Breeding Agassizii

[bedsfishkeeper]

Hi

I'm very new to keeping Apistos and i'm after a couple of bits of info on Agassizii.

I have one pair, photo's attached, Can anyone tell me the strain of Agassizii?

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a68/banzibaz/AgassiziiMale.jpg

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a68/banzibaz/agassiziifem2.jpg

I've had the pair for about 7 months now, the spawn regularly and the female normally guards for about 5 days but nothing comes of the spawn.

Tank mates are 5 glowlight Tetras and 4 small Rabauti Corydoras this in a 15 gal.

PH is 7.2, any help with these would be appreciated

 

[beleg]

Hi,
I am not very experienced as well but had an agassizi pair with which i had similar problems. The female would protect fry for 5 days then they would disappear. Later i realized this is because the female doesn't feel secure enough because when i VERY heavily planted the tank she started taking care of her brood.

The forumers had always suggested separating the male (and any other fish in the tank) so i guess maybe you should try that.

That pH is a bit high btw. Try to go below 7 for bigger number of fry.

 

[koty]

Hi

I'm very new to keeping Apistos and i'm after a couple of bits of info on Agassizii.

I have one pair, photo's attached, Can anyone tell me the strain of Agassizii?

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a68/banzibaz/AgassiziiMale.jpg

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a68/banzibaz/agassiziifem2.jpg

I've had the pair for about 7 months now, the spawn regularly and the female normally guards for about 5 days but nothing comes of the spawn.

Tank mates are 5 glowlight Tetras and 4 small Rabauti Corydoras this in a 15 gal.

PH is 7.2, any help with these would be appreciated

They look too red to be from nature
You should use at least a combination of R/O water.the pH is too hi and probably your water is to hard (too much Ca/Mg prevent efficient fertilization) Peat filtered water do miracles in terms of induce spawning and egg/larvae/parent survival.

 

[Mike Wise]

I agree with the red color morph, but they haven't been provided the red color enhancers needed to keep the fins red.

As for breeding, I too would lower the pH to about 6.5. and lower the hardness to, if possible. Breeding is best done in a breeding tank, not a community tank. Your Glowlights and Corys are both potential fry predators.

 

[Mike Wise]

I agree with the red color morph, but they haven't been provided the red color enhancers needed to keep the fins red.

As for breeding, I too would lower the pH to about 6.5. and lower the hardness to, if possible. Breeding is best done in a breeding tank, not a community tank. Your Glowlights and Corys are both potential fry predators. It is still possible to raise fry, but you will probably need to partition off part of the tank for just the female and her eggs/fry once breeding is done. Leave the other fish on the opposite side of the partitioned aquarium.

 

[bedsfishkeeper]

Thanks for the replys guys,

I'm in the process of cycling my 55 Gal so will move the tetra's and cory's over to give myself more of a chance.

By using peat this lowers the PH right? does it also lower the hardness? Mine is showing as 50ppm.

And Mike you mentioned the Red colour enhancers, I take it this is a form of food that can be given?

Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[Mike Wise]

Yes, filtering your water through spagnum peat will lower your water hardness but 50 ppm TDS is soft as it is.

Color enhancing foods include color flakes & pellets, brine shrimp, and cyclops, live or frozen. Your male may get more red color in the fins, but probably not as red as when his offspring are raised on color enhancing foods from the start.

 

[Apistomaster]

As much as I like to watch my fish raise their young I usually go the artificial hatching route on the first spawn. Once I have a batch of young in hand I am more relaxed and then I take time to watch my Apistogramma take care of ther fry.

It isn't all that unusual to have Apistogramma spawn once and then something untoward happens and one of the pair is lost. Having the saved the first batch is an insurance policy for me against the loss of a species from the fishroom that I care about

I've never been as fortunate as some at having my Apistos perform their parental duties adequately and the more I care it seem the more likely that will be the species that eats it's young. Other times nothing will stop a determined pair from doing everything right. I sometimes think part of why fish breeding can become such an obsession is that it is like gambling where the reinforcement is unpredictably variable.