Jan 22, 2019 - Explore dave's board "apistogramma" on Pinterest. To help clarify, let me share a bit of an anecdote. Live plants are something I have been really good at killing in the past, and convincing myself that I need them in the Apistogramma tanks has made me become very tired of Java moss, as that was the only plant I could keep alive. to help control the algae on the glass and plants. With most species there is a key factor that will get them to breed. Freshwater Tropical Fish Articles | TFH Magazine, Apistogramma steindachneri | Tropical Fish Hobbyist Magazine, The Cockatoo Dwarf Cichlid | Tropical Fish Hobbyist Magazine. It had taken me two years to realize that this methodology would produce many fry. I don't see why not. I think it was the food and my totally lack of paying attention to the obvious. I believe the most critical keys are soft water, a pH below 7, live food, a strong pair bond, a spawning surface, slow-moving water, and plants. A pH below 4 can sometimes cure disease, but I would use that as a last resort and only if your fish come from a habitat near with a pH near 5. I've never had the Blue or Bolivian Rams, but I do have the Apistogramma Cacatuoides, triple reds. They are likely to cope better with temperature changes and this makes them easier for beginner to keep. The leaf litter need not be replicated with dead leaves; any tank you can create with loads of crevices and spaces for the adult Apistogramma to hide among would be good. They do not disturb the parents when there is fry, and the parents leave the dither fish alone. I tried Apistogramma cacatuoides because I was told it was the easiest apisto for someone who is a beginner with dwarf cichlids. Some Apistogramma come from very acidic water and will need a lower pH and water softness. My friend who has bred many apisto species never had the filters running very fast. There are many theories to why this happened, but in all the cases that were shared the fish bred after living in very little water without filtration. One of the more interesting traits of Apistogramma cacatuoides is that of "sneaker" males. Some of the smaller species like A. diplotaenia breed at ½ inch, so the tiny mouths on the fry won’t handle the larger baby brine shrimp. The cockatoo cichlid has many colour variations such as the full red, double red, triple red, super red and orange. If two species of Apistogramma are kept together in a tank, they tend to fight too. Females have a brown/greyish tone that changes when they want to mate. The frustrating part is reading about a fish that you have to have, but learning that is not available anywhere—well, maybe for the price of a plane ticket to South America, lodging, transportation, and then shipping them back home…it has been done, I assure you! Fish that are in great shape make better parents; thin fish do not do as well when it comes to fry. Any waste that I don’t have to take out myself is good for me and even better for the fish! I am sure this would work with many other varieties of live food as well, but blackworms are cheap and fairly available in my part of the country, they store easily (and for many weeks), and the fish love them. Keeping more than one Apistogramma in the tank is best. Some tetras may beat up your dwarf cichlids (blue tetras and Buenos Aires tetras are two examples), so special attention needs to be placed on your selection of tankmates. I decided I would leave all Apistogramma breeding to my friend, and I would stick with what I knew best—the more aggressive cichlids. They will make good parents for the brood that they are rearing – the female will tend to care for the brood whilst the male will protect the territory. Apistos will be most comfortable in a tank that has plenty of hiding place (ie. The easier response is a trip to a local fish club (if you can get to the meeting within a day’s drive) to find someone who might lead you to a guy in Canada who knows this fella in Germany who flew to Iquitos and has photos from the habitat two kilometers from where your fish is said to come from…. I used the same methods as for all of the other cichlids from around the globe that I had kept, and the Apistogramma didn’t kill each other, but they didn’t breed either. If you are not keen on buying a bunch of water, you can age water in a large vessel and add a nylon stocking full of peat moss. Since I have used plants in the tank with the absence of caves the fish have taken to spawning on leaves. They seem to be non-aggressive, even with the two males I have together in a 20g tank. The number of Neons you have seems high, but I … Sun Dec 30, 2012 3:14 am. single males of the three species you mentioned (agassizii, cacatuoides, trifasciata) will be ok together. Apistogramma dwarf cichlids are not the type of fish you can just toss in your aquarium—there’s a lot more to keeping these little beauties. However, never keep this species with Tetras, Endlers Guppy, Killer Fish, and Ram Cichlidsdue to their aggressiveness. Daily readings morning and night would not be excessive. Again, keep a close eye on the pH as you are lowering the buffers that keep your pH from becoming toxically low. Common options are to keep bonded pairs together or to make a harem group to one male with multiple females. Simply put, you will need help from your fellow hobbyists if you want many of the rare Apistogramma species. The few species that are available are rarely for sale in the local fish stores. I'd agree with the statements quoted above. The tank they were displayed in had very small rasboras in with them and they did not interact. Some acceptable tank mates are; characin species like the Cardinal Tetras and the Three-Line Pencilfish, Otocinclus Catfish and Corydoras like the Julii Cory, Glowlight Rasbora (Hengel's), Dwarf Gourami, Kuhli Loach, and Dwarf (Neon) Rainbowfish. Each was sharing stories (and