A. borelli; A. agazzi double red; A. trifasciatum

[DiscusEden]

I might have got a little carried away the other day. I got pairs of the first 2, but could only find a male of the trifasciatum. The pairs are in 75 & 80L tanks respectively, by themselves. They're already guarding pots, but I don't know if I should be hopeful or if they're just going for cover.

Just wanting to check what I should be feeding them? I've got them on discus dinner, spirulina flakes and breeder's blend flakes. Anything I should change or add?

Also wondering if these are in the country or allowable imports?:
A. bitaeniata
A. sp rotkeil (syn uaupesi)

Thanks guys!

[Th0mas]

First of all - welcome to the world of apistogramma!!

If the female has turned very yellow, guards the pot, beats the living daylight out of the male when he gets near, then there's egg.

Feeding for the borelli and aggie are easy, they're not fuzzy, will take pellet food easily. They also love live food, but I would be careful with that unless you're absolutely certain the live food are cultivated in a controlled and clean environment (ie - DIY), otherwise stay with dry or frozen food.

There's always a myth about killing them by feeding with worm as their primary diet. It's up to you to believe or not.

For your other question - all apistogramma are importable. The bitaeniata has been in every now and then while the uaupesi are less frequent (have seen some a year ago but quality isn't great).

Cheers,
Thomas.

[DiscusEden]

Thankyou! I had a look at the Bayfish current import list today & should be able to get a trifasc. female. They had some german cac double reds which are tempting, but I've got to draw the line somewhere. I guess. They're fantastic little fish!

I'm not keen on the idea of feeding worms, kind of deciced not to take the risk with the discus, so there doesn't seem to be a good rationalle to take a higher risk with these.

Which pellet food would you recommend? I've got some micropellets. Would that be better than flake food, or in conjunction with?

Thanks again for the help & advice! Much appreciated!

[flaggy]

My apistos take Tetra ColourBits and Sera Discus Granules. Perhaps if the apistos are smaller, then the Sera Discus Granule might be better (they are a little smaller than the Tetra ColourBits).

[DiscusEden]

Thanks! Can do. No harm in feeding them frozen discus dinner? (Mainly beefheart in it)

She's yellow alright, but they're taking turns in the pot & feeding together. So not yet. But If she's yellow, maybe soonish? That's the aggazi double reds.

The borelli male's looking good, but I think the female might be quite young yet, as she's small & more grey than coloured. How long to they take to reach maturity?

[flaggy]

For frozen foods, the favourite for me seems to be brine shrimp and blood worms. Never did try discus dinner / beefheart, as the two I mentioned has worked for me. I hear others have fed beefheart. In any case, the key is a mixed diet and to avoid overfeeding - apistos are small and it doesn't take much to overfeed foods like worms which they can't resist - next thing you know, they are dying...

[DiscusEden]

Thanks, will try to be careful of that. They've all eaten beefheart tonight & had flake food (breeder's blend & spirulina) yesterday, but will change their diet from now.

No-one's mentioned flake food - is it a no-no?

[flaggy]

My apistos in the community tank eats flakes (brreders blend) - I don't think there's a problem provided they eat them. I've had cases in species tanks where particular apistos didn't seem keen on flakes.

Since they feed from the bottom, it seems logical to use granules and other sinking foods - however, after a while, they do learn to also come to the surface to feed as well.

[DiscusEden]

I saw the borelli female today for the first time in 2 days & thought she looked really yellow for what seemed to clearly be a young fish at that size.

I just had a closer look - and she's got fry! Yay! That didn't take long at all!

Dad's still in the tank, but seems to be keeping his distance (75 L with 2 caves & 2 pots). Should I take him out? The only way to do it is to put him in the 80L & the agazzis in the 6ft.

I've put some froz. BBS in there & seen some of them eating. Is that OK? What else should I be doing?

Thanks guys! Yay!

[Th0mas]

That's great news - I'll leave the father with them unless he's been really getting the hammer or being naughty and snacking on the kids.

Live BBS is always better as the swimming action will attract the fry to go and bite them. You need to be more careful with the frozen ones, as sometime parent don't like them and they foul the water (result with fry mortality).

Now the fun begins..... and the addiction starts.....

[DiscusEden]

Oh, I think the addiction was well & truly underway. I appreciate the encouragement!

Thanks for the help! Mum gave Dad a whupping for getting too close already & he backed off. I think I'll leave the light on overnight to give her a chance, unless you have other ideas.

Yay!

[Fat Discus]

Hi guys, is bloat a big problem for Apisto's? Is bloat generally caused by over feeding? Iv had apistos that seem to be really healthy and eat extremly well (I may over feed sometime) and then suddenly BANG!!! they start huffing and puffing and then die right in front of my face.

I know this post is a little off topic. DiscusEden
I dont mean to high jack your post, but if anyone can shed some light on my questions it would be much apprecited.

[MFG]

i will like to know the answer too. cos i have a african butterfly but it become bloated as well.

regards
Scott

[Th0mas]

I've had my fair share of this problem and to be honest I've never worked out any solution for this. The problem seems to be isolated to a particular tank, so there's a good chance there's a bug involve causing the bloat. With dwarf cichlids, bloats don't need to go for too long to kill the bugger so the opportunity to treat is very small.

Bloat is generally a symptom of secondary infection, and the primary cause can be many different reasons. Unless you have access to laboratory equipment and performs autopsy. Otherwise you may want to blast them with broad spectrum treatment and hope for the best.