Laetacara Dorsigera advice

[Jwitho]

Recently picked up 4 L.dorsigera for a new tank, with plans of pairing up and removing the other two (into my community tank they go)
Any advice in terms of keeping them happy? They’ve been in the tank for roughly 3 weeks now and share it with A.rathbuni and H.adolfoi
The issue I currently have is I never see the Laetacara, I know they’re on the shy side but will they appear more as time goes on?

 

[anewbie]

My wc young ones never hide also my group of domestic never hid so i suspect something else is going on; what size are they; the aquarium and temperature ? Cory/Tetra shouldn't be an issue with them.

 

[Jwitho]

My wc young ones never hide also my group of domestic never hid so i suspect something else is going on; what size are they; the aquarium and temperature ? Cory/Tetra shouldn't be an issue with them.

They’re roughly 1.5inch, temperature sits at 26C and the tank is a 60cm tall, so roughly 80L
Tank was also cycled using pre-existing media from another tank, ammonia and nitrites reading 0, nitrates at 15ppm and pH sits around 6.5
Don’t get me wrong, the fish do come out but the moment I move near the tank they’re gone

 

[anewbie]

I'm not sure what to say - the wild caught ones i received were between 3/4 inch and 1.25 inch and 5 of the 6 are food beggars - it was pretty funny when i added them as i had 1/4+ inch nijjensi fry who immediately 'growled' at them but it took them a while to noticed. Quite an aggressive fish for such a small size.

The domestic i have are under fairly bright light and the wc one are a bit dimmer but not dark. You could try to tweak the lighting down a litlte if it won't hurt the plants. You could also take a picture of them and verified they are dorsigera as a lot of sellers mixed up dorsigera and curviceps; i've kept several fishes sold as curviceps but never actually owned them but i've been told they are a shier species and more reclusive.

In both aquaruiums i ahve them (the wc are in a 29 gallon and the domestic ones in a 500 gallon) there are plenty of places they could hide - your aquarium is a bit smalller and a good chunk of that space is taken by the height so it sounds like it doesn't have much floor space which might make them a bit crowded or less secure (pure speculation with no basis); in general when a fish has a place to hide it is more likely to be out in the open though your aquarium looks like it has a lot of hiding areas.

 

[Mike Wise]

My experience with this species is that they are rather "clueless" in their behavior. I guess this is why early collectors called them "Acara stupido" because they could catch them simply by putting something to eat in their hand. No net was needed. As for their shyness it is hard to guess. Mine were never shy, but I never put them in a community like you have. Maybe it is in a high-traffic area or even the corys being overly active around them. I know my Hoplisoma adolfoi are much more active compared to the CW010 Orange Laser Corys (Osteogaster sp. “orange laser”) that live with them. Your fish are probably just reaching maturity at that size. If you truly are serious about encouraging them to breed I suggest that you use a tank with more bottom area. Volume is not important compared to bottom area. The fish only use the bottom 15 - 20 cm of the tank.

 

[Jwitho]

My experience with this species is that they are rather "clueless" in their behavior. I guess this is why early collectors called them "Acara stupido" because they could catch them simply by putting something to eat in their hand. No net was needed. As for their shyness it is hard to guess. Mine were never shy, but I never put them in a community like you have. Maybe it is in a high-traffic area or even the corys being overly active around them. I know my Hoplisoma adolfoi are much more active compared to the CW010 Orange Laser Corys (Osteogaster sp. “orange laser”) that live with them. Your fish are probably just reaching maturity at that size. If you truly are serious about encouraging them to breed I suggest that you use a tank with more bottom area. Volume is not important compared to bottom area. The fish only use the bottom 15 - 20 cm of the tank.

