Fish Daddy's Hectic Week

[Hassles]

The on-set of a few decidely hot days had me busier with the fish than usua last weekl. While the temperatures were set to rise higher than wanted I had switched all heating off some days before and monitored all tanks. As the heat set in bottles of frozen water were allocated where necessary, cool water changes and damp towels were also employed to assist with the normalisation of temperatures. All and all a lot of work, a little concern and mostly success. This week however I have discovered the emergence of fry from the A.agassizi super-red on the 14th and a few days later (today) the A.abacaxcis fry (aka A. sp wilhelmi). Difficult to determine at this stage the extent of the spawns but to be quite honest I would be delighted with just a dozen or so. Time of course will tell how many new fish now exist here at home and I shall eagerly report upon those findings :-) Photographical evidence is pointless at present as the fry are just too small and the agassizi are particularly difficult to locate among the substrate. As the abacaxis gender ratios are very influenced by temperatures I am quite confident I shall have a reasonable mix of genders with perhaps a bias toward male but.... as mentioned above, time will tell - it always does.

take care

[gingerbeer01]

Would appreciate a spawning log for the A sp. "abacaxsis" - pH ,temp, aggression levels, where they spawned.

I thought mine did the dirty but was obviously a dudd - and I did as is my practice move the female so she may have stressed and eaten the eggs....

Without photos it did not happen.

[Hassles]

PH about 6
Temp a little over 26 degrees F

standard 2 foot tank, a single male with 2 females, 3 pencilfish and a lone BN juvenile. The female that has produced the spawn had chosen a small terracotta cave (like a pleco D cave only smaller). The tank was pretty crowded with rocks, driftwood and large pieces of floating java fern.

2 sponge filters at opposing ends of the tank with little wter movement.

Diet: live Blackworms, freeze dried mysis and brine shrimp and some hikari micro pellets, new llife spectrum finniky fish formula - the things I had on-hand that were small sized.

I shall confirm other water parameters later

Edit Edit Edit...

A.abacaxis fry emerged in an environment...

PH < 6
GH = 60mg/L or 3.36 dH
KH < 10mg/L
Temp 26.3 approx - there had been some temperature varience and some significant weather changes.

gravel substrate instead of the suggested sand (circumstance and not choice). The tank was well established and had been in use for over 12 months. The fry emerged 10 days after establishing the trio in the tank OR 10 days after they arrived here from 'Fish Chicks'.

Hope this helps.

Photos Will Follow At Some Suitable Point In Time! Hey mr. moderator. why don't we have an emoticon that depics a waving fist ? I could use one about now :wink:


take care

[Robdog]

Without photos it did not happen.

:lol:

[Hassles]

Here is an image of the A.abacaxis spawn site. The little 'D' cave is a smaller version of the sought after pleco cave. Mum (the female) hovers above. The image also shows the bottom of the sponge filter, the lower aspect of the ceramic heater and the substrate. Oh yeah, if you have good eyes you might find a fry or two 8-) heh heh heh

[steph]

Congrats on the spawn Hassles, the female looks lovely.

Do you have any pics of your male at all? I would love to see them.

Cheers

Steph

[gingerbeer01]

I run gravel in my tanks. Reportedly gravel is an issue with fry diving for cover - but I have had no issues. (Originally I wanted to run bare bottoms on my tanks - but fish were too skitish)

My female is today starting to show interest again in breeding. Got the nice yellow glow and claiming a pot.

Interestingly my fish (all so far) show a preference for caves with top openings. In my pots with no bottoms the female will remove gravel and "decorate" the top of the pot.

ATM our temps here are giving me a lot of males... Looking forward to winter....

[steph]

I have always used little terracotta pots with the drainage holes enlarged. I dont even bother putting a lower opening in any more. My females seem to love them and I can always tell if there is fresh activity as there are little grains of sand all over the top of the pot. I often see the females dumping mouthfuls of sand over the edge.

If these pots are in the tank, I have never seen them go for anything else !

Cheers

Stpeh

[Hassles]

I have always placed caves into my Apisto tanks. These caves (some little terracotta ones and some large ones, some fashioned out of plastic by myself) are just as often ignored for other spawning places eg: hollows in rock or driftwood and on many occasions these hollows have been little more than slight indentations. Its near impossible to predict where the female will feel comfortable. But...these little caves are ignored more often in favour of 'other' places.

The male abacaxis is very elusive, the tank stuffed with stuff and he's very difficult to spot and seldomly stay in view for more than a brief moment or two. The 2nd (smaller) female seldomly leaves from beneath the driftwood so I may find a 2nd spawn but at this point I have no basis for suspicion.

take care

[kristina]

Congrats Hassles. Your female is very attractive!! I have to admit that you have some very pretty fish, remember me in your will :wink: Do you have any idea how many you have there?

Oh and please show me some pics of your new aggies, I haven't seen those yet either!!! Poor Scott was so proud of himself when he bought home 4 ugly little fish. I would so like to find a male for his now lone female. Oh well, he lives to learn yet another lesson.

[Hassles]

The two females have spawned and the fry are growing wonderfully. Dad is still quite reclusive but I reckon I'll catch him soon with my camera in hand. The image here shows the first female with her brood which all too often mingles with the brood of the second female. I have observed a little clash here and there between this pair but... they are making obvious attempts to coerce the male to their respective spawn sites. I reckon he's made his mind up to play it safe - for the time being anyway :wink:

[gingerbeer01]

fanbloodytastic - I have had no luck yet - can I get in line for fry?

[Hassles]

fanbloodytastic - I have had no luck yet - can I get in line for fry?

you're first off the rank mate ;-)

hmm, 'bout to upload some A.huascar images ;-)))

take care

[Hassles]

Congrats on the spawn Hassles, the female looks lovely.

Do you have any pics of your male at all? I would love to see them.

Cheers

Steph

For your Stepeh - my reclusive A.abacaxis male

[Hassles]

Congrats on the spawn Hassles, the female looks lovely.

Do you have any pics of your male at all? I would love to see them.

Cheers

Steph

For your Steph - my reclusive A.abacaxis male

[steph]

Thansk Hassles :)

He is very nice, lots of purple which is an unusual colour in fish.

And a really nice photo too, much better than my feeble attempts.

Steph

[Robdog]

Looks like he's been caught eating a Blueberry pie that he shouldn't have.

They sure are a beautiful fish, female included.

[Hassles]

Looks like he's been caught eating a Blueberry pie that he shouldn't have.

They sure are a beautiful fish, female included.

I always think it interesting that many are purely interested in the atractiveness of the male Apistogramma when so many females are close to equally gorgeous. I bred A.macmasteri without any real intention or inclination to keep this specie. My nephew has two of the females I bred in ghis tank and I am constantly surprised at how beautiful they are. My female A.huascar is herself decidely handsone.

[jluna]

i agree, females in great health and breeding mood are just gorgeous.