Apistogramma trifasciatuum "red stripe"

[DiscusEden]

Bought my first pair of apistos yesterday, sold as the above.

I was really taken with the male, who has a blue sheen, while the female is more honey coloured.

They're in a QT tank, at about 28c, with a sponge filter.

Hoping to put them in the 6ft tank with discus, german blue rams, royal whiptails, peppermint bristlenose & cardinals.

Does this sound OK?

Yes, I know I shouldn't have done the impulse buy, but you guys have been teasing with talk of apistos & they were too cute!

[wickedglass]

so stop teasing us and post pictures!!!

[DiscusEden]

You've seen my pictures. When I get one where you can see a fish I'll post it. Hopefully before I kill the fish.

Oddly, my photography appears to be worse, if anything, when I'm taking shots of dead fish. Should I not be telling you this?

[Th0mas]

28c might be a bit high for apisto..... you might need to ease them into that temperature.

[DiscusEden]

This is why I should have posted yesterday.

Oops.

Should I turn the temp back down? The guy at the LFS fed me something about them living in shallow water & being used to massive fluctuations, so it didn't matter what temp I put them into.

Here's an attempt (the best of over 12 'till the battery went flat) at a photo of the female. The male had obviously heard of my photography skills & was having none of it.

[Robdog]

The guy at the LFS fed me something about them living in shallow water & being used to massive fluctuations, so it didn't matter what temp I put them into.

In theory that is probably true. They also have perfectly stable water conditions that help them cope if there are fluctuations, something we can't always provide.
Some apistos are a bit fragile to start with so in my opinion should be kept in the best environment you can provide. Temps of around 25-26 will see them live longer than at discus temps. That's not saying it can't be done though.
I've got mine all living together at 27.5 and they all seem pretty happy.

[arjay]

Whereabouts did you get them from? A street/road name will do if naming shops is against forum rules...

[fishgeek]

trifasciata are one of the cooler apsito's

i certainly would be looking at 20-26 as a range for them , so maybe not so appropriate for keeping at higher temps with discus

andrew

[DiscusEden]

Thanks guys!

They're still going at this stage.

Arjay - pm sent.

OK, you know by now that if it's possible for me to complicate something I'll do it. Here's the problem: fundamentally, I put them into an uncycled tank. In my defence, it was only ever intended as a QT tank.

The water's gone milky. It happened last night, so I did a 50% w/c, but this involved a temperature fluctuation that was pretty significant, and I'm reluctant to do it again.

The tank was cleaned with metho before putting them in, wiped clean, rinsed with water, then filled. Could this account for it?

I hear what you're saying about having a shorter lifespan at higher temps, but I'm comparing that to the lifespan they're looking at in this tank & thinking it might be a better option.

What do you think, chuck 'em in the big tank? For all that the temps are higher (28c), the conditions are far more stable.

[Namn8r]

DE pm me too pls which store you got from?

Arjay how are your tefe buana? Still kickn?

[fishgeek]

squeeze the filter of the mature tank into the new one, and it wil be cycled in no time at all

then you can have a cycled tank and stable cooler water

andrew

[DiscusEden]

Hmm, that would have been a better plan. Guess where they are now?

Feel free to roll your eyes.

On the up side, better pictures.

[Robdog]

Did somebody say better pictures???
Well let's have em C!

[arjay]

@Namn8r - I still have one which is pretty surprising considering how poor the fish were... How did your fish from that order fair?

[Namn8r]

Long gone arjay! Was a bit disappointing huh!

[Th0mas]

That's a real pity - was hoping there will be some going around soon......

What was their quality like when they arrived?
Any photos?

Thomas.

[arjay]

That's a real pity - was hoping there will be some going around soon......

What was their quality like when they arrived?
Any photos?

Thomas.

http://www.discusforums.com/forum/files/tefe03.jpg

Here's the first male, I don't know if I got a shot of the second one but he was basically a runtier version of the first... And yes, on top of receiving pretty average fish I was lucky enough to get two males... :roll: Maybe it was true love and the folks at our well known ex-sponsor just couldn't bring themselves to split them up... However it transpired I don't think I was ever going to add to the pool of rarer Apistos in Australia unless through divine intervention... :wink:

[Th0mas]

Judging from the photo, this is far from what it should be - the Tefe buana.

It however closely resembles what we've got around at the moment - known as Tefe redback.

Quite possible our ex-sponsor may have sourced and supplied the wrong fish (and charged the wrong amount).

This is what we've got around at the moment (from Mike's post):

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a378/Noddy65/tefemale.jpg

which looks like the same variant as what was sent to you as Tefe buana.

