Borellii Question

[wass29]

I hope you don't mind I just have a small question and this seemed to be a well informed place on apisto's. I just purchased two apisto's from a LFS they were labeled Apisto Borellii (Blue Face) and they appear to be just that a
borellii with a blue face. But I can't find anything to confirm if that is
true. To the best of your knowledge is their such thing as a blue face
borellii or did I buy a fish that was mislabeled. I can probally supply a pic if you think that will help determine what kind of fish this is. Also the salesperson at the store told me the company where tey get their fish never sends her any females, why would this be. It dosen't make any sense to me how can I try my hand at breeding if they can't get any females?

Thank you in advance for any help you can supply.
Confused in the Midwest

Wass

 

[Microman]

Borelli Question.

Hello,There are in fact Borellis with a blue face,Borelli Opal,which your fish could well be but bearing in mind that the LFS stated that only males were
ever available I wouldnt mind betting that they are actually Apisto SP
Steelblue.These are of hybrid origin and only males are ever available.
To confirm my theory look at the thread Apisto ID by Yan,he was sold Apistos
labelled Borelli that turned out to be Steelblue.
Hope this helps,if not post a pic and Im sure someone will confirm its ID.
Good luck,
Mark.

 

[scott]

if there are no females it is most definetly steelblue. if you do a search in this forum you will find some pics.

 

[wass29]

Thanks for the tip guys. I looked at the post you mentioned and it is the same fish in the pics. So I guess I have a steel blue apisto also, that kinda sucks I thought these fish were so kewl I would try to breed them.
I have two young fish in a small tank at work if they are both males(probally are) do you recommend that I move one to another tank with other fish(community tank) or just put another cave in their for him to have his own and feel more secure. The fish that hides in the existing cave now is blue all across his body and real kewl lookin. The other one is drab in color and runs from the bigger more colorful one.
I talked to the lady at the LFS and she said she would talk to their supplier and try to get me a or some females but couldn't promise anything, so i'm not sure if I want to keep these fish alone or together. what's you opinion.

Thanks
Wass

 

[Mike Wise]

If your tank is 24"/60 cm or longer, & well aquascaped, you should be able to keep the 2 males together. If you want to breed these fish, you can always do what the European commercial breeders first did. They took females of the A. caetei-complex and crossed them with Steel-blue males. It is suspected that some SE Asian breeders developed the Steel-blue strain by crossing a caetei-like species with a resticulosa-like species. Any back-crossing certainly won't polute the already crossed gene pool.

 

[wass29]

Currently these fish are about 1 inch esch in size, and are in a Eclipse 3 gallon tank with a bunch of live plants. I don't fear the water quality is bad because I have tested it many times. How big are these fish going to get. Do I need to invest in something bigger. This tank is at work and I figured it would be good enough for now for these fish since I didnt think they would get to big. What would you suggest I put them in tank size I mean. I have a ten gallon at home i'm not using I think I could bring it in and get it set up in a few weeks. What do you think...

Wass

 

[scott]

in a 3 gallon tank they will surely fight until one is dead or gone. my grandfather had 2 steel blue's in a 40 gal bow front that is well planted and one still killed the other. this i'm sure is a case of extreme agression and not common in a tank this size but it does illistrate the problem with keeping more than one male in the confines of an aquarium. although i'm not at all fond of hybrids, you do have to admit that they are definetly good looking fish.

 

[cdawson]

Not to mention a 3 gallon is far too small to support anything other than maybe a betta for a short period. Nothing should be kept in tanks that small except for fry. Even then I wouldn't risk putting my fry in such an unstable system.

 

[wass29]

so do you think all small tanks are bad? I have kept fish in these small things for a while now and they have always done just fine. This is the first fair of apistos's (or hybrid apistos) I havae tried. The filter is a complete system with all three types of filtration mechanical, chemical, and biological, plus the plants are in there doing there part too.

Wass

 

[wass29]

would a 10 or 12 gallon tank be large enough for a pair of apistos

 

[cdawson]

It would be ok for a male/female pair, but as far as two males go I wouldn't try that in anything less than a 20g breeder or a 30 gallon.

your idea of doing just fine may not be in the fish's best interest. Lots of people think their fish are doing just fine when in fact they're not healthy or thriving at all. In a 3g tank that's pretty much impossible for something as active and energetic as a dwarf cichlid. Until you've kept these fish spanning out their entire lives in something so small (2-2 1/2 years) then you can't say they're doing just fine. There's a huge difference between thriving and just staying alive.

 

[wass29]

Dawson that's fine I was not aware that this tank was to small for them. I am already looking for a bigger tank, would a 10 or 12 gallon tank be big enough for a pair of them. I am moving one of these fish to a different tank to make sure he is healthy and happy and am going to upgrade this one at the office. Will one male Steel Blue Apisto be fine in a community tank with tetras or guppies.

Thanks
Wass

 

[cdawson]

You obviously didn't read my response above.
I already told you that it would be ok for a male/female pair, but a male/male pair would fight. Most likely to the death.

The steel blue should be fine in a community tank, however I would watch him carefully. I don't have any experience with steel blues ( I despise hybrids) and tempermentally they may not do well in a smaller setting like that. As far as keeping apistos go I only tend to use 20g breeders or larger. Apistos need more overall space, not depth.