Male Borelli Hiding

[Cdl]

Hi Everyone,

I have a pair of A. borelli in a UNS 60T ( 25 gallons). It's heavily scaped and planted, with ember, diamond head neon, and black phantom tetras, along with 4 panda corys, 2 ottos, and one small clown pleco. Everybody gets along great and the water is in very good condition- pH 6.6, nitrates <10. I bought the male first about 6 months ago, and introduced the female about 2 months ago. There was some initial posturing from the male, but no aggressive behavior. When I would approach the tank to feed them, both apistos would come to the front in anticipation. They get a mixture of dried fry food, xtreme micro pellets, and frozen daphnia. Lately, the male has been hiding and only shows up after most of the food is gone. Neither of them have any damage and aren't aggressive to each other or anyone else, I just think it's odd, and I don't want him to miss out on nutrition. Could he be preparing a spawning site? I thought that was usually more in line with the female.

Thanks!

 

[MacZ]

Could he be preparing a spawning site?

No, because the females do that.

Try to fill out the emergency template in the health subforum please (and please copy
/paste it here into your thread, lately someone didn't get that) and don't forget pictures of the fish.

There is a phenomenon that could fit your case, but without proper anamnesis I don't want to ruffle any feathers.

 

[anewbie]

Chances are the female was aggressive to him and he is hiding.

 

[Cdl]

Hi All, here are photos of the female and male. The male is larger than the female, and the appear to be quite civil towards each other. He just shows up late for dinner, and that may be his thing. BTW, the captions below are reversed. The female is the male, and vice versa- file saving error.

 

[anewbie]

I don't think that 'female' is a borelli or a female.

 

[MacZ]

Those are A. sp. "Steel Blue", that possible artificial hybrid with no known females in the trade. For details ask @Mike Wise

 

[Cdl]

OK- the shop sold them to me as borelli- what’s the plan? Do I take one of them back, or do they live together peacefully? Thanks

 

[anewbie]

Well it depends on a number things . Do you want a pair that will breed? Then you definitely take them back as you will need male/female. If you are happy to just have two fishes that look decent? Then you keep them. It is not clear how peaceful they will be together but they will likely be more peaceful than a male/female.

blue steel is presume to be a man made hybrid of borelli and something else - the seller has never said how they were created. They are believed to be sterile or very difficult to breed. Personally if you want to breed fishes then it is 100% i would return them and look for the proper species but as i said it depends what you want. Just be aware that m/f are not going to be tranquile loving couples as they don't bond or get emotionally attached.

 

[KenL]

Wow! I haven’t seen them (in the UK) for at least 20 years.

Did anyone ever find out what they actually are?

 

[MacZ]

OK- the shop sold them to me as borelli

Not unusual, this seems to happen regularly.

Do I take one of them back, or do they live together peacefully?

I'd return one and keep the other if you like the look. Otherwise anewbie has given you great advice.

Did anyone ever find out what they actually are?

Nope.

 

[Frank Hättich]

the shop sold them to me as borelli

Sometimes they are even sold as agassizii

 

[Cdl]

Thanks everyone- anewbie- I’m going to follow your advice. I am going to keep them as I have no interest in breeding, and they seem to be getting along OK. It seems like the more colorful of the two is showing up for feedings more regularly. I will inform the shop that what they are selling as borelli is blue steel. Thanks again for the great forum and responses!

 

[anewbie]

Wow! I haven’t seen them (in the UK) for at least 20 years.

Did anyone ever find out what they actually are?

I was thinking about this and i think that unless you are looking for pictures they are almost never sold as blue-steel any more - they usually have some other name like borelli or alacrina or whatever they seem to pick out of a hat. I saw some sold as alacrina a couple of years ago.

 

[KenL]

I was thinking about this and i think that unless you are looking for pictures they are almost never sold as blue-steel any more - they usually have some other name like borelli or alacrina or whatever they seem to pick out of a hat. I saw some sold as alacrina a couple of years ago.

I’m hopeful that I would know they were “steel blue” no matter what they were labelled as.

Borellii are very distinctive and not easy to confuse with anything else, males and females.