Hello from NJ

[Jay973]

I've been keeping a planted tank for successfully (using that term loosely) for 6-7 but have keeping fish for over 20yrs all freshwater. I've only recently began the apisto addiction due to another planted club member and I was fortunate enough to get my 1st group of 6 viejita through trade. Unfortunately after the move the tank took a hit because my water source at the new local is hard water out of the tap. Lost all my Discus, most of my GBRs, and apistos. I believe the apistos were affected more by another pair of viejita from the same source that may have been ill. I had a pair of viejita and hongsloi in the tank and lost the male viejita and female hongsloi. I've been trying local sources ever since.

A few weeks back I picked up 2 pairs of borelli for my planted tank and the females have been alternating breeding with the dominate male it seems but they haven't been attentive enough to guard the eggs past the 1st day.

Anyway looking to absorb more information.

 

[MickeM]

Hi Jay973 +all..

I´ve kept these Apistos several times but never experienced any manner of "misconduct" .
From what you tell about your earlier loss, I think that the borellii-results are guiding us to the fact that the water (kH/pH , very high/low temp) might be the problem. (I think it might lead to eggs not being fertilized !!??)
Or.. the male might not do "his job" during breeding moments. (Not very common.. ,as long as you are sure that all your mating Apistos really are belonging to the same species!!)

The "normal" female behaviour is to keep guarding until there`s no "future hope" left .. So one female acting in a strange way I can accept...but you have got 2 females not behaving "as they should" (only guarding for 1 day??) ..
They normaly don`t eat their own eggs....so then I think they do what they usually should do in that situation.. Pick the dead eggs away as soon as possible to prevent the rest from getting fungus and die!!
Some times I have seen "a few" eggs die and be picked away... the rest of the eggs can then get white .. one by one .. attacked by fungus.
If that spreads..it usually takes 2-3 days before all eggs are dead and picked by the female..

My guess is you will have to lower your kH/pH .. or you might have some other animal eating their eggs.. maybe during the night- entering her cave!!?? (unless you have any desease/illness in the tank??!!)
Some Malaysian snails, catfishes or others (much larger single Apistos??) might be the explination??
But then you often can see brooken fins ( after fighting) on the guarding female..

Maybe this info can help you out in some way???

If you look through earlier threads in this forum (Water Chemistry) you probably can get advice/help how to fix your water..


/MickeM

 

[Jay973]

Thanks for the info.

It's possible something maybe eating there are snails, dwarf mexican crayfish, RCS, and japonica shrimp in the tank.

Temp is 76 degrees f (24C)
KH- 8-10
PH- 7.5 - 7.8

This is one of the female guarding eggs


These are the eggs I could actually see


These are the two males waiting for food

 

[MickeM]

OK..the dwarf mexican crayfish is my guess. (What do they look like?? Is it/Are they big?? Do you have a pic ?...)
Sounds like it must be very difficult to protect her eggs against such a tough opponent!!
That`s probably the reason you can`t see what has happened.. All eggs are eaten quite fast.. maybe at night??

 

[Jay973]

They are small at least mine are. They seem to be bigger than RCS but slightly shorter than a japonica shrimp only wider (beefier).

Here's one and you can see the RCS as a reference.


Here's one trying to hide in the Crypt parva


There is a snail problem in the tank I and I did see a bladder snail over the eggs but the female guarding them just watched so I don't know if it was eating them.

Here's the smallest of the two females you can make out the CPO in the A. nana petite claws open just above her head.

 

[MickeM]

BTW.. I really like the way your plants are growing between the rocks !!!

 

[Jay973]

Thanks.

Here's the full tank shot.

 

[MickeM]

Really cool crayfish...!! But.. I think it causes the egg problem.. Does not look afraid of the Apistos at all..
The claws makes it superior I guess...

Or it might be the snails?? I`m not sure..
Keep an eye on them further on(?)
It would be really interesting to know which of them all who eats the eggs!!

 

[Jay973]

haha... very true. I've only seen them be aggressive towards each other there's 4 in the tank. I guess I can move them to the 180g.

 

[MickeM]

If that`s a plastic feeding cone(?) at the surface to the right... I probably would move it to the left were the smell and food leftovers might fall down (were she had the eggs??), leading to a mass movement of snails to "her" cave??
It might not be a problem at all??!! Just a longshot theory of mine..

Nice plants!!

 

[Josh]

Welcome to the forum! That's a GREAT looking tank. I love it!

 

[Jay973]

@MickeM - The FTS is a few weeks old the cone just floats around the tank empty since the suction cup doesn't stick for long. I'm oblivious to it even being in the tank...LOL

@Josh - Thank you.

This was one of my viejita red neck male I lost, which ignored his female for a female GBR were always together.
[URL=http://s258.photobucket.com/user/jay973_photos/media/Apistogramma/Viejita/PictureT1i_6171_zpsd80f5e72.jpg.html][/URL]

My Female viejita

 

[Jay973]

Well to my surprise what I thought was a female viejita in my 180g is a male. I put a female Hongsloi formII in there for my male Hongsloi but it looks like he lost out to the viejita which is also courting her. Now this is a heavily plant tank and it's going to be a nightmare to get the viejita out of the tank.

If I get another female viejita will that settle things or still be a problem? I would of thought a heavily planted 180g tank would've been plenty of room...