Hello World!

[Kymmys442]

Hello all!
My name is Kymmy. Im a 4 time cancer survivor, single mom, im newly graduated (last year) in wildlife biology, and after several years, im finally back in the fish world. The last fish i had, were a couple of beautiful German Blue Rams. Ive always loved cichlids and wanted to get my foot back in that door, so to speak. After noticing a few "Opal Apistos" online, i knew i wanted to try my hand at these beautiful fishies. I just received 3 Apistogramma Viejitas. Or the LFS mail order equivalent. (since the nearest LFS is 250 miles away. lol)Theyre spectacular. I hope to learn as much as i can by visiting yall here. I would definitely welcome any identification of my Apistos. As i know they arent true Viejitas. Thank you all, and nice to meet you!

 

[Mike Wise]

Welcome to the forum. As for your fish, they are a domestic color strain of A. macmasteri that has been mis-lableled "A. viejita" for many, many years. They are wonderful fish in their own right.

 

[Kymmys442]

I figured they were. Wanted to make double sure. I love em tho. Thanks so much!

 

[DwarfCichlidLvr]

Hello and welcome!
You have done a lot!!
Nice fish!

 

[Kymmys442]

Thank you so much!

 

[Kymmys442]

Update on my tank. I lost all my Apistos, and 5 furcata rainbows. The rainbows i know i caused their demise. Doing water changes and gravel vacuuming and cleaning the tank over the last few weeks. One had been sucked up in the vacuum. Two had jumped into the filter compartment and even tho i rescued them, i believe they were injured. The other two, im pretty sure i accidentally injured them as well, moving and cleaning ornaments. As they were all so curious and fearless, they liked to be right there while i did anything. I did not have my other tank set up to transfer them yet. I am utterly angry at myself. One of my Apistos got stuck in my battleship ornament a few weeks ago. The other...died just yesterday. I dont know what happened. He was happy and healthy looking. Eating well and my water parameters were great. The only thing i can think of, is that we had horrible storms the last few days and lost power for quite some time. Possibly lack of filtration or heat. But the water tested good. Im just devastated. Im scared to try again with more Apistos. But i just adore them. Its just hard to try again, thinking youre a fish killer. Now that i have the other tank cycled and the water perfect, i moved my remaining 3 Rainbows and my Whiptail catfish. So far, they are all doing great. But i plan on taking apart the other tank and doing a thorough cleaning and just starting over. I may only use it as a quarantine or reserve tank. Im not sure. Anyway...Im just hoping my 3 remaining Rainbows at Whiptail survive and i can try again with Apistos later.

 

[Andreas]

Did you have any live plants?

 

[Kymmys442]

Im sorry it has taken so long to reply. Things have been rather crazy. I do not have live plants. In either tank. I moved the fish i had left, into my spare tank. All i have left are 3 blue eyed rainbow fish, and my whiptail catfish. Meaning i lost all my apistos and 5 rainbows total. The remaining fish are absolutely thriving in the spare tank. I took apart the original tank and cleaned every bit of it. I just now, set it up again and it is currently cycling. I plan on trying apistos again, when the tank has been thoroughly cycled. It will be at least a month. But this brings me to another question. I originally had 4 yellow forktail furcatas and 4 red neon blue eyed rainbow fish. I now only have 3 out of those, remaining. I believe they are all 3 female. And my guess is that there are 2 female furcatas and 1 red neon rainbow fish. I will be getting a few more rainbow fish to add to this tank as i know they do better in a group of more than 3. But is there anyone that can tell me if im correct or not, in saying that the 3 i have, are all female? Ive attached a couple pics.