New to apistos

[Thatotherguy]

I just got my first pair of apistogramma agassizii delivered today. I've always kept very common fish easily found in the big box stores. There's not a lot of options locally for anything that isn't an industry staple. So I needed to take the plunge and just have a pair shipped to me. I've never ordered fish online before, but they seem to have arrived in good condition. I feel like they're the beginning of a new stage in my hobby and I'm really excited about that.

Hopefully things go well over the next few weeks. I look forward to learning from the community here and browsing all the old content.

 

[anewbie]

Just be aware they aren't actually pairs and the male will hate the female until she is ready to breed; and once they breed the female will hate the male (i.e, be aggressive towards) so they need places to hide during these cycles as well as a decent size aquarium.

They will never be exactly 'friendly' towards each other though there might be periods when they are less aggressive.

 

[Thatotherguy]

Yeah, I'm aware. So far they seem content with one another. The female definitely wants her space though. We'll see how it goes. For now I'm just focused on growing them up healthy. Breeding is great if it happens, but it's not my focus at the moment. That's for later.

I think I have the hiding spaces covered. Lots of driftwood sitting on rocks with gaps and crevices. The corkscrew val is already spreading, and ludwigia is taking off, so it'll be a jungle in there pretty soon. Excuse the cocomelon reflection in the corner.

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi and welcome!

 

[MacZ]

Really nice tank!
I only have two things to comment: If it had a sand substrate and leaf litter it would be perfect!
(Don't take it personally, I ALWAYS say that. This record's simply broken.)

 

[Thatotherguy]

Thanks. I'm pretty happy with it. It's a nice upgrade from the setup I had in this tank before.

I did read that about sand and leaf litter. But I find that plants seem to struggle in sand. And I'm definitely a planted tank guy. I know other people seem to make it work, but it's always been an obstacle for me for whatever reason. Plus, I don't care for the look of it. I've always regretted sand after the fact. It's aquasoil all the way for me. It was a game changer for me when I did my first aquasoil tank.

Leaf litter is something I would consider though.

 

[MacZ]

I guess your water is pretty soft, so the soil doesn't make any trouble?

I have to admit, I like biotope tanks, so barely any plants in the substrate, a lot of floaters and emersed plants instead, though. The decoration between substrate and surface is tons of leaves and wood.
Never had any real problems with plants in sand substrate. Right now I have two big Nymphea lotus grow in fine sand, no fertilizers, no soil, nothing and the plants grow a leaf each every few days.

Sand is simply some of the key ingredients in really successfully and species appropriate housing of dwarf cichlids. They thrive with sand, leaves and mulm. So leaf litter would be really of use.

 

[Thatotherguy]

For this tank the water is soft. I'm using mostly rainwater mixed with a bit of my tap water. It's something I've wanted to do for a long time, and this tank was a great candidate for it.

But yeah, the aquasoil drops the ph of my tap water pretty dramatically at first and I need to let a new tank settle in for quite a while before adding fish. The effect wears off after some time and the parameters gradually return to my tap water values.

But with the rainwater this experience will be a bit different. I've experimented with my mix to get the parameters very close to what the aquasoil initially does to my tap water. So the parameters should remain pretty stable.

Biotopes are really cool. I know a proper blackwater tank is in my future. But there's only so much time money and space to start and maintain all these projects.

I guess your water is pretty soft, so the soil doesn't make any trouble?

I have to admit, I like biotope tanks, so barely any plants in the substrate, a lot of floaters and emersed plants instead, though. The decoration between substrate and surface is tons of leaves and wood.
Never had any real problems with plants in sand substrate. Right now I have two big Nymphea lotus grow in fine sand, no fertilizers, no soil, nothing and the plants grow a leaf each every few days.

Sand is simply some of the key ingredients in really successfully and species appropriate housing of dwarf cichlids. They thrive with sand, leaves and mulm. So leaf litter would be really of use.

 

[MacZ]

But with the rainwater this experience will be a bit different. I've experimented with my mix to get the parameters very close to what the aquasoil initially does to my tap water. So the parameters should remain pretty stable.

Exactly what I was aiming for. You can use straight tainwater. Just as a hint.

 

[Thatotherguy]

Exactly what I was aiming for. You can use straight tainwater. Just as a hint.

I have thought about that. It would make changing water a bit simpler.

 

[Hilton]

I use RO water mixed with rainwater and it comes out at somewhere between 20 and 30 ppm...........no trouble getting them to breed at these ppms. negative ammonia. nitrites and nitrates with a pH of 5.6. Only been keeping Apisto's for 18 months and they are doing OK.