Hi from US/Poland

[PolskaPisto]

Hi from US/Poland

I've kept a Macmasteri for a time, and I really have come to adore the more natural variations of these cichlids. I'm in the market for my planted tank, but I am really undecided. I will be skulking about learning and finding accessible species local to me.

Pol

 

[anewbie]

Rather than look for 'natural variations' i would look for wild caught Macmasteri. Some are quite striking though not as ehanced as some domestics bred after all the domestic line breeding is explicitly attempting to bring out the strongest colouring. I live in usa so i don't think the stores i would mention are readily available to you but wild caught fishes are readily available here if you look and wait.

 

[PolskaPisto]

Rather than look for 'natural variations' i would look for wild caught Macmasteri. Some are quite striking though not as ehanced as some domestics bred after all the domestic line breeding is explicitly attempting to bring out the strongest colouring. I live in usa so i don't think the stores i would mention are readily available to you but wild caught fishes are readily available here if you look and wait.

I am in the US and so are my tanks! Do let me know

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi Pol, and welcome!

 

[anewbie]

I am in the US and so are my tanks! Do let me know

wetspot has a few wild fishes; you can also get some on band; aquaticclarity carries a decent selection - he has some new fishes arriving in a couple of weeks. There is a guy on ebay bigtuna which i don't like dealing with but he has some unusual wild caught fishes. I usually use aquaticclarity; this guy on band or wetspot though there are a few other places i have used - a lot of them have moved more into domestic fishes since it seems there is a larger market. also tanglecicihld sometime has a couple of wild apisto but he focus more on larger non-dwarf cichild.

 

[PolskaPisto]

wetspot has a few wild fishes; you can also get some on band; aquaticclarity carries a decent selection - he has some new fishes arriving in a couple of weeks. There is a guy on ebay bigtuna which i don't like dealing with but he has some unusual wild caught fishes. I usually use aquaticclarity; this guy on band or wetspot though there are a few other places i have used - a lot of them have moved more into domestic fishes since it seems there is a larger market. also tanglecicihld sometime has a couple of wild apisto but he focus more on larger non-dwarf cichild.

I've been in contact with aquaticclarity! We are in the same region and he has been incredibly resourceful.
I'll keep up with him!

 

[PolskaPisto]

I wanted to update everyone. I took everyone’s consideration very seriously and I’ve begun to make an apisto specific biotope and have held the apistos back in my to-be decommissioned tank.

Now I need help. They have bred with literally zero effort within a month.

My goal now is to rear them into juveniles and I need help. They’ve escaped me until I looked close about 10 minutes ago. They’ve must have been born a couple of weeks ago.

Do understand that this tank does keep super clean parameters as to hold them here (0s across the board except about 5ppm nitrate). I understand I have a nasty cyano bloom. I’m a few weeks away of cycling my apisto tank so I haven’t taken care of it other than feeding and WC.

Any tips will help, primarily food!
For now I will drop a veggie wafer every few days. The protein content on these is tremendously high, at around 40%+ by weight.

 

[PolskaPisto]

Fry

 

[PolskaPisto]

I can tell they've been subsisting off of the veggie wafers for quite some time. The fry are immediately pecking at it with the mother.

I removed a couple of 'culled' rummynose tetras from my show tank. These 2 were sickly or of a different rummynose complex that got mixed in at the LFS and looked different. They have been living with these apistos. I have just removed them and will segregate them. Mom was working overtime to keep them away.

The tank has 2 Panduros in a pair, their fry, and a third wheel female that is not interested in bothering them. I am feeding them separately on opposite ends of a 20 gallon long.

I'm using the veggie wafers with them because they have shown a much bigger interest in them than micropellet and live foods. I wouldn't have ever though fry would subsist off of them, considering I had no idea they existed until a few minutes ago. I confirmed that the veggie wafers are predominately protein.

@Mike Wise Any guidance would help immensely. The goal now is to rear them into juveniles and migrate everyone to the new biotope tank.

From there, I'll have to find some homes for them.

Oops!

EDIT: It looks like many of the comments on this thread were deleted as unhelpful months ago. The jist was many of the veteran members were discouraging me from my original plan to put them in a high tech tank. I took their advice without even knowing my apistos had already bred.

 

[anewbie]

I wanted to update everyone. I took everyone’s consideration very seriously and I’ve begun to make an apisto specific biotope and have held the apistos back in my to-be decommissioned tank.

Now I need help. They have bred with literally zero effort within a month.

My goal now is to rear them into juveniles and I need help. They’ve escaped me until I looked close about 10 minutes ago. They’ve must have been born a couple of weeks ago.

Do understand that this tank does keep super clean parameters as to hold them here (0s across the board except about 5ppm nitrate). I understand I have a nasty cyano bloom. I’m a few weeks away of cycling my apisto tank so I haven’t taken care of it other than feeding and WC.

