Spawning A. Agassizi

[Jeffrey Richard]

I have (at least) a trio of F1 agassizi that have grown up in a planted 70 gallon tank w/discus, corys and some Paradise fish. They have apparently been raised in the "leaf litter" ... dead Amazon Sword leaves ... on the bottom and spawning in pots I have the plants in.

I would like to relocate at least a trio into there own 20 gallon long tank in order to get a reasonable spawn from them.

Looking for setup and conditioning advice.

Thanks

 

[steel blues]

Blackworms are probably the best conditioning food, but they carry a lot of disease causing bacteria, so be careful.

 

[Jeffrey Richard]

Setup?

Any issues setup a tank with substrate of gravel and topsoil (to grow plants/crypts).

 

[Jeffrey Richard]

Anyone else?

 

[ed seeley]

I've set up a tank like this that has Wild angels and will be getting a pair of Pelvicachromis in too. Everything seems fine. Not sure on how it's helping plant growth but the Crypts seemed to like it.

 

[tjd]

If the goal is purely breeding and getting the largest spawns I like to keep things simple. A bare bottom tank with just a sponge filter. For decorations I'll use mainly rocks, upside down flower pots with holes cut in the side, and sometimes fake or real driftwood.

I typically do not include plants in my dedicated breeding setups. Some plants don't like the warmer water while others don't like the soft water. If you do include live plants choose them appropriately. You probably have an idea which plants will do well from your Discus setup. I also don't use bright lights on my breeding tanks.

For Agassizii I like to condition and allow the spawn to hatch out at about 79F. After this I sometimes increase the temperature to 82F or just over if I am looking for slightly more males. While provided a high protein diet of worms and larva will provide a spawn every 10 to 14 days, I have found that ensuring atleast half the feedings are some combination of BBS, cyclops, daphnia, and a good flake improves both the quantity and the viability of the eggs and fry. I'll use the color of the spawns as a guide if the females are getting enough BBS and cyclops. Red to dark pink is usually good, as the eggs get whiter (not fungused) their viability goes down.

 

[Jeffrey Richard]

Success!

I set up a 20 gallon long, Flourite Substrait, planted with crypts and java fern (on a piece of driftwood, and several small terra cotta flower pot quarters (caves). I have an Aquaclear 150 and a bag of peat hanging in the outflow. Tank is heated to about 82 degrees F. I have 2 32 watt full spectrum bulbs 12 inches above the tank.

I removed a male and 3 female A. Agassizi from a 70 gallon growout tank. Three weeks later, I have a school of 2-3 dozen fry grazing the driftwood. This after only 2 water changes!

Hope to have some pics soon

Jeff

 

[Mike Wise]

Sex in apistos is determined by the temperature of the aquarium during the first 6 weeks of their life. At 82ºF/28ºC, expect to get 75-85% males from your spawn. If you want more females, you might want to drop the temperature in the tank to around 79ºF/26ºC.

 

[Apistomaster]

I had doubted the temperature affecting the sex ratios as has long been reported among A. agassizzi but when I immediately removed a batch of eggs from a pair of wild blue phase and hatched them in an unheated container and continued to maintain them this way I eventually had around 80 fry that yielded a nearly perfect 50/50 sex ratio. The water was only at 72 to 75dF for the first 3 months. 140ppm hardness and 7.4 pH.
No longer a doubter.
Larry W.