BREEDING Apistogramma iniridae Help

[mematrix]

Hi All i recently got some of Jeffs iniridae pretty sure i have a pr
I am hoping on breeding them for the last week they have been doing the dance flairing at each other the litteler one turning on side showing belly the bigger one responding then he chases her away been doing this for at least a week now
I have them in a 10 gal tank with sand base rain water oak leaves drift wood and 2 caves and java moss guppy grass and ricca sponge filtration ph is aprox 7.0 trying to get it lower (with gh is at 0ppm kh is at 120 180ppm NO2 NO3 0 temp at aprox 80 deg f any tips or pointers ???
Curtis

 

[wethumbs]

It is blackwater species so your parameters are not even close to where they need to be. Even if they do spawn, none of the eggs would hatch at your current parameters. A. iniridae is also picky about their mates, just having one male and one female may not get a successful spawn even if the conditions are right. You will need to get a group of them to ensure successful breeding. Typically, their spawns are very large as compare to other Apistos, however the males can be very aggressive toward the females. My last spawn (just a few weeks ago), the male would not allow the female to leave the cave with the fry and subsequently he took over the brood care instead. Guess he needs to pick another one of my other females to spawn with.

 

[Simon Morgan]

It is blackwater species so your parameters are not even close to where they need to be.

I had to drop the TDS to 60ppm to get mine to spawn, the pH fell to 5.5...

 

[Mike Wise]

Yes, need blackwater and very picky about mates to the point of being virtually monogamous.

 

[mematrix]

It is blackwater species so your parameters are not even close to where they need to be. Even if they do spawn, none of the eggs would hatch at your current parameters. A. iniridae is also picky about their mates, just having one male and one female may not get a successful spawn even if the conditions are right. You will need to get a group of them to ensure successful breeding. Typically, their spawns are very large as compare to other Apistos, however the males can be very aggressive toward the females. My last spawn (just a few weeks ago), the male would not allow the female to leave the cave with the fry and subsequently he took over the brood care instead. Guess he needs to pick another one of my other females to spawn with.

I had to drop the TDS to 60ppm to get mine to spawn, the pH fell to 5.5...

Yes, need blackwater and very picky about mates to the point of being virtually monogamous.

Wow thanks for info Guys so back to drawing board re setup tank gotta get more females and
some RO water was using rain water How do i get my PH to low 5s and keep it stable ?wonder if i remove the female for a bit then reintroduce her maybe he might except her??
Curtis

 

[wethumbs]

I used to think A. iniridae was monogamous too. Back then, I had a group of 7 or 8 WC with multiple males and females. I would only get spawns from one of the male and the female. The rest were just 'freeloaders'. Since then, I have seen another WC male spawned with 3 different WC females in the same tank within a period of 2 days. Picky maybe, monogamous most likely not.

 

[Simon Morgan]

Clearly I got lucky as I only acquired a pair.
I find when TDS is very low the pH often drops on its own. A bit of Alder cone tea does help though.

 

[Jmty]

what is the tds?

 

[mematrix]

what is the tds?

I dont have a TDS meter so no idea

 

[Simon Morgan]

A TDS meter is worth having if you want to breed Apistos, they cost about £10-20 in the UK.
However, as your gh is zero you probably have fairly low TDS. Just dilute even more with RO or rainwater. The KH is too high and is buffering the pH.