My Dwarfs

[Ruki]

As I read all Magnolias are toxic. But I think that when magnolias juices are going off from leaves at autumn we don't have to worry because no toxins won't(probably) remain at leaves. But I don't think what effect will have leaves from evergreen species.

 

[Bilbo]

We don't know if your Magnolia leaves are fish safe or not yet, although I'm aiming to do some tests on them this year. If you can get Cork Oak (Quercus suber) or Camellia? leaves these will do.

Look forward to the results of that.

I have about a thousand camellia tree's across my section and countless dead leaves in the gardens but never thought to use them because they are evergreen's.

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,
At the moment, once the lab is quiet, I'm going to try Loquat, Evergreen/Deciduous Magnolia, Camellia, Oak, Beech, Weeping Fig (Ficus benjamina) and a bought Terminalia catappa leaf.

All I'm going to do is weigh the Terminalia leaf, and then use the same weight of all the other leaves, and place them in a litre of de-ionised water for a fortnight. At the end of the 14 days, I'm going to measure water tint (with a spectrophotometer), pH and conductivity. I'm hoping to do some microbiological tests as well, but they are outside of my remit so I'm reliant on that lab having some time to plate out the leachate.

I used Camellia leaves because I'd run out of collected dead leaves and I was looking for an alternative, all the soil around Bath is very calcareous (it is limestone country), and I usually get my leaves from a wood on the "green sand" where the soil is more acid, but I was too busy to go and get some.

I've got a Camellia x williamsii "Debbie" in a pot in the garden (they are calcifuge) and I had a reference where a SE Asian Betta keeper claimed his "secret" was using Green Tea leaves as a water conditioner.

I knew that Tea is a Camellia species as well, so I thought I'd try a few dead Camellia leaves. They last very well, and they tint the water and I've had no problems with them in either the shrimp or Apistogramma tanks.

My problem is I only have 1 plant, so I only get a handful of dead leaves every year.

cheers Darrel

 

[Mak_Fleeld]

I have seen a photo of a meet and greet with the 7 Dwarfs. Can anyone tell me where this takes place??????

 

[Ruki]

Some new photos. :biggrin:
T. candidi

A. norberti, unfortunately I've two females but male'll be soon :biggrin:

A. rositae

A. barlowi

A. cacatuoides

 

[hapaluku]

I have new pictures of my female Atahualpa with about 16 juveniles in my profile..

 

[animalmgc]

T.candidi is a fish I'm seeking u can find them but the are expensive to me for a single fish and I guess they must be hard to sex cause no one sells them as a pair

 

[Mike Wise]

Truly, a beautiful wild color form of A. cacatuoides! I continually wonder why the domestic red forms are so much more popular.

 

[Ruki]

I continually wonder why the domestic red forms are so much more popular.

I wonder too. I had to sell F1 fry for the lowest prices(even not 2$ for one...) And it was hard too...
I found that wild Cac's have one of the best developed fins from Apistogrammas I ever had. First was male Breitbinden and second is Barlowi male.

P.S.
Rositae had spawned despite of treatment against Hexamita/Spironucleus.

 

[Csababá]

Some new photos. :biggrin:

Stunning caca, indeed. The same specimen on the last picture?

 

[Ruki]

Stunning caca, indeed. The same specimen on the last picture?

Yeap, the same male on all photos of A. cacatuoides.

 

[Csababá]

Thanks, the last one looks more reddish to me. I'm starting to be into wild forms...(as well)

 

[Ruki]

Mendezi male:

Rositae male:

Barlowi male(and his fry :biggrin: )

 

[burak]

Great Pictures; Great Fish!

Gratulations for your good work brother.

Can you inform me about your setups? Filtration, Dimensions (Width, Length & Water Depth..) etc.? Thanks in advance.


Regards;

 

[Ruki]

Can you inform me about your setups? Filtration, Dimensions (Width, Length & Water Depth..) etc.? Thanks in advance.

Most(3) of my tank are 96l with 90x40 bottom but I also have smaller(63, 2x 57.5, 45, 20) and bigger(112 and 125) tanks. I'm using sponge filters because of low costs.

About setups- sand, wood and leaves. In some tanks few of plants- mainly from Echinodorus genus.

 

[burak]

Thank you very much for your answer Ruki. In your pictures I have seen some internal filters and I wondered how you deal the water flow rate in the tanks.

That is such a great thing, that you can find even wild Apistos in Poland. Unfortunately we do not have many options here. The present ones are mostly unhealthy fishes. Most of the time I have to use my business travels as an opportunity and get fishes from EU, especially from Germany.

What I am trying to do is also building up a small fish rack ( even a room if I can convince my dear wife )only for Apistos. I have a former very unpleasant and heart breaking experience with such an attempt. Was my mistake anyhow. (Quarantine is mandatory, I learned it). So this time, I am trying to do everything perfect by learning from experienced friends like you.

Maybe I should try do arrange a trip to Poland also.

Thank you once again.

 

[peterK]

Dear Friend,
You say exactly what we (Ruki or me) were writing on this forum some 3-4 years ago, now everything has changed - thanks for some of our friends - trips to Germany, and now we have even our own importers from the wild. I think if you have fellows who are also interested in keeping these fish, you'll have them in your tanks soon. Good Luck!

 

[burak]

Thank you very much for your good wishes Piotr!

I hope it happens also in Turkey very soon. There have been some Apisto shipments from Czech Breeders in the last years. Some very common types are being still imported -Cac.s, some Agassizi and Rams-. However, like I said, most of the time the main problem is the very low quality of the fish.. For the more uncommon and healthier species we will have to keep waiting in Turkey.

Meanwhile I will keep giving all my personal effort to find them, bring a few couples with me home, and try to breed them.

By the way, do you have any info on Apisto breeders/presence in Belgium? I will be visiting that place vey often in the following months.

Best regards;

 

[Ruki]

My kitchen looks like on photo. :biggrin:

I have fish rack in fish kitchen, friends are naming it "fishkitchen". :biggrin:

When you will be in Poland come to Krakow. :wink: In Warsaw you can buy wild Dwarfs in shops. If you will be coming write to me or Peter. We'll give you addresses to good places. :biggrin:

 

[burak]

Thank you for your friendly offer Ruki.

If I manage to arrange some trip to Poland one day, trust me I will contact you guys :biggrin:

My wife will never let me do something like that to our kitchen

I am trying to invade a non-used room