Hi, from South Central Kentucky

[smokecombs1015]

Hello, my name is Joey Combs. I have been a fish keeper for several years now but, as of this past Saturday, this is the first time I've had Apistos. I had a shop in South Indiana order me some Apistogramma cacatuoides and ended up with 5 of the little guys. I have kept German blue rams for several years, and convicts (separately of course) and raised a few batches of fry from each. Convicts became like guppies or any livebearer to me, EXCEPT they were such good parents to their fry I ended up with way too many Cons. Love those guys but my all-time favorite fish was the paradise fish. A combination of many things I like about paradise fish. One, they are basically tougher cousins of bettas or Siamese Fighting Fish (which I was infatuated with as a kid). They are highly intelligent in my opinion, up there with many cichlids. And they have beautiful long finnage and good color under good conditions. All this lead me to Apistogramma Cacatuoides. Maybe it's me, but in my mind and eye they remind me of a little smaller version of paradise fish, but with easier (for me at least) breeding behavior. I love the idea of a 2 parent system in any fish, and cichlids give me what anabantoids have, but also better parenting skills. Long story short, I'm a "noob" when it comes to these fish and I look forward to any advice I can get. If anyone has any new strains or beautiful strains of fry I'd also buy some if there is any trading/selling here. Just glad I found this website. Thank you. Oh and I made my first post, question/advice thread over in the Apisto section. Thanks for any help there, it will be appreciated and heeded.