rumors of neat fish in other rooms), and tales of a “drained tank” method made their rounds. The dorsal and caudal fins have attractive orange colouring. They were fed a few ground-up flakes of fish food and live blackworms. Apistogramma, however, are not all that rowdy. Keep this in mind when preparing and scaping the tank and choosing the other inhabitants. “Lemon”) is one of the most beautifully colored and most popular dwarf cichlids in the freshwater aquarium hobby. Females of the aquarium strain studied have a strong prefer- Females of the aquarium strain studied have a strong prefer- ence for red-coloured males of their own strain, although some deviate from this basic sexual preference, and those which choose red- * For the safety of our animals, we now ship live fish exclusively via UPS Next Day Air. The point is the plants will keep the tank water cleaner. Uwe Romer is one hobbyist who put together an all-Apistogramma atlas. This is what started the fire to work with these fish. Thread starter glolite; Start date Jun 30, 2005; click to view entries! The Lemon Cockatoo Dwarf Cichlid (Apistogramma cacatuoides var. Since I started keeping these fish in planted aquariums I have been more and more drawn to community tanks. In large set-ups (+ 1.5m) they can be kept in a large group, allowing the fish to show more natural behaviour. Since the plants have been growing despite me not feeding them, it suggests they are removing waste to build more plant. Apistogrammas that end up subject to high-stress levels – whether from improper tank conditions, poor choice of tank mates, or unbalanced schools – won’t achieve the high end of that lifespan. Some need really warm water, some really cool water. As with all web information take it with a grain of salt, as it is not generally reviewed by anyone, and the information is only as good as the data it draws from—in the case of much of the web it is drawn off of the list they used to buy the fish. During my attempts to breed these fish I would visit a friend who was breeding some of the more interesting and rare Apistogramma, and I suggested he get his filters running faster, stop crowding his tanks, get a light on those plants, and clean those tanks. This is always fun to take pictures of because clay pots or plastic decorations rarely look good in photos, and driftwood discolors the water too much to get a good picture. I will not say that they can’t breed in flowing water, as I have seen it done, but my success rate with faster-moving water has been lower that when I turn down the filters. If you have plants, make sure the medication will not kill them. Due to the aggressive, territorial nature of the males, a submissive male will not develop the full "cockatoo" finnage nor the full male coloration. The eggs are set against the ceiling of the burrow and will hatch after 3 to 4 days. Once you are hooked and willing to track down more species, you will find that your hobby has expanded, and the folks you will meet along the way are going to be worth knowing. If your water is not soft enough or acidic enough, it may be worth getting some distilled water; for a 10-gallon tank buying a one-gallon bottle per water change may be enough to slowly soften the water to your needs. Both males get to show off defending their female, and I think this improves the odds for the female being attracted to the male. The first was that breeding the captive stock from a tank I had seen can produce fry if that tank can be roughly replicated. All pH manipulation should be done slowly and with care. Plants can also use nitrate, which is the end product in the nitrogen cycle. If I were to select a good first tank for Apistogramma it would be a 10-gallon tank with a sponge filter. Feeding blackworms to Apistogramma really has done a lot to improve the number of spawns, the number of eggs, and the survival of the fry in my tanks. This will probably be the case for you as well. Slow-moving waters would be consistent with their natural habitat, as collectors who are looking for Apistogramma will look for the leaf littered shores of lakes or big rivers (leaves don’t settle in fast-moving water), small brooks with leaf litter, or small pools. Depending on the season the water parameters may differ sufficiently, since the fallen leaves when rotting make the it more acidi… Your fish may not be of an age to spawn (too old or too young), they may want different water, or, in the case of wild fish, they may have an internal disease. If you can do those things, most large, aggressive cichlids will breed like crazy. His tanks would make me crazy when I visited his fishroom, but they worked on the principle that low water flow was helpful in bringing the fish into spawning condition. If your water tank has a lot of hiding places, th… Common options are to keep bonded pairs together or do a harem grouping with multiple females to one male. Consult your local pet store for which medications might be appropriate in your situation. These people had drained a tank down to an inch and refilled it hours or days later only to find Apistogramma that had spawned shortly after filling it up. If you have a good relationship with a local store, they will often take cockatoo … The fry were raised on baby brine shrimp and they grew quickly. Feed them so they don’t eat each other, change the water so they don’t get grumpy and kill one another, and most important, take out the ones that are near death before they are killed. If your goal is working with Apistogramma, you are opening yourself up to a treasure hunt, a biology and geography lesson, and a circle of some of the most interesting friends you may ever meet. Temperature range: 71.6° to 80.6° F PH Range: from 5.7 to 7.0 The Pencilfish can be kept as a single tank... 3. I replicated this at home and it worked for me. 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