, but has very little buffering. <http://www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/content.php?sid=70>

Having said that all Baryancistrus species are very difficult to keep long term, as they are aufwuchs feeders and need constant food and very warm water.

<http://www.plecoplanet.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1799>

They also grow much too big for your tank, but only over a very long time period.

cheers Darrel

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,
No Blueblue I've never kept any of the large Plecs, and I've only bred a small Hypancistrus (L129/L340), an Otocinclus spp. and a Panaque of the L169 persuasion. It is always useful to have the opinion of those with practical experience, it's worth a hundred books. So I'll change my post and say in light of this I would worry about the water for your L177, along with the temperature, food supply and size of the tank.

I agree that most Loricariids are from the less acid white/clear water rivers, but there are exceptions (information derived from Inigo Seidels "Back to Nature guide to L-catfishes"). I don't keep any blackwater fish as this is a very carbonate rich area and even our rainwater has some buffering.

I run all my tanks at about 100 microS, but I don't bother about the pH, as it is a "moveable feast" at low carbonate buffering.

cheers Darrel

 

[Apistomaster]

Welcome! The Abacaxis look nice. For L177, please be very careful as L-number fish cannot survive long in acidic water... apistos and L-number can co-exist only in neutral water...

Your statement is so wrong. I will just cite two genera which supply us with some of the most desirable of the smaller species, Hypancistrus which includes your zebras, L173, and a few dozen others and genus Peckoltia which the popular L134 is a member. They are all from soft slightly acid streams and rivers.

I can believe you had difficulties because not everyone is able to manage extremely soft water aquarium water chemistry and often experience pH crashes. Most of those who breed these fish have no such problems.
These catfish share the same water chemistry many of us use to breed Apistogramma species.
I breed a lot of Hypancistrus species and L134 in the hundreds. I use soft slightly acid water. The majority of successful breeders of these fish around the world use very soft water with a pH of 6.0 to 6.6, similar to their native waters.

Sorry about going off topic. I just could not let that statement go unchallenged.

 

[RLOPES]

Get apisto

Hi Daniel,

i'm also from Portugal, and i would like to know were you manage to get your apistos from in Portugal, has i only manage to get cacautoides and agazzi in the shops i know.

Cumprimentos

 

[Apistomaster]

I have a special place in my heart for species of Apistogramma which are apparently of the A. agassizi complex and Apistogramma sp Abacaxis is one of them.
They are always difficult to find so I hope you are successful breeding them.
As both a long time breeder of Apistogramma and smaller Hypancistrus and Peckoltia species I would never trust them nor with any Bushy Nose pleco regardless of size in an actual breeding tank. If you want an algae eater which doubles as a dither fish in an Apistogramma breeding tank I would choose Otocinclus or Parotocinclus species. Unlike any of the Plecos they do not like to go into caves provided for the Apistogramma. Farlowella are a safe genus of an algae eating Loricaridae to keep provided your tank is large enough and is well planted. They will accept algae wafers but prefer to graze algae and aufwiches off plant leaves but they also help keep the viewing glass clean. The are another species which will not attempt to enter Apistogramma spawning caves. All 3 Genera of Loricariidae I recommended are primarily diurnal so unlike most plecos they are normally active in the day.

The Baryancistrus are among the most difficult Plecos to keep. All the varieties of gold nuggets have the potential to reach more than 25 cm although their dietary needs are difficult to meet and they consequently grow much slower and smaller in captivity. They are beautiful plecos but have broken many an owner's heart because they failed to thrive and died. If you attempt to breed your Apistogramma sp Abacaxis do not include your L177. In a display tank they are fine together. Apistogramma sp Abacaxis is well worth breeding.