Laetacara araguaiae - general water parameters?

[RichD1011]

nannacara (=Ivanacara) adoketa suitable tankmates

Hi all, While i have about 2200liters of breeding/grow-out racks with Central American cichlids (Oscura heterospila, Amphilophus lyonsi, Amatitlania sp honduras red point, Chortiheros wesseli, Amatitlania altoflavus, Cincelichthys pearsei, Amatitlania nanolutea and some dither fish like...

www.apistogramma.com

The above link was the original plan for my new 80Liters tank (and its still on the table)), however i now also have access to a proven couple of Laetacara araguaiae.
However the information on the world wide web on this species is scarce... like what kind of water parameters do they prefer? are they a real blackwater species or?
is someone can shine some light on this (or has a link with some good information) that will be much appreciated!

I am also looking for an good dither fish, so suggestions are always welcome.

 

[Mazan]

They are not blackwater species and are quite widespread so probably reasonably tolerant of different parameters, though soft water is probably best. I have two pairs in a large planted community tank, pH is 6.6-6.8, GH and KH 1-2. The males do get fairly big and stocky for a dwarf cichlid, though the core territories each pair defends are quite small. What are the dimensions of your tank? Warning - they breed non stop! I bought four juveniles and ended up with two pairs, they started breeding after about a month. At first a bit of mate swapping went on, the parents were rather casual and lost (or ate?) the fry straight after hatching. After losing the fry there was some aggression between members of the pair resulting in the female being chased away. However after a few attempts the two pairs stabilized, they now fiercely defend the fry and manage to get them to 2-3 days free swimming, after which the fry disappear overnight. I suspect the tetras. On losing the fry they now immediately start displaying and start again! On two occasions I have siphoned some fry out and reared them in a separate tank. They are very tiny but take newly hatched brine shrimp about 2 days after free swimming.

As for dither fish, if you want to rear fry in the tank pencilfish are probably best as for Apistogramma. Otherwise any small to medium tetras should be fine. The Laetacaras are not at all shy so dither fish are probably not necessary, though they might encourage them to defend the fry.

 

[Mike Wise]

Virtually every book on dwarf cichlids has something on them, most under their common name Buckelkopf acara. For me book are as valuable - if not more - than the web. Book are definitely more dependable.

 

[MacZ]

Virtually every book on dwarf cichlids has something on them, most under their common name Buckelkopf acara. For me book are as valuable - if not more - than the web. Book are definitely more dependable.

Having my old Mergus books back (1. paperback edition)... I should get some newer books. The edition is my age. Thing is, books don't get updates as often and you have to get a new copy for an updated version. Plus the whole updated taxonomy. I have the feeling at least half of the species in the trade (cichlids, catfish, barbs, whatever) have been updated scientifically and the new synonyms are simply not in there. Imagine someone looking for Metriaclima or Dicrossus. No chance of finding those in a 40 year old book. Not that I'd need to look those up, but just as an example.

Still, books, especially such that basically list fish and help with ID, have a lot of advantages and I think every good fish store should have several of these for their own use.

 

[anewbie]

One thing i can say is seriouslyfish article on them has the incorrect size. They are not small - i think mine are around 4ish inch but they are far stockier than the nannacara anomala; they chase each other a lot and constantly court and flare but otherwise are harmless. My nannacara hates them but i've not seen any actual conflict (I have a single male nannacara left); as for breeding - i'm not sure - the back 1/2 of my tank is not visible due to dense planting and so if they breed back there i cannot see if they have frys - my water is harder than i would like gh 7 kh 3 ph 7.0; and so i will not buy more fishes until i move and can actually control the hardness. I had 4 - one was a deformed runt that eventually died and one is a loan female who has gotten ill the past 4 weeks and seems uncurable though i am trying some bacteria medicine on her to see if she will recover. The other two (a male and female) show no sign of issue - i've had them for about 8 months. They might have eaten one of the smaller kubotai rasbora - not sure - i have 16 to 18 (some of which were quite young and small) of them but they swim constantly and are hard to count.
-
They are not a bad fish but i think i prefer the nannacara anomala which i am very fond of - my male is around 2 1/2 years old but i've not have good luck with females - they are also not blackwater fish but i think they would prefer water a bit softer than what i can offer at this time. When i move and have an ro unit I think i will keep more nannacara anomala - i wish i could keep 6 but i think they are not very friendly to each other even in a large tank and will be restricted to 2; the Laetacara araguaiae in that sense are a friendly fish towards each other and while there is some chasing they are not so violent - but as i noted they are a much stockier fish and to be honest my male is getting well fat - they do not know when to stop eating like the anomala.

 

[Mazan]

Agreed, my males are quite big, deep-bodied and stocky now with pronounced nuchal humps. The females are considerably smaller. They started breeding when still small, at that stage it was not so easy to tell the sexes apart. Quite a lot of posturing goes on between the two pairs at the territory boundaries and very occasional fights, but these are short-lived with no obvious damage. Except for defending fry they don't bother any other fish, and the only plants they have slightly messed up are where they have made holes to put the wrigglers; They are very confident, always active and more out in the open than most Apistogramma, though they also like going in and out of dense plant bushes. I have not had any health problems with them, touch wood.

 

[Mazan]

Just had a look, Seriously Fish says the biggest officially recorded is 36.9mm, I estimate my males to be 70-80mm.

 

[MacZ]

36.9mm

So far off I suspect a typo. Same problem on fishbase from time to time.

 

[Mazan]

A couple of photos taken a few months ago

 

[Mike Wise]

Just had a look, Seriously Fish says the biggest officially recorded is 36.9mm, I estimate my males to be 70-80mm.

This is based on scientific collections from the wild, not in the aquarium.

 

[Mazan]

This is based on scientific collections from the wild, not in the aquarium.

Just looked at the original paper describing the species, based on 10 specimens the biggest measured 34.9mm SL (ie not including the length of the caudal fin). So they collected only juveniles, or they grow bigger in aquaria?

Another paper I found on their life history looked at far more individuals (264) from two different streams in Brazil, and the maximum size recorded was 65.9mm (not sure if this is SL or TL)..In one population, particularly, where size and fecundity were lower, individuals measuring over 56mm were very uncommon, and not collected at all during several months of the year. The average (or median?) sizes in each population were 37.8 and 35mm. I'll have a more thorough read of the paper later. But it would seem that with more food availability and probably fewer parasites, they grow bigger in aquaria.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/324731827_Description_of_a_new_species_of_Laetacara_KULLANDER_1986_from_central_Brazil_and_re-description_of_Laetacara_dorsigera_HECKEL_1840_Labroidei_Cichlidae_Cichlasomatinae

https://www.scielo.br/j/bn/a/w9MKsh8nGg7Lw8MPrgSP7kR/?format=pdf

 

[MacZ]

or they grow bigger in aquaria?

Often the case. I had wild caught fish from different areas of the world that wouldn't grow nearly as large as tankbred conspecifics.