Concerned about my new Apistogrammas

[Mazan]

Being closely related to my A. wolli, I'd say you have a healthy looking pair.

Not a very nice photo, but this is the smallest one, to me this one looks more like a small version of the male, while the other I posted above is more different. But I could be wrong.

 

[Mike Wise]

Looks like a female to me. Of course it could be a juvenile male.

 

[Mazan]

Looks like a female to me. Of course it could be a juvenile male.

Ah OK thanks, hopefully it is a female, I will just have to wait and see...The male chases both the small ones, but they don't seem too bothered and are eating well.

 

[Eddy. E.]

I would definitely feed him Artemia with garlic juice. As long as he eats normally, levamisole is not yet necessary.

 

[Mazan]

I would definitely feed him Artemia with garlic juice. As long as he eats normally, levamisole is not yet necessary.

Thanks Eddy, he is still alive and definitely eating some Artemia at least. I did not think of garlic but will try that. Fingers crossed!

 

[Mazan]

A quick update with some good and some bad news. The good news is that for the last couple of days the sick Apistogramma seems rather better, more active, swimming around more instead of just resting on the substrate most of the time, not as dark and he is actively going for the garlic-flavored Artemia rather than just waiting for them to go near him. He still is thin but perhaps not quite as bad as he was. The bad news is that he is missing his caudal fin. I did not notice this at first as I thought it was just completely folded, but now he is swimming more I can see that he has no tail! Any chance that this can grow back?

The other three Apistogrammas are all in good health.

 

[MacZ]

Any chance that this can grow back?

Is the fin completely gone or is the base still there? If the former, it will not grow back.

 

[Mazan]

The caudal peduncle is complete, but it is hard to tell if there is any actual fin left as it is transparent, if there is any its only a very little and I fear there is not, but I'll try to get a closer look...

 

[Mazan]

Difficult to see clearly or take a good photo as the tank is quite dark, it has water lettuce on top and a big almond leaf has darkened the water. This is the best shot I could get today. It does look as though most of his tail is gone, however he is swimming quite well, much more active and no longer looks to be at death's door...

 

[Eddy. E.]

That will grow back. It also takes a while. It will not be as "beautiful" as before, but it will grow back.

 

[Mazan]

Thanks Eddy, I don't think he is going to die now! He needs to fatten up, then I have to decide what to do with him, as obviously he can't go back with the others, and I don't want to keep the small tank running indefinitely due to electricity costs, also I like to have it available in case of any emergency/fry/quarantine etc. I have two tanks suitable for Apistogrammas but each of them has one male in already - the agassizii that I was not intending to get (it was sent with the Ladislao as a free gift) and a "hongsloi" type that I was given, both are still small. I also have two large tanks, but one has bigger (though mostly peaceful) cichlids in and is structured on a larger scale than I would do for Apistogrammas. The other, which is densely planted, would be suitable except that it has two pairs of Laetacara, they seem to have given up breeding now and are only somewhat aggressive to each other, but they might not react well to another small cichlid. I am leaning towards trying it with the hongsloi as that tank is 120cm long and very densely structured with wood and plants. If it doesn't work out though I might have to give one of them away .

 

[anewbie]

Thanks Eddy, I don't think he is going to die now! He needs to fatten up, then I have to decide what to do with him, as obviously he can't go back with the others, and I don't want to keep the small tank running indefinitely due to electricity costs, also I like to have it available in case of any emergency/fry/quarantine etc. I have two tanks suitable for Apistogrammas but each of them has one male in already - the agassizii that I was not intending to get (it was sent with the Ladislao as a free gift) and a "hongsloi" type that I was given, both are still small. I also have two large tanks, but one has bigger (though mostly peaceful) cichlids in and is structured on a larger scale than I would do for Apistogrammas. The other, which is densely planted, would be suitable except that it has two pairs of Laetacara, they seem to have given up breeding now and are only somewhat aggressive to each other, but they might not react well to another small cichlid. I am leaning towards trying it with the hongsloi as that tank is 120cm long and very densely structured with wood and plants. If it doesn't work out though I might have to give one of them away .

In theory you have two males and two females; if these are like nijjensi they are not polygamous so you have an extra male and an extra female ....

