Wild apistos hide all the time - problem or not?

[mordor]

I got 'pair' of wild A. iniridae. For me it's quite exotic fish so I
am getting a little paranoid I hardly can see these fish, they
come out only when I serve frozen food in the evening. I decided to
put it into my community tank because it has best filtration, best
plant vegetation, lots of hidding places and peaceful fish. Usually I
got rather problems with too agressive apistos rather than to shy.
Yes, there are bigger fish in tank but bolivian rams and mollys are
not really interested in these small guys. I have kept apisto for
only one year and usually when fish start hidding I was classifing
this behavior as first symptoms of illness. Yes, water parameters are
not ideal for this apisto, pH - 6.8, KH - 20 ppm, GH - 60 ppm but at
least water is crystal clear and has unmeasurable levels of nitrates
and phosphates.

 

[Neil]

mordor,
As a general rule, wild fish are "touchier" than tank-raised. They might be a little uncomfortable in that water. Iniridae come from very soft, acidic water. Although it is not necessary to replicate it, you might want to cut it with RO or store bought water to at least bring the hardness down a touch. The other thing you may try is to put some blackwater extract in there or some drift wood, which will eventually do the same thing. If there is a light on your aquarium, they might feel unsafe initially. Black water will modify that a little.
I don't think that the corys are any problem, but they probably aren't helping the problem either. You may try and put a small school of tetra in there to make them feel more comfortable. Apistos usually see tertas swimming around, going after food, etc and figure that it is OK. Kind of an apisto scout!
Keep an eye on them when you are feeding to look for an signs of disease, but I bet they will start showing themselves more and more soon. they may even end up being little terrors :twisted: Neil

 

[mordor]

I am getting stressed too. I have not seen male for two days and female is sometimes sneaking from one place to another. I guess I provided them excelent hidding places, two driftwoods, pile of rocks, plants. Simply if I do not see them for more than week I have to pronounce them as MIA :-(