My approach on keeping & breeding Apistogramma

[briztoon]

Is ther a link to Stephs article some where?

[steph]

Way back a long time ago (1999, 2000) I wrote a couple of articles, I was more actively involved in the Sydney Cichlid Soc then, but very disparing of the interest in dwarfs vs africans. The cichlid soc was and still is very very focussed on africans.

http://www.sydneycichlid.com/dwarf-cichlid.htm - this a is general summary at the time about SA dwarf cichlids.


http://www.sydneycichlid.com/south-american-dwarf.htm - this is a write up of a dwarf cichlid community tank I was keeping, to this day I would still prefer to keep 2 pairs of apistos in a 4ft tank rather than 2 x 2ft tanks. Its a lot easier, water volume for starters makes the tanks more stable, the thing to do is to ensure the species are very different eg: diff complexes and especially body shape. Apistos from diff complexes are highly unlikely to inter breed given a choice of their own species or another.

cheers

Steph

ps; A. atahualpa is STILL on my wishlist 10 years later!

[Hassles]

Steph

You're not the only Apistogramma addict with a short Apisto wish-list that includes A.atahualpa I have 'never' seen it available anywhere. My short list also includes A.paucisquamis and while I have seen this available (on Glaser's catalogue) I haven't managed to get it Based upon my experience, we here in Australia 'might' get access to perhaps 40% of the Apistogramma that appear on Glaser's catalogue and I get about two out of every ten I order.

I did manage to get two pair of A.resticulosa into the country along with my 2 pair of A.huascar but unfortunately the resticulosa were lost in quarantine. I did have the option of A.jurua also but I opted for the others. A.Jurua, like the A.huascar, are tricky and I didn't think two tricky species were wise at a time when I was desperately trying to expand my tank space. Of course we always regret such decisions. I am more inclined to source otherwise unavailable species rather than a desirable variant of a relatively easy to come by species. I often feel safe knowing others are keeping a species I want considering that I shall be able to source these fish from these breeders at a later date and...source something else for myself. Having said that, I am waiting for many of these breeders to breed their fish

Many Apisto keepers simply want colourful fish and are less interested in those species that do not immeadiately strike you with their colouration. I consider all Apistos are appealing if one only has eyes to see their inherent beauty.

I have been exceedingly fortunate and am eternally grateful to my LFS manager who has sourced many Apistos on my behalf and housed them at his aquarium, sometimes for many weeks, until I have been able to carry the fish home. The A.iniridae and A.alacrina where sourced and kept for me while I was in Europe recently so yeah, I'm a lucky guy. It also helps I think that I addicted said LFS manager to Apistogramma some years ago heh heh heh But in all reality, without him on my side my options are greatly reduced. Obviously Jodi-Lea is doing a great job filling a void.

Right now I am planning on having more tanks built, albeit somewhat discreetly, and finding space for said tanks. I think the construction of a sizeable and dedicated fish-room is pending. The A.alacrina female is in spawning dress and has been digging sand out of a cave while the A.iniridae female is appearing in and out of spawning dress (gotta re-check the water). The female A.abacaxis is raising another batch of fry so I have lowered the temperatures as I suspect the first spawn is male dominant. The A.agassizi super-red and A.cacatuoides orange-flash fry are all growing well. The A.baenschi and A.masken juveniles are growing rapidly and as the A.trifasciata stocks have been reduced the parents look like spawning again soon. Its never a dull moment in an Apistogramma household heh heh heh