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Hongsloi Red Gold Male or Female?

MapleNeil

Member
Messages
68
I ordered two male and two female hongsloi gold reds, and when they first arrived, there were clearly two grey ones and two colorful ones so it seemed pretty obvious that the grey ones were female. But one of the supposed females has turned colorful and I think was flirting with the other female.

One picture is of two supposed females, the other of the males.
 

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MapleNeil

Member
Messages
68
I should add, they are about 3cm long.
Also they arrived 3 days ago and were in pretty bad shape after shipping, maybe ammonia poisoning and they are still.recovering. I thought two of them.werent going to make it.
 

MapleNeil

Member
Messages
68
My initial plan to try having two pairs in a 20 gallon long was pushing my luck, but now with at least 3 males in there I will have to rehome two of them.

To make matters worse, two of them are flashing their gills occasionally. And in canada we can't get medicine for worms without visiting a vet..although I wonder if their gills are sore from ammonia poisoning during shipping rather than a parasite.
 

MacZ

Well-Known Member
Messages
2,958
Location
Germany
Honestly, I have one pair in a 20 gallon and although I generally have quite some experience with fish in general, right now I'm not sure if the tank might not be too small for two adult fish. At the moment I still attribute some behaviours to the fact they are only in the tank since Thursday.
 

MapleNeil

Member
Messages
68
Honestly, I have one pair in a 20 gallon and although I generally have quite some experience with fish in general, right now I'm not sure if the tank might not be too small for two adult fish. At the moment I still attribute some behaviours to the fact they are only in the tank since Thursday.
I'll definitely rehome some of them.
Here's the whole group together, one might think they aren't even the same species
 

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MacZ

Well-Known Member
Messages
2,958
Location
Germany
I'll definitely rehome some of them.
Here's the whole group together, one might think they aren't even the same species

Yeah, highly variable species and as most Apistogramma constantly shifting between colourschemes.

Here's my male during feeding today.
 

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MapleNeil

Member
Messages
68
Bad News :( One of the males died overnight. It was the one I thought was actually the most healthy and had the nicest colors. I don't know whether it was caused by stress from shipping or because I had 3 males in too small of a tank. Or something in my tank. And I had just arranged for someone else to take him. This is awful.

I planted amazon swords that I got from the LFS, in this tank and another one, and both of them have detritus worms now. I wonder what else came along with those plants. sigh

The one that died is labelled Male 2 in this picture.

4_hongsloi.jpg
 

MapleNeil

Member
Messages
68
I'm trying to catch Sleeper right now to put him in his own tank so that the female gets a break. She must be stressed from all the males expressing their interest and chasing her.
 

MacZ

Well-Known Member
Messages
2,958
Location
Germany
That's too bad with the loss. The likely female also looks a bit thin...

Detritus worms are nothing bad. Microfauna is always good to have. It's also free fishfood.
 

MapleNeil

Member
Messages
68
The surviving Male 1, has what looks like a torn lip or part of his lip missing. Could this be from fighting with the other male? Do they have fatal fights like that? I thought apistos were less aggressive.

I wonder if they fought in the bag while being shipped. They were packaged two fish per bag. That might explain why they were in such bad shape when they arrive. I assumed that as juveniles I would have more time to observe and deal with aggression. I guess I should have gained more experience before trying this.

Edit: I've moved Sleeper to a netted breeding box within the same tank. Male 1 is courting Female 1 but she doesn't seem very receptive, more interested in Sleeper.
 

MacZ

Well-Known Member
Messages
2,958
Location
Germany
A. hongsloi are said to be relatively docile and I can definitely confirm that from what I am seing for the past week. The A. ortegai were already at each other's throats after a week, the A. hongsloi are getting along great. No fighting, minimal chasing...

How is the tank structured? Can you show us a picture of the whole tank?

Would have to see the lip to tell where it comes from. Fighting during shipping is very unlikely, though.

Take the fish in the breeder box to another tank. It will be very much stressed out being a sitting duck in that thing. I find those things really only suitable to torture fish.
 

MapleNeil

Member
Messages
68
Here is the setup. There were a few more plants before I pulled a bunch up trying to catch sleeper.
 

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MacZ

Well-Known Member
Messages
2,958
Location
Germany
Okay, that tank has almost no structure. Even with just a pair this would end all but good.

Do you have any driftwood left? Or stuff besides plants with which you could build barriers? It's very important that the lines of sight are broken. Especially on the level the fish usually are moving around, in the lower third.

This is how I keep mine, though I had to remove a big bunch of Egeria densa (waterweed) today as it started to melt due to the tint. Moved some driftwood around. Got some twigs from the backyard that came down in a storm lately to add in a few days.

photo_2021-01-12_12-22-40.jpg
 

MapleNeil

Member
Messages
68
Not to minimize the work you put into your beautiful aquarium, but is the key essentially to have a big pile of hard things in the middle, with the cocohuts or other huts around the central pile that breaks up the line of sight? I have some larger granite rocks here that I can use until I find some driftwood.
 

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