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cobalt apisto agassizii = steel-blue

Neil

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Messages
1,583
Location
Sacramento, Ca.
amanda huggenkiss,

can development of fin shape be affected by the presence of a dominant male?

Most difinitely! Size, color and fin development can all be repressed in order to reduce or avoid a dominant males aggression toward competition.

Neil
 

amanda huggenkiss

New Member
5 Year Member
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41
Location
Vancouver, Canada
Thanks Neil

I knew about colour, but didn't realize fins & size could be affected too.

Poor little guy (or girl). The dominant male is hell-bent on mating with him too. I'm thinking I might move him into my 29g and see what happens -- if he develops more male traits once he gets away from the dominant male, then I guess I'll know for sure it's not a female. :wink:
 

amanda huggenkiss

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5 Year Member
Messages
41
Location
Vancouver, Canada
Resurrecting an old thread to say look what I found! Incredibly crappy photo, I know. I just got them home and they havent quite settled down yet. I'll post a better pic once they're more comfortable and will sit still for a second.

I just happened to swing by the aquarium store and they had a new shipment of steelblues (again labelled as agassizii). I was casually checking out the tank and they told me that one of the fish had spawned, but none of the babies survived more than a couple days because the tank was so crowded there was no way the parents could protect them. So I looked a little more closely. And based on the information you guys gave me the last time I posted, I picked out what I believe are two females. One of them has already been flirting up a storm with my male.

Note the dark leading edge on the pelvic fins and the rounded dorsal and anal fins.
 

fishgeek

New Member
Messages
980
Location
london uk
most of the steelblues i have seen do tend to have black on the pelvic fins

i believe i may have found a female apisto in a tank of steelblue's
i havent been able to get a definite id of the fish and this gives me hope that it may actually be a female of the steelblue family

just looking at your pictures i wuld think that the amout of blue on the face is suggestive of males

andrew
 

amanda huggenkiss

New Member
5 Year Member
Messages
41
Location
Vancouver, Canada
fishgeek, my male has a very subtle black edge on his pectorals, but it's nowhere near as dark and pronounced as on the other two.

And this morning I observed the male displaying for each of the females, and both of the females responded. For awhile it looked like one of the females had taken up residence with him in his little driftwood cave, but then she lost interest and swam away. And then he did his little flirty dance for the other female and she checked out his cave with him too.

I'll keep you all posted...
 

amanda huggenkiss

New Member
5 Year Member
Messages
41
Location
Vancouver, Canada
Here's a little video showing the male luring one of the females into his cave. Nothing came of this -- it was the fourth time this evening that I saw -- who knows how many times it happened when I wasn't looking. Sometimes she swims away leaving him behind, still displaying for her, sometimes he swims away leaving her behind wondering where the hell he got off to. And it's happened with both of the females.

He alternates between displaying for them and chasing them out of his territory.

(I apologize for the poor quality of the video -- it was just shot with a little point & shoot camera.)
 

fishgeek

New Member
Messages
980
Location
london uk
looks promising , my female is very much smaller than my male and she has all the attitude
she is the one that has chossen a territory and comes flying out at the male harrasssing and showing belly all in the same move

hopefully with r/o and more live food i may be lucky

then again it may just turn out to be another male for me
best of luck and keep us updated

andrew
 

amanda huggenkiss

New Member
5 Year Member
Messages
41
Location
Vancouver, Canada
fishgeek (and anyone else) what temperature do you keep the water at for your steelblues? They seem happy in the high 70's, but I'm wondering if they need something specific for breeding.

Also, did anyone have trouble viewing that video? It was fine from my home computer, and obviously fishgeek was able to see it, but I got an error when I tried viewing from work.

thanks again
 

mummymonkey

Member
5 Year Member
Messages
185
Location
Blairgowrie (UK)
amanda huggenkiss said:
Also, did anyone have trouble viewing that video? It was fine from my home computer, and obviously fishgeek was able to see it, but I got an error when I tried viewing from work.

thanks again
It doesn't play on my PC. The pointer moves along the bar but nothing else.
 

fishgeek

New Member
Messages
980
Location
london uk
mine are at 26-28 at present
not breeding though
trying to get the water softer as had recently had to replace a 3 yr old r/o membrane and was out of r/o for a couple of months
fingers crossed that is enough for them
 

amanda huggenkiss

New Member
5 Year Member
Messages
41
Location
Vancouver, Canada
Thanks fishgeek. I'm pretty lucky here in that our water is ridiculously soft -- 0 right out of the tap. It's much easier to increase hardness!

I'll re-post that video in a different format later tonight...
 

amanda huggenkiss

New Member
5 Year Member
Messages
41
Location
Vancouver, Canada
Okay, if anyone's interested, try the video here. It's a pretty good indication that I've finally found the elusive female steelblues.

They're still at it tonight. The females are much more protective of their own territories now, neither one is really tolerating the other on their turf. And the male seems to be focussing his attention on just one of the girls now. He keeps trying to lure her into his cave. She goes & checks it out, but I think she likes the one she's claimed better, because she keeps trying to steer him back to her cave. So she ends up sitting in her cave trying to entice him to come over, and he sits in his cave trying to catch her attention.

Hopefully they'll figure it out...

Plus he keeps getting distracted by his reflection on the back of the tank and trying to scare the intruder away.
 

P.W.

Member
5 Year Member
Messages
185
Location
Sweden
Hi Amanda!

Great that you have found a female!! I have no doubt that this fish must be a steelblue female. Really hope that you will get some fry from this couple.
Will be interesting then to see if the offspring will be fertile and if there will be some females?

Please keep us updated :)

Best regards/ Per
 

amber2461

New Member
5 Year Member
Messages
47
Location
Surrey, Canada
Congrats Amanda on your find. Saw them there last week, then the fry were still in the tank and the pair were defending them against the rest of the tankmates.

Cheers
 

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