29 for apistogramma lineta

GaryE said:

I only kept one domestic cacatuoides. I used to get the fish directly from the boxes as they arrived from Peru. That's why I saw such a variety. I just assume with Apistos that you have one species per tank, and a few fast dithers/distraction fish up around the surface. They never got much of a chance to pick on other species here.

It's going to be a good thread. Apisto fishrooms are great fun. I'll risk a short sidetrack though - do you think Apistogramma are making a comeback? They were big at the turn of the century, and for the last 10-15 years have sold very poorly. I used to unpack at least 4 shipments of cacatuoides a year, let alone all the other treasures coming in. Now it seems importers here have given up on them as the linebred ones have muscled wilds out of the market. When they order them, no one buys them. It's a shame, and I've long hoped that would change.

Click to expand...

I presume domestic is wild caught if they came from Peru; Brazil is still banning most exports so i doubt wild caught apisto are making a come back. a. borelli - one of the most common species of apistogramma i've been unable to find wild caught samples for two years. Anyway between mass deforestation and weather changes i suspect in the next 50 years many will go extinct. We should probably start another thread for the side track.

So i'm running out of time and went through the closet (after i cleaned the 500, 600 and pair of 200 as well as the 29 and 10) and found a few more pieces. I had these unused slates:

The one on the right is very flat - maybe 1/4 inch thick the one on the left is about 2+ inches high - sadly the image doens't do a good job showing the 3d aspect. I thought about burying the one on the right and having just the stop stick up to hoist the wood up a little but it wasn't necessary - and i didn't like the one on the right much though i tried it in a few positions.

I found this piece of spider wood but it was more than 12 inches wide so wouldn't fit.



I took out the piece on the right - i like it a lot but it just does't fit well (so i tossed it in the 40) and i'm trying these three pieces; basically the two other pieces on the end and the long skinny one on top. Not in love with it so might change it tomorrow or monday. Next time i go down i'll take another picture from above to show how the wood lays. If i leave it i'll shift some substrate to the right to cover the opening on the very right so she can make a cave in the back. She could also make a cave between the sponge and the piece on the left. If i ahve time i'll go to the store on thursday and see they have a nice rock for the front middle area to close up that hole in the arch.


To answer some earlier questions - these are cave spawners like most species of apistogramma. The only way a rock would be useful is if it could be used as a cave or to block line of sight if there is conflict. I suspect these will be relative mellow with not too much m/f hassle.
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When i add some fishes i'll swap the sponge filter on the right with one that is mature. I'll measure ammonia for a couple of days but historically it has been a non-issue and the lower ph will help neutralize ammonia.

When they become available i'll add 10 or 12 n. marilynae; also sometime in the future i'll add 4 to 6 otto. Probably the spring since i won't order fishes during the winter. I haven't been able to find the n. marilynae for a while so i might temporarily put in some Hyphessobrycon Notidanos but concern these might be fry predators.

Oh, I'm so embarrassed! I thought I was answering noah as OP with my post. Of course, anewbie, you know so much more about apistos & many other fish. Please forgive me. I'm often cooking, etc., while typing.

On a tangent, I find the underside of mopani quite attractive, but I haven't figured out how to place it so it shows. I just hope the fish under it appreciate it, lol. I have a piece that looks like your 1 with the "handle" sticking up.

So i tweaked the drift wood slightly and put in a few test plants i had 'laying' around. Tuesday the plants for this aquarium will arrive and i'll make the finale configuration when i plant them - probably wednesday or thursday.
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I did throw a light on it - a ai freshwater blade30 - this is overkill but it was sitting in the closet so while a $50 light would be ample for the plants and fish it would still be $50 more than using something that isn't being used.

Also i discovered the little whisper that runs the sponge filter on the 120 is not strong enough for both that aquarium and this aquarium so i'll have to throw on the extra Alita AL-6A i have in the closet tomorrow. This is left over when i added more aquariums to the room and had to buy a much larger airpump. In theory that air pump could handle the 120 and this 29 in addition to the other 7 aquariums i have hanging off of it but then i would have to run tubing another 50 feet around the room. hum... maybe in the future or if this wasn't sitting in the closet. Hum... maybe i should just run the tubing around it would save a bit of energy. We will see what we have in tubing...

I'll let you examine the picture to determine what changed from above (besides the few plants).
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Some more pictures showing the tank tweaked from the above post:
From the front


From the top looking down:

I tossed in some plants this morning; i think i put in too much driftwood because there just isn't enough room for plants. Maybe i should have used a larger aquarium - you know something that is 72 long 30 wide and 14 high would have been nice. Well if you send me one i'll try to find space for it
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I'll let this bake for a week or three and then add some leaves and turn down the light a bit and eventually throw in some fishes.

I like it so far! I would still like some higher hardscape with maybe some attached plants to raise that up the bottom-centric design so far. I'm sure it'll be different. It's a very shallow tank but lots of "bottom space" to work with. I need more!

An update - the crypts have melted doens't mean they won't regrow but only time will tell:

My crypts have suddenly reappeared after a few years of being MIA. A minor melt should be no big deal; that's the crypt way!

So, is that a crypt or baby sword in your front far right corner? I can't tell

Update on the aquarium - also talked to the importer and he said they were delivered and they will likely be shipped in mid/late November after qt period:

Small update - i picked up these three spiders but don't really like any of them:


I added these fishes:

(to be precise - i swapped the sponge fitler with a mature one and then added those rascals - 4 'common' oto; 8 Brevibora dorsiocellata and 6 Paracheirodon axelrodi; the p. axelrodi were meant for the discus tank but as you can see (or not see) they are kind of tiny; the 8 b. dorsiocellata is 50:50 they will stay in here; i'm going to add 10 n. marilynae and i'll have to decide if it is too much; the n. marilynae even as adults stay pretty small and the b. dorsicellata is a mid size rasbora not super large. I can move them to the 100 or maybe i'll just move some of them. We will have to think about this.
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I'll probably be another 30 days before i know about the lineta; if for some reason some goes horribly wrong i might move my 40 a. sp bluketa frys in there and let them have the aquarium or i might find some nice wc a. inka.
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I currently have about 40 a. bluketa; 10ish a. sp winkelfleck and at least 20 a. wolli. Anyone wanna spend the day catching frys ?

So this is a minor update - sadly the person who was going to import a. lineata for me decided to exit the import business and go back to school so there will be no a. lineata. for now i moved a couple of extra a. ladisalo into the aquarium:





Because of the water tint you can't really see the true beauty of this fish but maybe one day

Unrelated but the thing in the upper left corner is my me fry crib - this morning i discovered some how one of my emerald eye rasbora managed to jump into it (through the plastic lid); not sure if he ate many or any but still just remember if it can go wrong it will. Btw i've had two heaters fail this week.