honglsoi sexing

[Mike Wise]

Looking at the video and the behavior of the fish, I would say you have a pair but the female isn't interested in breeding at the moment. Changes in food and tank conditions might encourage spawning.

 

[Odile]

Thank you Mike. I never bred apistos and would love to do so. A week ago I added alder cones in the tank and the pH is now around 6. I feed the mostly frozen brine shrimps, and occasionally frozen blood worms. I also tried dried food but never saw them eat it. Are my water parameter good for breeding Should I try to vary the food?

 

[Mike Wise]

Your water values appear fine, although I would try to lower the pH to <6.5 if it were my tank. Maybe adding a more varied diet would help, but it seem ok to me. I always add live bbs to my fish's diet. I think now is the time for patience.

 

[Odile]

My male died suddenly about 3 weeks ago, and here is a picture of my "female" a week and a half later ...

^^

 

[Odile]

I recently bougth a new female, hope it really is on this time. Are there cues that can be used to guess whether an individual is a true female or a sneaker male?

Here are a few pics of the little one:

 

[Mike Wise]

Size? Behavior? Need more information.

 

[Odile]

"She" is about 4 centimeters. The male is always showing of at her but she hides quickly when he comes too close.

On another forum somebody answered that he thought she was indeed a female because she had very little red, very little facial marking and her ventral and dorsal fins where not point shapped. When I look at pictures of when my male was looking as a female he indeed have all this characteristics. The facial marking and pointed ventral fin are especially visible. Do you think he is likely to be right?

 

[Mike Wise]

He's probably right, but 4 cm is still small/immature.

 

[Odile]

No doubts left, she has been bright yellow for a few days now

Since then the male seems rather indifferent to her

 

[ButtNekkid]

Hi,

Do sneaker males exhibit female breeding behaviour? I recently bought a male/female pair and thought that the smaller could be a sneaker.
The bigger male used to chase all the time but the smaller one never stayed at the upper part of the tank.
Then (s)he builds this huge sand wall in front of a coconut shell entrance and the bigger male has stopped chasing.

 

[Mike Wise]

I've seen sneaker males imitate female courtship and broodcare behavior - including leading fry together with their mother. I've never seen them imitate actual breeding behavior where they act like they have eggs/larvae.

 

[ButtNekkid]

The weirdest thing is happening. Now the male seems to have a lockjaw- situation. Today I saw him going in to the coconut shell.
The female is very bright yellow but does not visit the coconut.

Could the male be keeping fry in his mouth?

Also, does "mirror therapy" work on hongsloi?
I tried it and they both swim away from the mirror. Seems that they shy away from confrontation. Are hongsloi peaceful apistos?

 

[Mike Wise]

Apistos occasionally get jaws locked open. If they can't unlock the jaw it leads to starvation. Attempts by hobbyists to 'help' unlock the jaw usually leads to broken jaws.

There is no record of A. hongsloi moutbrooding. Besides the mouth would be closed and the throat area enlarged in mouthbrooding apistos.

A. hongsloi in my experience is not especially aggressive. Being a regani-lineage species, they use a lateral display instead of a frontal display.

 

[ButtNekkid]

Apistos occasionally get jaws locked open. If they can't unlock the jaw it leads to starvation. Attempts by hobbyists to 'help' unlock the jaw usually leads to broken jaws.

There is no record of A. hongsloi moutbrooding. Besides the mouth would be closed and the throat area enlarged in mouthbrooding apistos.

A. hongsloi in my experience is not especially aggressive. Being a regani-lineage species, they use a lateral display instead of a frontal display.

Yep. It´s jaw is definitely locked. And it´s getting worse by the day. And he´s swimming into obstacles and staying in same places most of the time.
I guess it´s go time for this one. Such a shame. So handsome.

How long should I wait before putting it out of misery.
It´s not nice to see it suffer.

 

[ButtNekkid]

Hi,

Few photos of the fish. I didn´t see anything in its throat.

 

[Mike Wise]

It's best to euthenize as soon as possible. I prefer to put the fish in a cup of water and put it in the freezer. It's dark and less stressful for the fish (and me) and the fish dies without trauma.

 

[central tanks]

Is there ways to avoid them getting lockjaw?

I guess im asking if this is caused more from lip locking or just something that happens normally when they open there mouth sometimes