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Hello from india and help

jack

New Member
Messages
3
Location
Ahmedabad, India
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

Moderator
Staff member
5 Year Member
Messages
11,202
Location
Denver, Colorado, U.S.A.
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

New Member
Messages
3
Location
Ahmedabad, India
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

Moderator
Staff member
5 Year Member
Messages
11,202
Location
Denver, Colorado, U.S.A.
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).
 

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