Apistos for harder water?

[Griz]

The last of my trio of cacatuoides has passed on of old age (had them for nearly 3 years) and so I'm looking to add some more apistos. It's a 33 gal planted community tank and although I enjoy watching their mating behaviours, successful spawns are not a priority. What would be some good choices for apistos that would do well in my water: pH 7.5 / GH 8 / KH 4. Rather than attempting to alter my water any further, I'd rather get fish that will do well in it "as is". The current stats are extremely stable. I know that cacatuoides and borellii should do well but are there others?

 

[Apistomaster]

Tank raised Apistogramma agassizi will probably accomodate you if you just keep the water very frsh and clean. Use live foods as much as possible and some frozen blood worms. I've done it with wild fish so with all the t.r. available you should do well, besides they are so pretty, at least I never tire of them.
Rarer in the hobby but often naturally occurring in your water like your's are Apistogrammoides pullcallpaensis but they aren't much to look at. Lastly, Nannacara anomala, wild ones will spawn and raise fry in much more extreme water than you have. They would spawn in a plastic bag if they had to but you would have to fish out the dead male. They were once a popular animal behavior lab favorite because they didn't require much catering and have interested signaling and color changes used to communicate with the fry and the extreme dominence role reversal between the sexes.

 

[Mike Wise]

I think most apistos will live in your water, but many will not breed in it. Some good whitewater species include A. caetei forms, A. cacatuoides, A. borellii, A. eunotus forms, A. sp. Rotpunkt, A. sp. Cheek-spots/Wangenflecken, A. linkei, A. commbrae, & A. trifasciata.

 

[Griz]

Thank you for the replies. I'm having a tough time finding any fish locally. I'm contacting clubs too but no luck there either. I have seen a few cacs in shops but they really did not look good at all - some actually appeared to have deformities. I could perhaps locate some in Toronto but that's 100 miles from me. Perhaps I'll bite the bullet and order something. May as well get something I can breed since it appears I would have the local market to myself. The search continues! Thanks again.

 

[drudnick]

I cant speak for everyone, but I would order any apistos you plan on getting, especially if you are going to breed them. I cannot find any apistos normally in my stores, but in the rare occurance I do, they are comparable price wise to just paying for the fish plus shipping, and the quality I have seen is far superior when ordering.

So if you want apistos, order them. Dont look for them in a store...

 

[Griz]

I'm beginning to think the same way. I've discovered a Canadian source for fish and I'm thinking about ordering some. If I'm going to pay for shipping, I may as well get more than one pair. I have a 15gal and a 20gal sitting idle. (lol, I knew this was going to happen some day!)

I think that I will get a pair of cacatuoides or borellii and try my hand at breeding them. Actually I think the challenging part is going to be looking after the fry. I can then get something a little different for my community display tank.

Here is what is available to me: I'm still looking these up, there are several that I am not familiar with at all. Is there anything here that looks particularly interesting?

Apistogramma agazizii super red Putomayo
Apistogramma agazizii parallel line Tefe
Apistogramma alacrina Rotpunkt Apure
Apistogramma bitaeniata new Mamuri Brazil
Apistogramma borelli wild blue and yellow Parana
Apistogramma cacatuoides super red Aq.Form
Apistogramma cacatuoides orange Aq.Form
Apistogramma gephyra spadetail Demini
Apistogramma hippolytae bg spot Branco
Apistogramma pertensis common Rio Negro
Apistogramma rubrolineata southern Peru

 

[apisto-nut]

where"s your source in Canada , I'm interested in those to

 

[Griz]

belowwater.com
I have emailed you the complete list with pricing.

 

[Mike Wise]

Oliver Lucanus does a pretty good job of describing his fish in just a few words:
Apistogramma agazizii super red Putomayo - probably a red-finned agassizii from the Rio Putumayo
Apistogramma agazizii parallel line Tefe - sounds like A. sp. Tefé
Apistogramma alacrina Rotpunkt Apure - wild Rotpunkt? (probably not A. alacrina), probably from Venezuelan exporters but collected in Colombia
Apistogramma bitaeniata new Mamuri Brazil - probably a form from the Rio Mamorí on the lower Rio Madeira of Brazil
Apistogramma borelli wild blue and yellow Parana - from from the Rio Parana, Brazil/Paraguay
Apistogramma cacatuoides super red Aq.Form - probably double red
Apistogramma cacatuoides orange Aq.Form - same as Orange-flash
Apistogramma gephyra spadetail Demini - from the Rio Demini (mid-Rio Negro) Brazil
Apistogramma hippolytae bg spot Branco - from the Rio Branco (mid-Rio Negro) Brazil
Apistogramma pertensis common Rio Negro - probably A. cf. pertensis (a.k.a. A. cf. meinkeni) from the lower - mid-Rio Negro, but you can hope for the real thing.
Apistogramma rubrolineata southern Peru - from around Puerto Maldonado.

 

[mona o]

May I suggest one of my favorites?
Apistogramma trifasciata can breed and the eggs will develope in higher ph than many others. I have 3 pairs, and they are really beautiful when the males display their fins. I keep mine in 3 different tanks.

Sorry for the poor quality of the picture:redface: .

This is one of my smaller males, I have a larger one with more developed dorsal fin. Stunning
But I haven't managed to get a good photo of him yet.

 

[koty]

Here is a displaying trifaciata male born to wild parents in my aq:

 

[Griz]

Well, it's been over 3 long months and I thought I would let you know that I decided on a pair of A. hongsloi. They are on the way. Should be an interesting addition to the 33g community!

I couldn't get together the minimum order for Oliver and although mona o and koty had me looking for trifaciata, they weren't available to me. Maybe next time.