Any tips will help, primarily food!
For now I will drop a veggie wafer every few days. The protein content on these is tremendously high, at around 40%+ by weight.

The best diet for the first couple of weeks are live bbs (baby brine shrimp). After that they can be adopted to taking dry food fed to the parents in small bits; though they will grow faster if you continue to feed them live food - primarily baby brine shrimp.

 

[PolskaPisto]

The best diet for the first couple of weeks are live bbs (baby brine shrimp). After that they can be adopted to taking dry food fed to the parents in small bits; though they will grow faster if you continue to feed them live food - primarily baby brine shrimp.

Hatching BBS now. I grabbed some dry BBS/prawn "first bites" for the next 48 hours until I have a live BBS slurry.

 

[anewbie]

Hatching BBS now. I grabbed some dry BBS/prawn "first bites" for the next 48 hours until I have a live BBS slurry.

Live food seems really important as it is the movement of the that seem to trigger eat me response. I've tried feeding various species of apisto frys on golden pearl and similar fine food without much success - i mean they appear to eat it when examined but they then seem to die. My success with the same fishes using bbs has been very good. While there might be other unknown factors my guess is the nutrition value and movement.

Btw if your container is small be sure to vaccuum out uneaten food as the ammonia caused by decaying food can kill the frys. This is less important with larger volume of water and with parents who will help eat the snacks.

 

[PolskaPisto]

Live food seems really important as it is the movement of the that seem to trigger eat me response. I've tried feeding various species of apisto frys on golden pearl and similar fine food without much success - i mean they appear to eat it when examined but they then seem to die. My success with the same fishes using bbs has been very good. While there might be other unknown factors my guess is the nutrition value and movement.

Btw if your container is small be sure to vaccuum out uneaten food as the ammonia caused by decaying food can kill the frys. This is less important with larger volume of water and with parents who will help eat the snacks.

I will. I've been doing daily 15% water changes as this tank was previously neglected and slated for takedown this last weekend actually. I use a matten filter in this 20g long. It's about a 10 square inches of 2 inch thick filter at about 80 gallons an hour. The flow is low but it is incredibly over powered.

That, and I have about 15 pounds of Philadendrin water rooting into it.

I hope I have enough left by the time the bbs is ready!

 

[PolskaPisto]

Live food seems really important as it is the movement of the that seem to trigger eat me response. I've tried feeding various species of apisto frys on golden pearl and similar fine food without much success - i mean they appear to eat it when examined but they then seem to die. My success with the same fishes using bbs has been very good. While there might be other unknown factors my guess is the nutrition value and movement.

Btw if your container is small be sure to vaccuum out uneaten food as the ammonia caused by decaying food can kill the frys. This is less important with larger volume of water and with parents who will help eat the snacks.

How frequently do you feed for the first week or two?
I think I can muster about 4-6 times with work. Once in AM and a handful of times throughout the afternoon after work.

 

[anewbie]

How frequently do you feed for the first week or two?
I think I can muster about 4-6 times with work. Once in AM and a handful of times throughout the afternoon after work.

i typically try for 4 times a day the first week. after that 3ish. 5 wouldn't hurt anything as long as the food is all eaten and not decaying. Folks say worms work well (micro worm) because they live longer in water but i've never gone that route.

 

[PolskaPisto]

Difficult telling if the fry are eating. They haven't changed in size for a few days as far as I can tell. Live BBS and a first bite powder. Their count seems about the same as a couple days ago.

Will they pick live BBS and fry foods off the substrate?

 

[anewbie]

Difficult telling if the fry are eating. They haven't changed in size for a few days as far as I can tell. Live BBS and a first bite powder. Their count seems about the same as a couple days ago.

Will they pick live BBS and fry foods off the substrate?

The first day or so they are free swimming they will eat their egg sack. Only after the egg sack is exhausted do they start eating. I'm not sure how long yours have been free swimming. I usually use a magnifying glass the first few feedings to make sure they are going after the food.

 

[PolskaPisto]

The first day or so they are free swimming they will eat their egg sack. Only after the egg sack is exhausted do they start eating. I'm not sure how long yours have been free swimming. I usually use a magnifying glass the first few feedings to make sure they are going after the food.

They're doing really well, thank you @anewbie.
They've gained about 40% more mass (still incredibly small, we are going on 1 week).
I think my survival rate is 90% so far at a week, but I am seeing feeding behavior with the naked eye so I think that will stabilize. They are eating live BBS, a fry specialty food the size of BBS, and frozen BBS.

I am overfeeding a tad as I really have the faintest idea of portions. Their stomachs are just starting to appear.

Doing 25% WC every 2 days just to keep the substrate clean.