 

[Mazan]

In theory you have two males and two females; if these are like nijjensi they are not polygamous so you have an extra male and an extra female ....

Yes, but where to put them? Unless I can divide the tank the three others are currently in. They are not showing any breeding behaviour yet, but they seem Ok together. Most of the time they all stay in different parts of the tank, just when I feed them they all come to the front then the male chases the other two and the bigger of the females chases the smallest one. They settle down again after feeding and none of them looks stressed. But if I put the other male in he will almost certainly be attacked again by the resident male.

 

[anewbie]

Yes, but where to put them? Unless I can divide the tank the three others are currently in. They are not showing any breeding behaviour yet, but they seem Ok together. Most of the time they all stay in different parts of the tank, just when I feed them they all come to the front then the male chases the other two and the bigger of the females chases the smallest one. They settle down again after feeding and none of them looks stressed. But if I put the other male in he will almost certainly be attacked again by the resident male.

Well if it were me i'd put him and the smaller female where the agassizii is and move him into one of the larger community tanks. That is if i understood correctly that he is in a tank by himself that is large enough for a pair; assuming he is disease free but perhaps i mis-read what you had available.

 

[Mazan]

As usual its complicated! The tank the agassizii is in also has pencilfish, ruby tetras, Rineloricaria and one Poecilocharax. I have just been told that a few more Poecillocharax have arrived in a shipment of cardinal tetras and are being saved for me. So not a good idea to have potentially breeding Apistogrammas and Poecilocharax in the same tank. I did think of the possibility of moving the agassizii and putting the recovering male in there though, as I think the agassizii will be pretty tough wherever he goes, whereas the one with no tail might need a more gentle situation.... Also Mike Wise said that these fish are not necessarily easy to pair up with any mate so its probably best to keep the two females together as potential mates, until a pair forms, if it does.

I suppose the other option would be to put the Poecilocharax with the hongsloi and Copellas, risk the agassizii in one of the big tanks and have the potential for a pair of Ladislao in the pencilfish tank...

 

[anewbie]

As usual its complicated! The tank the agassizii is in also has pencilfish, ruby tetras, Rineloricaria and one Poecilocharax. I have just been told that a few more Poecillocharax have arrived in a shipment of cardinal tetras and are being saved for me. So not a good idea to have potentially breeding Apistogrammas and Poecilocharax in the same tank. I did think of the possibility of moving the agassizii and putting the recovering male in there though, as I think the agassizii will be pretty tough wherever he goes, whereas the one with no tail might need a more gentle situation.... Also Mike Wise said that these fish are not necessarily easy to pair up with any mate so its probably best to keep the two females together as potential mates, until a pair forms, if it does.

I suppose the other option would be to put the Poecilocharax with the hongsloi and Copellas, risk the agassizii in one of the big tanks and have the potential for a pair of Ladislao in the pencilfish tank...

Well just keep in mind that after they pair; you will need to (likely) quickly remove the other female; as the 'pair' will probably gang up on the third one.

 

[Mazan]

Yes, I know. I am beginning to like the last idea I had while I was writing, after all the "hongsloi" and the Poecilocharax came together as stowaways with cardinal tetras, I might even get some cardinals as well and that tank would be almost a biotope (I think the Copellas could occur in the same habitat). Then the spare ladislao pair could go with the pencilfish. I am not sure about the agassizii though, he is still too small to go with the big cichlids, he might be OK in the big planted tank maybe, but would be difficult to catch if it didn't work...

 

[Mazan]

A quick update, the male I almost gave up on as dead is fine now and his tail has started to grow back. I recently moved him from the hospital tank to the tank with the pencilfish and ruby tetras. Having first moved the little agassizii from there, who I managed to catch in 15 minutes using a trap made from a plastic water bottle - otherwise I would have had to dismantle the whole tank. The agassizii is doing fine in the big planted tank, the Laetacras ignore him. The other three Ladislao are also fine, though no signs of any breeding behaviour as yet.

 

[Eddy. E.]

That reads just fine. A good start for the new year ;-)

 

[Mazan]

That reads just fine. A good start for the new year ;-)

Thanks so much for your help!