Apistogrammoides Pucallpaensis

[Little10Lachie]

Hi everyone

I'm looking for advice on keeping/breeding Apistogrammoides Pucallpaensis as I am a beginner when it comes to Apistogramma and have heard that the Apistogrammoides are in the difficult category when it comes to breeding, Also can't find much information on them.

My main questions are:
Will fry eat Hiraki first bites and baby brine shrimp?

Will be in a 15 Gallon tank with water parameters of TDS: 126, PH: 5.82, KH: 0: GH 2-3 be okay?

What Makes them more difficult than other Apisto's?

Will adults be able to eat whole or cut up earthworms?

And is there anything else important that i should know before buying?

Thanks Lachlan

 

[apistobob]

This is just a bit of the information I've included in my article about A. pucallpaensis

"I’ve found these beautiful fish to be a fairly difficult species to keep in the aquarium. They can be very aggressive, pair bonding can be difficult, many females are poor brooders, and the fry are smaller than most dwarf cichlids. I maintained them for 8 – 10 years and rarely did I have a large spawn. That said, as long as I met their needs I never had any problem with aquarium care and breeding.

They need a very complex habitat. Although they are small, they pack a lot of aggression. It’s almost impossible to keep more than one male in a tank. With dense cover with very few (if any) long sight lines, it’s possible to keep a few females with a male. If keeping just a pair you need an equally congested environment. You are practically guaranteed trouble if you try to keep them in a tank without enough cover."

 

[anewbie]

I found frys really need bbs to make it; i have a group in a 10 gallon that is several generation old at this point (they do stay smaller if raised in a 10 as oppose to a larger aquarium). The aquarium has to be very mature and hte first few days the mother will take the frys around to eat they are likely too small for bbs by the third day i start feeding them bbs 3 or 4 times a day for approx 10 to 14 days. After that they can and will take ground up flakes or other small baby food. My tds is 140 ph 7 kh 3 and gh 6; obviously softer water should be fine. My original parents were wild caught. I keep them around 78. I found young males will mascarde as females until the adult male dies and then one will take its place. The more aggressive females can kill other females but it has been very rare - the group of 6 i have now have been together for over 18 months all are f1 or f2 - one of the female is almost certainly a male playing female.

I found them easier than most apisto but they seem to have a shorter life span - around 2 years. Adults even large ones would have trouble with an earth worm they aren't that large and they have smaller mouths. They do love fine fluval bug bite so that is most of what i feed them and my aquarium is heavily planted so there is lots of plant matter and other micro for them munch on.

This is their home:

In the back there is some drift wood covered by the plants - the spanwing areas are usually in the back location which are easily defended.