Hello from india and help

[jack]

Hello everyone... A bit of my intro...

Myself Jaival Parikh, 23 years old from ahmedabad, gujarat, India.*

I have my own business of decoration, cateting and events.

I am nature lover loves to travel and into fish hobby from some rough 10 years... Like every amature hobbyist started off with some goldfish and a small tank and made mistakes killed fishes stoped keeping tanks and then again started fishkeeping....

Got into planted tanks a year and half back and latest i am bitten by apisto bug.....

Currently have a 5X2X2 feet planted, nano planted with shrimps and a 4X2X2 feet black water biotope tank with wild caught M.Rams from Venensula.....*



Now freinds i am here to learn a lot from you guys.....*

The black water tank i have i am planning to keep apistos....*
Apisto here are really very expensive so i am planning to get the prefect info on them and then to introduce them to the tank.


Tanks specs:*

Size: 4X2X2
Filter: 2 internal filter with ceramic rings and sponge
Substrate: golden play sand
Decor: lots of branch drifywood and Indian almond leaves to softern the water
Water change: every second day 20% tap water*
Light: 12X3 wat LED light and 2X5 wat CFL*
Temperature: maintained at 27-28 degree celsius

So my questions are

1) which is the best and easiest apisto to keep as a beginer ?*

2) which the best low maintainance plants to set in black water and low on maintainence ? ( i am aware of anubias and ferns ) other suggestions ?*

3) how many apisto can i house in this big tank..... Other fishes are just 6 wild rams...

4) other decoration in tank if necessary ( am not really a fan of artificial decration and stuff)*

5) what is the captive life of apistos ?*

6) best food ? I dont have regular supply of live foods in my city... ( i feed my rams doaqua's brine shrimp and ADA's gold food mixed with hikari bio gold for discus

7) are there any suppliers who can send me the fishes to India ? Here they lack quality and apistos are rare to get in market with crazy price aswell....


Thanks guys for reading hope will get the reply soon....

 

[Mike Wise]

Jaival, welcome to the apisto forum. I will give you my experiences of 35+ years of keeping apistos:

1. Some of the easiest "beginner's" apistos are A. borellii, A. cacatuoides, A. cf. alacrina Rotpunkt, A. macmasteri/"viejita" and A. steindachneri/"ortmanni".

2. I'm afraid that plants are not my strength. I do not keep pretty tanks. They are for breeding. About the only plants I keep are Java Moss and Java Fern. You might want to try some of your local aquatic plants, especially those that live in shaded (low light) areas.

3. I assume your 4x2x2 tank is measured in English feet and not meters. It would be fun to have a 16 cu. m tank! Anyway, I think you need to decide what you want this tank to be: community or breeding. In a breeding set-up you would be best to be conservative. Each fish should have a territory approximately 12 inches/30 cm in diameter and each territory should have well delineated boundaries. This territory can be larger or smaller, depending on how heavily decorated/planted the tank is. You already have 6 Rams, so adjust accordingly.

4. Other than plants, think about pieces of wood and rocks. You can make caves in them, in which the apistos will hide/breed.

5. The average life span of an apisto in captivity is around 2 years. If under low stress and optimal conditions, they can live 2x this long. I presently have apistos that I collected as adults in Oct. 2008 that are still doing well.

6. The best foods are live foods, of course. I feed mostly baby brine shrimp hatched from eggs. If you are willing, mosquito larvae are even a better food source. My apistos are not fond of dry foods, but will eat it is there is nothing else available.

7. I would suggest that you contact commercial fish breeders in Singapore. They ship worldwide. I don't know anything about import regulaltions for India.

 

[jack]

Thanks Mike this will be very helpful.......

What is the temperature that you kep most of your apisto cacatuoides ?

Can you suggest me singapore breeder that you know and have good reputation ?

 

[Mike Wise]

If not breeding, temperatures between 24-26°C should be fine. I'm sorry, but I do not know much about Singapore breeders (I keep mostly wild fish).

 

[jack]

Thanks bro