- Messages
- 620
- Location
- Cheshire..UK
On a shopping trip in December 08 i stumbled on a batch of wild caught M.ramirez and in the next tank a group of wild young adult A.hongsloi.. The fish were barely sexable so i had the assistant bag up all seven fish and they have been growing on nicely in my fishroom..
I just moved house and due to neglect my living room tank was looking really shabby and in desperate need of a makeover, it was decided that i would empty the tank of its current stock and start again with a new community! i picked the species carefully and decided to include my group of Hongsloi as the main feature, other tank residents are restricted to a group of five young wild P.leopoldi angelfish and fifteen pencilfish to add a bit of movement..
The fish have been installed in their new home for two weeks now and settled quickly, the Apistogramma's matured into the perfect group, One dominant male, one subdominant mate and five females...Perfect!!
The first spawning occured after the first week, one of the smaller females has a spawn in a hollow log that reaches upto the water surface, a second female spawned within a day of the first and upto now ive only had time for a quick five minute look when i fed them..
Tonight i had slightly more time on my hands and have been watching for an hour or so, the male has spawned with the remaining three females while the other two protect their clutches from intruders..its been facinating stuff watching the male court one female into the cave, spend five minutes inside, back out, chase the spare male and then head for the second cave where his second wife is waiting patiently!!
My fishroom is small and i always setup my dwarfs as single pairs in small tanks, it makes a very pleasant change to witness the harem spawning and the more natural behaviour, its not the first time ive setup harems but as i said i keep the majority as pairs in small tanks, i think when i build my new fishroom towards the end of the year i will setup all the breeding tanks as large as possible..
I took plenty of pics so please enjoy a small glimpse of what i enjoyed for well over an hour!!
THE TANK.
FIRST SPAWN..
FEMALE TONIGHT BEFORE SPAWNING.
HALF AN HOUR LATER.
40 MINUTES LATER.
I just moved house and due to neglect my living room tank was looking really shabby and in desperate need of a makeover, it was decided that i would empty the tank of its current stock and start again with a new community! i picked the species carefully and decided to include my group of Hongsloi as the main feature, other tank residents are restricted to a group of five young wild P.leopoldi angelfish and fifteen pencilfish to add a bit of movement..
The fish have been installed in their new home for two weeks now and settled quickly, the Apistogramma's matured into the perfect group, One dominant male, one subdominant mate and five females...Perfect!!
The first spawning occured after the first week, one of the smaller females has a spawn in a hollow log that reaches upto the water surface, a second female spawned within a day of the first and upto now ive only had time for a quick five minute look when i fed them..
Tonight i had slightly more time on my hands and have been watching for an hour or so, the male has spawned with the remaining three females while the other two protect their clutches from intruders..its been facinating stuff watching the male court one female into the cave, spend five minutes inside, back out, chase the spare male and then head for the second cave where his second wife is waiting patiently!!
My fishroom is small and i always setup my dwarfs as single pairs in small tanks, it makes a very pleasant change to witness the harem spawning and the more natural behaviour, its not the first time ive setup harems but as i said i keep the majority as pairs in small tanks, i think when i build my new fishroom towards the end of the year i will setup all the breeding tanks as large as possible..
I took plenty of pics so please enjoy a small glimpse of what i enjoyed for well over an hour!!
THE TANK.
FIRST SPAWN..
FEMALE TONIGHT BEFORE SPAWNING.
HALF AN HOUR LATER.
40 MINUTES LATER.
