bitaeniatas all around (sorry, might be image heavy)

[rasmusW]

Hi all!

I thought i share a few glimpes of my brand new 75 liter tank, for my "new" bitaeniatas (they are kids from my first pair, where the big male and dad sadly died around october).
Plus i got a few questions regarding some of the bitaeniatas in one of the other tanks.

But first a little background story...


In november, i all of a sudden spotted one of my young female bitaes with fry and not long after three more followed. Which ofcause was exiting, but not really what i had planned for, since they where all in my 54 liter tank, which was only meant a small grow out tank.
So i convinced myself and my wife to buy another tank (first part wasn't so hard... hehe).

So far the new has been running for around 3 weeks and i already got new free swimming fry, so i take it that they have settled in and like they new sorroundings.
The pair share the tank with 6 amadae tetras.. I like to add some nanostrommus eques some day.
Here's a few pics...


-And now for the questions part...

After splitting the new pair from the rest of the females, one went back to the 54 liter, with her small batch of cool kids and the other three got in the tank with my two old females.
Now, this evening i spotted one of the females in the "all female tank" in full breeding dress, which made me wonder....
I know that both of the old females, previously had more or less succesful spawns. One did and the not..
I'm 89% sure i only put females in the tank... -but maybe not, though i can't spot any male characteristics in any of them.
The "not so succesful old female" is the only one allowed to get even a slight bit close to the cave.
Here's a picture of the female... -I will try to get pics of all the supposed females of the tank.


Could the old female infact be a long time sneaker male, who just stole fry back when she was having? -or can apistos do a sex change? -there is ofcause also that one of the other small females is the sneaker....
The largest of the old females and also the one that gets allowed to get close is around 7-8cm long. The other oldie is 6cm and the young ones is around 4cm.

I hope you understood any of this (i'm not completely sure i did... heheheh) -and can help sorting out whats up and down.. -if not, i mighr have to call Sherlock or Hercule Poirot, to help me out..

-r

 

[Andy452]

Hi rasmasW,
Firstly the new tank looks great, seems very natural I'm sure the pair in there with their new fry are very happy!

I'm no expert on bitaeniatas nor on ID of apisto species but from you description

The "not so succesful old female" is the only one allowed to get even a slight bit close to the cave.

and also

The largest of the old females and also the one that gets allowed to get close is around 7-8cm long.

does kind of sound like male / pair behavior

Here's a picture of the female... -I will try to get pics of all the supposed females of the tank.

Is this the female that has gone into breeding dress? or the female suspected to be male? This photo to me looks like a female

Do bitaeniatas males have distinctive physical characteristics? extended rays or finage? more coloration? Any evidence of that on the suspected possible sleeper male?

Lets see what others have to say.

//Andy

 

[rasmusW]

Thanks Andy!

Yeah! Bitaeniata males show extended caudal fin tips aswell as first 3-4-ish dorsal rays.
The one in the picture is the small female.
females are smaller and as far as i can see, have a bigger black mark on their ventral fins. But you are absolutely right, the big one is the joker here. It has the size of a male, but doesn’t show the extended fin tips.
Yesterday after writing the first post i spotted the two fish try to get into the Cave together... odd... but it must be an old sneaker male.

-r

 

[chris1805]

Hi Rasmus,

My experience might throw your theory of but let’s have a go any ways... I was supposed to get 4 Apistogramma sp. D37 1 male and 3 female. However the supposedly male, turned out to be a female. As the hobbyist who supplied me with this lovely species, live quite a distance away for me, i had to wait a few weeks before i could lay my hands on a male. Funny sides is, all 4 females laid eggs in the tank, although there was never a male. As expected, non of the eggs hatched, but they kept laying eggs over and over again. This might actually also be the case with your females. I gues the only thing you can do, is wait and see if any of the eggs hatch.

 

[rasmusW]

hi chris!

thanks for your reply.
i think your case looked very much like what i have. it looks like everything is back to normal. all the 5 females behaves as i would expect them to. i haven't seen any courtship behaviour, nor do any of them guard caves like that one did earlier.

case closed... for now

everything goes well in the new bitaenita tank. i do have fry, though only 3 or so. but they are happily swimming around, eating and growing to their now 6-8mm.
yesterday i also spotted a single amandae tetra fry.
i have also moved my 5 nannostromus marginatus to this tank. -i would love to get fry frm them aswell, but lets see.

-r

 

[yukondog]

I have three Borellii females doing the same thing, all three laying eggs and getting the brooding yellow but no male.