Baenschi vs. Agassizzi

[Inka4040]

Hi All, brand new to the forum here. I've been keeping fish for over 15 years, which is a long time, since I'm only 22, but have only recently gotten into apistos. Got my first pair of Baenschis about 2 years ago, and they are still alive and well, breeding and raising fry in my discus tank with little intervention. Since I have had good success with them, I'd like to move on to other species. Apisto. agassizzi has always been a favorite, but they have not fared as well under my care. So I guess my question is, compared to baenschi, how much more difficult are agassizzi to spawn and rear? Also, where can I source some agassizzi morphs that are not the ubiquitous reds. Their ornate tail patterns make them some of my favorite fish.

Here are some of my home grown baenschi, which have since been moved to their own tank.

and here's one of a young pair

 

[chris1932]

I am wondering how old the male in that pair is? I am keeping Agassizzi in the same conditions as my Incas and have not had any issues. They spawn with regularity. Where are you located. If you are in the US try Anubias Design for wild fish, right now he has A. tefe. You might also want to try Twofishguyz. The last time I was there I could swear I saw blue/white tail Aggies.

 

[bigbird]

Hello Inka,

Nice looking male.
Would suggest in the Forum, go to the trading place. A lot of American breeders and LFS offer their list of available fish etc. I agree that breeding these two are similar. Maybe you need to introduce another younger male or female, as they could be sterile.
Where are you located anyway
Have fun cheers Jan-kurt

 

[Inka4040]

I don't currently own any agassizzi, but would love to get back into them. I'm afraid that I can't give an exact date on the age of the pair, as I'm not sure which particular spawn they came from, and there are young of all ages co-habitating. I would posit that he is around 6 or 7 months roughly. By the way, I am located in NYC.

 

[bigbird]

Sometimnes it can happen, if all of the fry comefrom one patch that they might be sterile, if they are cross bred, but difficult to say. Did you go onto the Trading Place forum ?
Hope you get lucky and get the Agassizi, as they are as well a lot of fun
cheers

 

[chris1932]

If you are in the market and you're in NYC I will have some juvenile aggies in the next month or so. If you are in a hurry Anubias Design has Tefe from Brazil and Gephyra just in from Columbia.

 

[Inka4040]

Well from a search of the web, it looks like the Tefes are what I am after. I glanced over the trading post, but will definitely give it a closer look in a minute. Are the Tefes particularly easy to get? I ask because I don't have a tank set up at the moment (though I have a few aged sponge filters), and would like to know if I should just set up a tank and get them from anubiasdesign, or if I can take my time. Would multiple pairs be advisable in a 20 long?

 

[Apistomaster]

Apistogramma cf. agassizi Tefe' is not a common species. The price they fetch is a good indication of how available fish are. I would get the Tefe' from Mark because they are wild caught. It is on my wish list; haven't kept them yet.
Along those lines, wild Apistogramma agassizi are usually the Blue form although due to it's wide range there are different color morphs common to certain locales. I haven't seen any wild type Blue agassizi since I raised them about ten years ago from wild caught fish that came in a shipment of assorted wild Apistogramma sp. Most of the fish were A. bitaeniata and they were only $5 each.

 

[Inka4040]

I think for this round, I'll be better off with the German Tefe from Twofishguyz. I just set up the tank for them today, and hopefully they will be coming in soon. Thanks for all the input and help from everyone!!!

 

[bigbird]

Hello Inka,

I keep 1M and 2 F of the Tefe ( Yellow Fin ) in my 30G tank. They love it and are great to watch and see how they colour up especially when getting reayd to breed. The female turns a lime yellow and they are fun.
Send us pics when you have them.

Cheers jan-kurt :biggrin:

 

[Inka4040]

I couldn't decide what morph to buy so I picked up up a pair each of the black/red and blue/gold tefe morphs. What do you think of dwarf cories, cardinals, and barbus jae or sundadio alexrodi as tankmates?

 

[Apistomaster]

I can highly recommend Corydoras hastatus if you can find them. Another good one is any of the Aspidoras species. A. pauciradiatus is the most frequently available species. They are touchy at first if they are not from a well acclimated batch and they pose a greater challenge to breed than C. hastatus which I raise on a continuous basis.

The Sundanio axelrodi tend to be sold in a very weak condition and losses are likely to be high. Apistogramma are likely to hurt them as well. Barbus jae would be a cool fish but I recommend them in a species only tank or perhaps with Cherry Shrimp. I think they do better at a lower temperature than most Apistogramma species.

For something a little different and that is safe with Apistogramma and require the same water chemistry is Paracheirodon simulans, The Green Neon.
Nannobrycon eques, Diptail Pencil fish are another good choice. They always swim at a 45* angle pointing up and have very small mouths so they don't present a threat to Apistogramma fry. The most common Pencilfish is Nannostomus beckfordi. This species is not as specialized and will feed at all zones of the water column and grow large enough to eat Apistogramma fry.
Recently, the rare Nannostomus espei has been showing up and they would be a good one too if you want rare and harmless fish.

 

[Inka4040]

Wow. Both of those are really showy. I added the cories to my order from twofishguyz.com, and from the picture on their website, they look like they could be c. pygmaeus. I only ordered 8 though, which may have been a mistake. I will definitely see if I can find those aspidoras though.