Unhappy Baenschi

[warbyd]

Hey all,

Just came home this arvo to find our female apistogramma baenschi at the top of the tank with her mouth open & looking very faded... I immediately did a ~40% water change and tested the water. Tests seem ok with pH 6.6-6.8, nitrate 10, ammonia 0, nitrite 0.

her colour seems to have improved since the water change, but she is still spending a bit of time at the surface with her mouth open. doesn't appear to be gasping for air and no other fish in the tank (male a. baenschi, 6x neon tetra, 1 pakistani laoch & 1x b/n [altho I havent seen him today]) appear affected.

only things i can think of are (1) bad batch of blackworms [unlikely since those that are left all appear to be wriggling away happily and none of the other fish appear affected]; (2) bad frozen bloodworms [possible..]; (3) something toxic in the water [tank is in our bedroom with only a half-wall between it and the ensuite, so it's plausible that deoderant or something got in there..]

Any other suggestions as far as what it could be, what else to check & what to do next?

Cheers,


Dave

 

[Mike Wise]

It's possible that the male is attacking her. Apistos will move to the top of the tank to get out of the territory of another if needed. With the more aggressive species, I like to keep either a black film canister (hard to find in this digital age) or section of black plastic pipe (both float) in the tank. The harassed fish has a place to hide out of sight that is not in the bottom part of the tank. Just a thought.

 

[warbyd]

Cheers for the suggestion Mike, I haven't seen any real aggression and her fins don't appear damaged but I'll get a bit of tube to float in there just in case.

Cheers,

Dave

 

[warbyd]

I've put her into a floating fry saver in the tank atm & turned the light off to give her a bit of peace & quiet...

-Dave

 

[warbyd]

Well, went in to check on her this evening and she has died :/

 

[Mud Pie Mama]

Although I'm still a novice. Only keeping 6 - 7 Apistogramma species so far, (and 4 other dwarf cichlids). I have found the A. baenschi to be the most highly aggressive. (Laetacara dorsigera are also amazingly aggressive - contrary to many written reports.)

I'm on my fourth go round with a new batch. --- Really I was ready to quit after losing my third male!!!! But, Bev had some to bring when she came to the local GPASI spring auction.

Females are almost always on the attack once they are mature enough to breed. I've figured out that they will do plenty of nasty things to each other when you aren't looking. Most of the time if I am looking, their either hiding behind driftwood, plants and the filter. Or shamelessly begging for food. (Depending on their ages, and if spawning.) When they do attack each other they will lock lips - fiercely. I've lost a few females who's lips get torn and infected. I've gone from keeping a trio of them in the usually recommended 15 gallon tank (24" length), to a bigger 20 gallon long (30" length).

Being so fierce they do want to command their bottom area of the tank. If the loach or BNP wouldn't stay out of her area, it's possible she tried to attack them and lost the battle.

 

[warbyd]

Hrmm I guess I'll never really know the true cause, but that may well have been the case. The loach is significantly larger than the apisto's and does get much more active & inquisitive when the lights go out, so I could definately imagine him tormenting her at night and doubt very much that he would come out second best if she had a go..

Cheers for the information folks and I'll keep it all in mind with my next attempt at these fantastic lil critters (maybe not baenschi since they seem very rare in Perth, but I will definately get more apistos..)

-Dave

 

[Hassles]

Bloodworms

G'day Dave

Its a bit hard to speculate upon your problem but...i would "never" feed my Apistogramma Bloodworms. I know many will steadfastly disagree but... after the unexplained deaths of my original A.trifasciata I had an autopsy performed by a renown (& local) fish vet. His prognosis was that the Bloodworms killed the fish. I viewed my dead apistos intestines through his microscope & it was'nt pretty. Stick with Blackworms - just make sure they are well rinsed every day (or at every feed) and don't keep them too long. If they start to smell or look odd - chuck 'em out. Better safe than sorry.

HTH

 

[warbyd]

Thanks for that Glenn, I'll keep it in mind and will definately not be purchasing bloodworms again..

 

[Kenshin]

so if bloodworms are out what do you normally feed your apisto's iv been feeding frozen bloodworms, frozen brineshrimp and i bought nutrafin max discus sinking granules for a filler although i mostly feed the frozen foods as that has spawned everything else ive kept so far including my rams

so after reading this ill stop feeding the frozen worms but what to replace them with? do i have to setup a brine shrimp hatchery?

 

[Mike Wise]

so if bloodworms are out what do you normally feed your apisto's ... do i have to setup a brine shrimp hatchery?

I feed mostly newly hatched brine shrimp. Good substitutes for bloodworms are terrestrial worms like whiteworms, Grindal worms, and baby (or chopped) earthworms.

 

[Hassles]

Apisto Food

Fortunately here in Australia we have an excellent supplier of live and freeze-dried blackworms (http://www.blackworms.com.au/) which I feed to my fish. All my Apistos eat these with relish except my still finnicky nijsseni, he likes the mozzie larvae which I harvest during the warmer months.

As for the freeze-dried blackworms I find that if the fish are not accustomed to rising to the surface for food when quite young thet they are reluctant to do so at any later stage.

I am researching a worm farm (kitchen scrap disposal unit type worm farm) to offer supplementary foods for my Apistos and I have an array of BBS eggs which I have not yet begun to hatch.

I also feed an array of dried foods to my fish and think its important to get your fish accustomed to a varied diet early so they don't get stuck on just one food type. I use Wardleys Shrimp Pellets, Spectrum Grow, Thera+A & Specrumax Finiky Fish Formula, Pure Spirulina, Hikari Micro Pellets and Micro Wafers as staples. The Spectrum Grow and Hikari Micro Pellets are used for growing fish as these are both quite small granules. As the fish mature they get larger stuff.

HTH

so if bloodworms are out what do you normally feed your apisto's iv been feeding frozen bloodworms, frozen brineshrimp and i bought nutrafin max discus sinking granules for a filler although i mostly feed the frozen foods as that has spawned everything else ive kept so far including my rams

so after reading this ill stop feeding the frozen worms but what to replace them with? do i have to setup a brine shrimp hatchery?

 

[Mike Wise]

As people here know, I'm not a fan of aquatic worms. They are raised in organic-rich (full of bacteria, etc.) environments that can easily contain fish pathogens. I continually hear too many hobbyists write about losing fish from feeding aquatic worms. In my opinion, there are so many other, safer, foods that work as well as aquatic worms.