how to attract a male (video)

[wickedglass]

for all you girls out there who wonder how its done?
this is how!

http://s73.photobucket.com/albums/i208/taxman69/?action=view&current=Inkashenanigans.flv

(guaranteed to work for fishnerds, too :wink: )

cheers
Chris

 

[apistodave]

OK I'll say it--that's great- looks like some atypical coloration on that fem

 

[ProF_FR]

These are baenschis right ?

ProF

 

[wickedglass]

Yeah, I bought them as A. baenschi Inka 50, they're F1, here's a couple of stills

http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i208/taxman69/Inka_male.jpg

http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i208/taxman69/Inka_female.jpg

and this is them defending their castle against a persistent A. agassizii double red

http://s73.photobucket.com/albums/i208/taxman69/?action=view&current=inkadefensez.flv

I initially had 4 of them, 2 pairs, but one of them jumped tank. They were in a tank by themselves and very very skittish. Now I have 1 m and 2 f left, and I put them into my holding tank. It has about 15 kribs, 13 viejita, a couple of aga double red females, a bunch of guppies and a male borellii ... and a spiney eel which I keep forgetting about because they hide so well. The Inkas love it in there, not skittish at all ... after a week in there I put them into a nicely planted tank of their own and again they became skittish, hiding so hard it hurt to watch, so back in the holding tank they went ... then they started breeding in there ... 40 eggs, I took them out today to artificially raise them. I had a female viejita in a tank on her own, and for about 2 months I'd keep giving her foster fry to raise (borellii, double red aggies and apache fry), but I decided to give her a rest from looking after fry ... just at the wrong time, she'd be damn handy now.
It kind of raises an interesting point someone might be able to answer for me ...
Is it detrimental to keep a female Apistogramma in protective parenting mode indefinitely by taking fry out at a certain size and replacing them with younger/smaller fry? My little viejita is a hard workin mother and I wouldn't want to work her to an early grave.

Cheers
Chris

 

[wickedglass]

sorry the vids and pix aren't better quality, they're taken with my phone cam

 

[AdamT]

Don't apologize for those videos, they're great!

Are you just gonna leave the baenschis in the holding tank, or will you get some dithers to help them relax in the other tank? People love the pencilfish around here for dithers, but I wonder what other fish are favorites for this job? I've got a 55 with a mess of pencilfish at the top, I'm starting to think it would be nice to see a little more variety...

Re: constant mothering - I guess I figured the taxing part about the mothering would be egg-production. When she's got babies around is she able to get away to grab enough food for herself? As long as she's managing to feed alright I guess I'd figure she was fine. That being said, I have no special knowledge about it. I'm just makin' that up and I may well be wrong.

-A