So they were in the tank for 2 weeks prior to adding dither fish and corys, and still hadn’t really came out.
I mean they’re eating, the times I do see them they show no signs of stress so maybe I just have to accept they’re a little avoidant
Regarding the tank size and breeding, it’s not so much breeding I’m aiming for, mainly just the behaviour between a pair, but of course if there is any issues I have multiple tanks to place them in and also work in a fish store, I can always return them too

 

[Cichlacat]

I have four dorisiger in a 50 gallon corner bow front that has a saltwater type corner overflow that I installed myself in across the back corner of the tank. This compartment contains the heater and a large sponge filter for backup if the FX 4 ever has problems plus the input for the FX4. The Fx 4 is fitted with a custom sprayer that runs along the top of the tank sides and front. All hardware is hidden, except the two small wave maker power heads that I direct at the bottom of the tank for added circulation. For decor I use black blasting sand, the sides are painted black so that gives them more assurance. The tank also features a large piece of driftwood in the center of the tank surrounded by several species of anubias. To provide shade and more cover duckweed and hornwort cover the top of the tank. I use two LED strips for lighting. The tank also receives direct sunlight for part of the day.

There are also about 25 odessa barbs, 3 key hole cichlids, 8 corys, 3 tiger barbs and a couple of bristle nose Plecostomas. I’d guess they’ve all been together almost a year now. They all seem to get along famously and the cichlids are out and about always when I watch the tank undetected.Both the dorisigers and keyholes are as brightly colored as these fish get if you know what I mean. Neither species is a brightly colored Apistogramma. But they are beautiful in their own way and more robust than their apistogramma cousins. Besides I’ve got beautiful color displayed by the odessa and tiger barbs.

As soon as food is placed in the tank or they think I’m going to feed them, they’re all go wild at the top of the tank begging for and chasing the food around.

I cichlids have not showed signs of spawning, but I’m sure they will at some point but doubt if any fry will survive with all the barbs running amuck.

 

[Mike Wise]

Everyone who has been here for any time know my mantra: a community tank is not a breeding tank. I wouldn't expect to see any breeding. My concern is for the corys. Black blasting sand is usually crushed fly ash from burned coal. It is very sharp and can destroy the whiskers on catfish - not to mention that fly ash contains several toxic materials.

 

[Cichlacat]

Well. all I can say is I don’t really care if they breed or raise their babies. I’ve raised many cichlid babies over the years and I don’t have to see it again. I’ve mixed the black beauty blasting sand with (horrors) white silica sand so it’s a nice salt and pepper effect.

The Cory’s and the Plecostomas seem to have all their wiskers and doing fine. They’ve been in there for a couple years.

Regarding the toxic chemicals in blasting sand, I guess their could be in some brands but I’ve not had any problems that I know of. The black beauty brand is not supposed to, but I gave it lots of rinsing and change out 1/3 of the water and hydro clean weekly.

At this point I love building display tanks and usually I do keep the same fish together from the same ecosystem and that is fun.

One species tanks to me get a bit boring and I’d set them up only for breeding.
I gave up the breeding on purpose for the most part as when you take the fish into the local fish store they don’t give you much for them.If some of my fish do spawn one can always suck out a few with a siphon hose and raise them in another tank.

I‘m mindful about certain fish getting along of course. My tiger barbs in the current tank Believe they are odessa barbs and they seem to play chase games with them and leave everyone else in peace.

 

[Jwitho]

So an update, they have all been frequently out more
They still swim and hide if I get close, however they are starting to come out if I stay still
I believe that spawning behaviour may also be happening, as one is showing full breeding colours and sand has been cleared off one of the rocks in the tank

 

[Cichlacat]

Congrats. The apistos could intimidate the dorisigers. Maybe. The dorisigers just aren’t very aggressive. They are very laid back. But if the spawn it might be hard on the Apistos.

 

[Jwitho]

Congrats. The apistos could intimidate the dorisigers. Maybe. The dorisigers just aren’t very aggressive. They are very laid back. But if the spawn it might be hard on the Apistos.

There’s no apistos in the tank, had quite a few different species over time now and fancied a change, so dipped my toes into Laetacara