question on keri tetra

[anewbie]

I have a 29 with a pair of nijjensi (wc) and keri tetra. The general advice is to avoid cardinals since they will go after frys and cause a lot of stress. The reason for this post is that the keri do not seem to go after the frys nor does the female spend much time mucking with them.

For those more knowledgeable what is the fundamental difference between keri tetra and cardinals tetra (the keri i have are wc natural colour not domestic super blue and my only observation is they seem to stay a bit higher).

Background the nijjensi were purchased on a whim and i had a 29 with c. eques and the above mentioned tetra. The a. nijjensi are rather young and i had not intended to breed them but whatever. I did remove the c. eques as they fell into conflict with the nijjensi. I actually dont' really care if the frys make it not but wanted to alleviate the stress/damage between the two species. As it turns out a few frys appear to be doing ok (the aquarium is quite old - maybe established 7 years; though i did transition it to ro water about 7 months ago).

Anyway i was just curious if anyone knew the details in differences between keri and cardinals behavior or diet.

 

[Mike Wise]

The primary difference is that Impaichthys kerri inhabits clearwater streams where food is more available. Cardinals inhabit true blackwater streams that are much poorer in available small foods for small tetras.

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

Cardinals inhabit true blackwater streams that are much poorer in available small foods for small tetras.

Blackwater fish are often difficult to keep long term, but Mike is right feeding them isn't usually a problem, as they eat whatever they can fit in their mouths.

cheers Darrel

 

[anewbie]

Hi all,

Blackwater fish are often difficult to keep long term, but Mike is right feeding them isn't usually a problem, as they eat whatever they can fit in their mouths.

cheers Darrel

I'm not sure i understand this statement. Cardinals tend to have decent life span and many of the apisto i care for properly tend to live 3 to 5 years.

Having said that i'm not even sure of the relationship to the topic - the question is why the keri are not being a problem with the frys or stressing the female and Mike answer is they aren't as aggressive at eating since they come from clear-water where food is more plentiful - unless i missed something in the context of your answer.

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

I'm not sure i understand this statement. Cardinals tend to have decent life span and many of the apisto i care for properly tend to live 3 to 5 years.

Black water fish are very prone to infection if kept in harder water without tannins etc. They also can eat themselves to death if overfed.

Having said that i'm not even sure of the relationship to the topic - the question is why the keri are not being a problem with the frys or stressing the female and Mike answer is they aren't as aggressive at eating since they come from clear-water where food is more plentiful - unless i missed something in the context of your answer.

Yes, that is the point, clear water has plenty of food available, but black water is food poor and the fish that live there are extremely opportunistic.

Cheers Darrel

 

[MacZ]

They also can eat themselves to death if overfed.

Cardinal tetras... each time as soon as the numbers dwindled far enough that one was able to secure a spot at the feeding spot... and after that one after the other got that spot and claimed it until eaten to death.

 

[anewbie]

To be honest my cardinals tetra are not all the robust at eating compare to some other fishes. Now those dicrossus maculatus are anotehr issues and are going to be quite fat. Oh well. (the discus are sloppy eaters and the dm's gorge on left overs).

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

... Now those dicrossus maculatus are anotehr issues and are going to be quite fat. Oh well. (the discus are sloppy eaters and the dm's gorge ....

I managed to bloat my pair of Dicrossus maculatus. I think they need fairly careful feeding as adults.

Cheers Darrel

 

[anewbie]

Hi all,

I managed to bloat my pair of Dicrossus maculatus. I think they need fairly careful feeding as adults.

Cheers Darrel

The only way i could feed them less would be to remove the discus and then put in less food - of course finding a place to put the discus would be another matter... I think d. f. are suppose to be clearwater fishes so maybe they are less aggressive eaters ?

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

I think d. f. are suppose to be clearwater fishes so maybe they are less aggressive eaters ?

I haven't kept Dicrossus filamentosus for a long time, but I think they are a black water fish? This was a thread from 2012 <"https://apistogramma.com/forum/threads/1st-d-maculatus-spawn.12389/#post-69282">.

cheers Darrel

 

[MacZ]

I haven't kept Dicrossus filamentosus for a long time, but I think they are a black water fish?

Clearwater, as is D. warzeli. D. filamentosus and D. foirni are blackwater, D. gladicauda is inbetween.

 

[anewbie]

Clearwater, as is D. warzeli. D. filamentosus and D. foirni are blackwater, D. gladicauda is inbetween.

Do you know if they are as aggressive at eating ? My reading is they are more reserve and a bit shier but no idea how they behave in the aquarium.

 

[MacZ]

Which one?

 

[anewbie]

Which one?

filamentosus

 

[MacZ]

An old trick revisited (netting fish)

I have probably had too much time on my hands while working on my master's thesis and the situation that I already expected to rehome some of my Dicrossus, so in late march I decided to try something I remembered from a Zoo documentary. Training my fish to be easier to net, especially from a...

apistogramma.com

But they generally prefer foraging all over the place, waiting for the food to hit the bottom. At least as adults.

 

[anewbie]

An old trick revisited (netting fish)

I have probably had too much time on my hands while working on my master's thesis and the situation that I already expected to rehome some of my Dicrossus, so in late march I decided to try something I remembered from a Zoo documentary. Training my fish to be easier to net, especially from a...

apistogramma.com

But they generally prefer foraging all over the place, waiting for the food to hit the bottom. At least as adults.

That is a lot better than the d. maculatus who have no problem swimming to the top and yanking black worm out of the discus mouths