Pair of A. Hongsloi or Borelii in 35 gal community tank?

[anewbie]

I don't think it is required - if you do i would pick one of the smaller species as the tank is quite low.

 

[MacZ]

Are you prepared for growout and rehoming fry once they are old enough?

 

[Lemonprophet]

Are you prepared for growout and rehoming fry once they are old enough?

I have 2 more 10 gallons and 3 5 gallons, would that be enough to grow out fry? I also gave my LFS a ring and they said they would be happy to take in any potential fry at ~3 months of age

 

[MacZ]

I have 2 more 10 gallons and 3 5 gallons, would that be enough to grow out fry? I also gave my LFS a ring and they said they would be happy to take in any potential fry at ~3 months of age

The bigger the growout the better, because due to the fact that fry have to be fed a lot and fresh water is a must-have you will have to do a lot of high volume waterchanges during growout. I would usually take a 100 Liters of volume for growout and 50% waterchanges every 2-3 days over a 54 Liter growout tank and daily 50%.
That way you prevent stunted growth and reduce the chances of runts massively. And good stores request quality over quantity. People tend to underestimate how much work it is. And the smaller the setup the more work.
People underestimate

 

[Lemonprophet]

The bigger the growout the better, because due to the fact that fry have to be fed a lot and fresh water is a must-have you will have to do a lot of high volume waterchanges during growout. I would usually take a 100 Liters of volume for growout and 50% waterchanges every 2-3 days over a 54 Liter growout tank and daily 50%.
That way you prevent stunted growth and reduce the chances of runts massively. And good stores request quality over quantity. People tend to underestimate how much work it is. And the smaller the setup the more work.
People underestimate

I will definitely put more research into this!

But are these the rough steps I should follow (Based off given advice and some deeper research)?:

1) Apistogramma can be bred in a tank of around 15 to 20 gallons (If Male and female only)
2) Once spawning has occurred, the male should be separated into a separate tank to prevent another immediate spawning and harassment of the female
3) Fry should start being fed live food from around 4 days of age, when their yolk sacs have been absorbed
4) Once fry have become free swimmers, they should be grown out in a roughly 100L species only tank until 3 to 6 months of age, when whole sellers are ready to purchase them

 

[Mike Wise]

#3 seems odd to me. Fry should be fed only when they become freeswimming. #4 is confusing, too. Freeswimming fry are best left with their mother for several weeks to months, if possible. Without a female's signals and guidance fry tend to just drop to the bottom and hide. They don't eat well like this.

 

[MacZ]

#3 seems odd to me. Fry should be fed only when they become freeswimming. #4 is confusing, too. Freeswimming fry are best left with their mother for several weeks to months, if possible. Without a female's signals and guidance fry tend to just drop to the bottom and hide. They don't eat well like this.

I agree, and concerning leaving them with the mother "until she stops caring", seems to be a good statement on that.

 

[Lemonprophet]

I agree, and concerning leaving them with the mother "until she stops caring", seems to be a good statement on that.

#3 seems odd to me. Fry should be fed only when they become freeswimming. #4 is confusing, too. Freeswimming fry are best left with their mother for several weeks to months, if possible. Without a female's signals and guidance fry tend to just drop to the bottom and hide. They don't eat well like this.

My knowledge on this matter is obviously quite low... haha . I'm currently in the early planning phase of this tank set up, and well apistogramma keeping overall but thanks for the information!

 

[MacZ]

All good, everybody started somewhere.

 

[Lemonprophet]

All good, everybody started somewhere.

Hi again, Just wanted to ask if Borelli prefer harder water or softer water? Some of the stuff I'm seeing online is perfectly matching my tap water (8 ph, 300 ppm) But other things I'm seeing is a ph of around 6.5 and RO water levels of softness. Any advice on this would be great!

 

[MacZ]

If you can push it down 7.5 tops would be great, but then again you could go the full mile for 100% RO and pH solidly under 7. Anyhow, in 8.0 I'd keep Tanganjikans or Malawi cichlids, but not Apistogramma

 

[Lemonprophet]

If you can push it down 7.5 tops would be great, but then again you could go the full mile for 100% RO and pH solidly under 7. Anyhow, in 8.0 I'd keep Tanganjikans or Malawi cichlids, but not Apistogramma

Would around 60-80 percent RO water with lots of amazon botanicals and cattapa leaves push it down low enough?

 

[anewbie]

Why are you considering partial ro instead of 100% ro? As to your question ph in itself can be misleading knowing the gh and kh would be more useful. For an accurate measurement of ph i would put some in a glass cup let it sit over night then measure it though while better value might be obtain knowing gh/kh would be better. 80% ro water would probably work well if majority of the 300ppm is gh.

 

[Lemonprophet]

Why are you considering partial ro instead of 100% ro? As to your question ph in itself can be misleading knowing the gh and kh would be more useful. For an accurate measurement of ph i would put some in a glass cup let it sit over night then measure it though while better value might be obtain knowing gh/kh would be better. 80% ro water would probably work well if majority of the 300ppm is gh.

My general hardness is 300 to 310 ppm, I tested it myself and also got a statement from my water supplier, To answer your question about partial RO, wellll to be frank its because I don't have an RO system, and buy RO from my LFS, making it difficult to store at home

 

[anewbie]

My general hardness is 300 to 310 ppm, I tested it myself and also got a statement from my water supplier, To answer your question about partial RO, wellll to be frank its because I don't have an RO system, and buy RO from my LFS, making it difficult to store at home

Yes buying ro water will be very expensive long term and i would advise against that route.

 

[MacZ]

I was implicitly suggesting getting an RO unit and go 100%.

A unit fitting that size of setup will pay off within 2-3 months.

 

[Mike Wise]

Truth be told, I expect your A. borellii will be domestic bred and adaptable to your water values. Whether or not they can successfully reproduce at these values is another story. In the wild there are populations found in various water values.

 

[MacZ]

Truth be told, I expect your A. borellii will be domestic bred and adaptable to your water values. Whether or not they can successfully reproduce at these values is another story. In the wild there are populations found in various water values.

True that, though I think a pH of 8 longterm is not very healthy, even if we count in the fact that the pH settles lower than the tap in an aquarium. Adaptability or not.

 

[Lemonprophet]

I was implicitly suggesting getting an RO unit and go 100%.

A unit fitting that size of setup will pay off within 2-3 months.

Will definitely look into a RO unit if this is the case

 

[anewbie]

Will definitely look into a RO unit if this is the case

You will only need around 5 gallons per water change for the 17 gallon (probably 15 or 14 when full). A 50 gpd unit would be sufficient and di for this species would not be necessary. The bigger issue is the plumbing. I would not buy a pressure tank which can be expensive (though you could); but a 8 gallon pail would be sufficient as long as you remember to turn off a valve before it overflows. Just remember 7 gallon of water weighs aruond 55 lbs.