-
Hello guest! Are you an Apistogramma enthusiast? If so we invite you to join our community and see what it has to offer. Our site is specifically designed for you and it's a great place for Apisto enthusiasts to meet online. Once you join you'll be able to post messages, upload pictures of your fish and tanks and have a great time with other Apisto enthusiasts. Sign up today!
Mixing Species
- Thread starter henpecked
- Start date
- Messages
- 550
- Location
- Shawnee, KS
I would suggest doing a search on this site (check out Ted's note about searching the forum in the announcements) about mixing species for your answer, as there are a couple of really good threads with some good info in them.
Regardless, a 10 gallon is too small for what you have now...I wouldn't even think about adding anything else at this point.
Good luck!
Regardless, a 10 gallon is too small for what you have now...I wouldn't even think about adding anything else at this point.
Good luck!
- Messages
- 703
- Location
- Clarkston, WA
When I was set up to breed more Apistogramma I mainly used 10 gal tanks for single pairs and they worked well.
Perhaps that has more to do with my experience which helps me bend the "rules" a little.
I did have one especially unusual event with a pair of Apistogramma cacatuoides where they spawned and guarded a over 170 fry. I had to remove the fry after 10 days because of the huge numbers. I eventually raised over 70 pairs from this spawn. Not only was this the largest spawn of any Apistogramma I have raised but the sex ratios were unusually well balanced.
I do provide quite a bit of wood and caves plus some plants to provide refuge for the females but I have had overall greater productivity when I was using a bank of 10 gal tanks.
Now I am mainly geared for breeding plecos and Discus and since now I have mostly 20 Longs and 40 breeders I have not been able to produce very many Apistogramma. Maybe I have just lost my touch? It has been frustrating since I used to take it for granted my Apistos would spawn.
I must admit that when I used mostly 10 gal tanks I extensively used artificial hatching methods. A 10 gal is too small to generally expect Apistos to practice good brood care. At the far extreme I have successfully bred small species like A. borelli trios in 4.5 gal tanks and have had each female brood their young with the male performing the normal role of guarding the overall tank.
What my experience mostly shows is that there are many different ways in which one can breed Apistogramma species.
I would love to be able to set up my 10 gal tanks but I simply lack the space and energy to take care of any more tanks than what I currently have.
I have even had trouble breeding my Apistogramma trifasciata, another one I used to take for granted and I have a pair set up in a 29H.
I shared my last two pairs of these with a buddy and he set his pair up in a 10 gal tank and raised 45 fry. The two pairs we now are all we got out of about 45 adults. The majority of the fry from that spawn were all males. One of the worst skewed sex ratios I have ever seen from an Apistogramma spawn.
Perhaps that has more to do with my experience which helps me bend the "rules" a little.
I did have one especially unusual event with a pair of Apistogramma cacatuoides where they spawned and guarded a over 170 fry. I had to remove the fry after 10 days because of the huge numbers. I eventually raised over 70 pairs from this spawn. Not only was this the largest spawn of any Apistogramma I have raised but the sex ratios were unusually well balanced.
I do provide quite a bit of wood and caves plus some plants to provide refuge for the females but I have had overall greater productivity when I was using a bank of 10 gal tanks.
Now I am mainly geared for breeding plecos and Discus and since now I have mostly 20 Longs and 40 breeders I have not been able to produce very many Apistogramma. Maybe I have just lost my touch? It has been frustrating since I used to take it for granted my Apistos would spawn.
I must admit that when I used mostly 10 gal tanks I extensively used artificial hatching methods. A 10 gal is too small to generally expect Apistos to practice good brood care. At the far extreme I have successfully bred small species like A. borelli trios in 4.5 gal tanks and have had each female brood their young with the male performing the normal role of guarding the overall tank.
What my experience mostly shows is that there are many different ways in which one can breed Apistogramma species.
I would love to be able to set up my 10 gal tanks but I simply lack the space and energy to take care of any more tanks than what I currently have.
I have even had trouble breeding my Apistogramma trifasciata, another one I used to take for granted and I have a pair set up in a 29H.
I shared my last two pairs of these with a buddy and he set his pair up in a 10 gal tank and raised 45 fry. The two pairs we now are all we got out of about 45 adults. The majority of the fry from that spawn were all males. One of the worst skewed sex ratios I have ever seen from an Apistogramma spawn.