Hate to bring this up - but it looks like we never had the real Tefe buana in the country.

Thomas.

[arjay]

Quite possible our ex-sponsor may have sourced and supplied the wrong fish (and charged the wrong amount).

Thomas.

Not knowingly though ofcourse...

When I chatted to Mike Wise and blueblue their response was that they were definitely A. sp. Tefe but that it was impossible to tell if they were collected from the Rio Bauana... I don't know if identification of fish collected from that tributary has become more definitive since I bought mine but that was their response mid last year...

[DiscusEden]

That looks an awful lot like him Arjay!

They're looking a lot happier in the cycled 6ft, have both taken up residence - in opposite ends of the tank!

Working on the pics - got a great shot & the stupid computer won't recognise the card. :evil: Will try again tomorrow.

[Namn8r]

Sorry for hijacking your thread DE, Arjays pic is of a Agassizii

[DiscusEden]

Oh. Still has the blue sheen though, and the darker stripe.

Feel free to hijack away. Won't stop me talking about mine though!

[DiscusEden]

OK, one of them came out tonight:

Let me know what you think?

[Th0mas]

Looks like a young male?

[DiscusEden]

I'm pretty sure this is the one I thought was female. Might not have a pair after all, which would explain why they're not sticking together.

I'll post pics of the other when he comes out.

Good to know the species is probably right though?

Thanks for the reply Th0mas!

[Namn8r]

id definately say a young male too....females are quite olive to yellow in colouration and dont have the metallic blue sheen. These are meant to be trifasciata "red seam' should have a red edged dorsal and spike? Maybe still too young?

[DiscusEden]

One of them seemed yellow, the other blue. Maybe this is the blue one a bit stressed after being moved. I'll keep an eye on the tank & post pics of the other ASAP.

Thanks again!

[DiscusEden]

OK, this was really wierd.

I saw them both together last night for the first time since putting them in the tank. First there was the smaller one, who seemed a plain uniform pale olive colour, then the blue one with longer fins and a stripe down the side.

But here's the wierd part - when the blue one showed up, the olive one (who I thought was female) suddenly developed a dark stripe down the side & they started displaying to each other side on in a standoff - like the rams do.

So I'm guessing both male then? One less dominant or younger?

Why is it changing colour & do you think they're both male?

[Namn8r]

Depends hard to say without seeing the pics but id say possibly a young male DE. Females lack the blue sheen and tend to be a bit more yellow but if still young maybe its a male that hasnt coloured up yet. That male looks mature enough to start showing some courtship behaviour, you might encounter a male heading towards a female headon with clasped fins often slightly tilted at an angle, then turning side on before a full fin spread along and occasionally some tail wagging. Thomas you can give DE some more insight..

[fishgeek]

i would have thought if it was 2 males with a large size difference that the larger one would have developed dominance and being chasing the other by now quite easily

the fact that the smaller stood it's ground and displayed makes me think
that maybe you do have a pair
or prehaps the larger is just not that healthy

obviously being there to see would make a hugh difference

andrew

[Th0mas]

I wouldn't be able to add much ideas without a pic - it is a difficult thing to describe apart from the fact the shots above is clearly showing a young male as it's got a long dorsal extension and blue sheen.

Female shouldn't have the extended dorsal ray, especially without the blue sheen (could be grey-ish).

That's all I can think of - a picture will help.

Thomas.

[Noddy65]

Ive recently picked up a pair as well...there must have been a shipment into Aus.
Ill post a pic when the wife gets back from overseas with the camera.
The difference between the sexes is VERY marked.
As Thomas said, the males have the fin extension, blue sheen etc
I sexed mine as juveniles by the amount of black on the leading edge of the dorsal fin and the amount of black on the edge of the pelvic fin (both sexes have this black when young but females appear to have more),
My pair have just spawned so I think I got it right.

Mike

[DiscusEden]

OK, thanks guys.

Will try to get pics, but they spend a lot of time hiding (6ft tank, heavily planted). The behavioural display was just as described above by Namn8r.

The ?female has no dorsal extension - that part of the fin is shorter than the rest, and I didn't see a blue sheen, just a change in the dark stripe on the side.

The other now has grown marked dorsal rays, and the blue sheen is more pronounced. It's getting a hint of red along the top of the dorsal fin, and is larger and bolder than the other. I see it fairly often at the front of the tank. It's usually picking at leaves, occasionally standing off a blue ram.

I live in hope.

[Th0mas]

Based on the description above, the other one does sounds like to be a female.

[DiscusEden]

Woohoo!

Thanks for the hope!