new member with a few questions.

[deaver]

Hi all, nice forum here, been lurking here for some time as i've kept and loved the apistogramma's over the years and breed the one species i'm familier with bout 10 yrs ago. apistogramma macmasteri was easy in my water conditions at the time. Got a pair from a friend who breed them over and over, filling his 55 gallon and 20 gallon to the brim feeding the fry vinegar eels and microworms. So those days have passed and i have my first batch of fish tommorrow being shipped via air 3500km away. apistogramma cacatuoides (11) and apistogramma agassizi (12).

Some more background....I have 6-30ga tanks in my small fishroom. They have a variety of cichlids (species only tanks). Convicts, angels,platies/mollies, goldfish, gold and bolvian rams, kribensis (these are my own fry, born march....parents rehomed) all my fishroom tanks have aquaclear 110's plus sponge filters (ebay) powered with air. ebo jager heaters, marineland LED lighting (not the double bright) I do 50% water changes and add prime each week.

apistogramma cacatuoides (11) and apistogramma agassizi (12). So my plan is to put them in a 77ga (well cycled with big fish which are being rehomed) with many fake plants and pieces of driftwood and pots/coconuts. This tank also has a small bristlenose, 4 small clown loaches. Once i get my 125ga in dec. they'll all be moved there. Any thoughts welcome!

 

[deaver]

wow 23 views and not even a piss off get your own sandwich! lol. Well i have the tank ready, took a couple hours of landscaping, with caves, pots , driftwood, fake plants, and 75% waterchange, prime added. i'll take a pic and post tommorrow. Hopefully the clown loaches get along well or they'll be removed and have to live with convicts. wish me luck.

 

[DwarfApisto]

Welcome to the site deaver

 

[Mike Wise]

It will be an interesting community tank. All I can say is expect a few losses. That is a lot of cichlids for even this large of a tank, unless it is so choked with decorations that the fish can't be seen most of the time.

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

with many fake plants

Could you have real plants? fake plants don't have the advantage of improving water quality, but growing plants do, and maintaining water quality is one of the really important things.

cheers Darrel

 

[deaver]

I recieved my shipment this morning, 14 apisto Aggazzii and only 3 cach survived. disappointing but at least it was a male and 2 females. i also got 5 plants, 3 amazon swords and 2 anubias. I will be getting more. The lighting on that this tank is insufficient really. Also i am getting a 125ga in the very near future as a Chrismas present (it'll be cycled and set up on the 25th) The 77 ga is quite choked. but tastefully functional. pic tonight as promised if posting pics is simple.

 

[Mike Wise]

By 'choked' I mean that the fish cannot see each other most of the time.

 

[deaver]

so I have 7 apistogramma ....3 male and 2 female aggazzi, 1 male cacatuiodes, 1 unidentified apisto. all in a 125gallon 6 footer. there is also one very beautiful male betta in the tank as well, he is the bully, but I believe he acts as a referee. they all get on pretty good. my question was never answered, will cacatuiodes and aggazzii interbreed. these fish are all super hard to find in my part of Canada, and when u do they are 25us dollars each. crazy! they are beauties for sure. my plan is to remove the betta at the first sign of breeding as I believe he will pick fry off one by one or in one swoop. once I have a good number of juvi's I will remove them to a grow-out 30 gallon. I have a fishroom with 6-30gallon tanks. I may move the breeding male and the females to a 30 on their own. my ultimate goal is to have many many apisto's in the 125 with some angel fish, ram's (6 of em' be nice). i'm open to suggestions here and please comment. my tank looks somewhat different than the pic. I have things divided up a little bit with small flowerpots scattered throughout. I'll post some more pics including fish and the fish room if my post gathers interest in the form of comments.

 

[Mike Wise]

Well the number of apistos certainly is more manageable than what you originally planned. And no, A. cacatuoides and A. agassizii will not interbreed. They are from 2 different species-groups in 2 different species-sub-lineages of the trifasciata-lineage.

 

[deaver]

Well the number of apistos certainly is more manageable than what you originally planned. And no, A. cacatuoides and A. agassizii will not interbreed. They are from 2 different species-groups in 2 different species-sub-lineages of the trifasciata-lineage.

thank-you. 12 plus hours throught airmail was real hard apisto not to mention my wallet. I love to have had all survive. i'm gonna try it again this spring closer to summer.

 

[Mike Wise]

12 hours isn't long. My fish from Peru were in bags for over a day and made it fine. Of course most were in individual bags. My guess is that bagging wasn't up to par with mine or (more likely) they were left out in the cold too long.

 

[deaver]

12 hours isn't long. My fish from Peru were in bags for over a day and made it fine. Of course most were in individual bags. My guess is that bagging wasn't up to par with mine or (more likely) they were left out in the cold too long.

Aggazzi in one bag and caca's in another. they came from peru, shipped to me shortly after. the heat pack were just slightly warm. I wonder if I can get them again from another supplier close to eastern Canada. they are super hard to get here.