Another small Cichlid a few of my apisto’s

[Naughts]

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. I had to set up a separate tank for my macmasterei apisto m-f pair because they were going for my other bottom dwellers.

 

[GaryE]

The females will be established, and all have territories, A new male will probably be small, and they may not be impressed. If they don't like him, they'll run him off, but if he has nowhere to go... ah Apistos.

Plus, Apistogramma gender is environmentally determined, and it is very easy to get a single sex brood. So stores/sellers can end up with expensive imbalances from breeders. They sell the fish young, and agas especially can be hard to sex at an early age. I bred up quite a few of them over the years - I had the beautiful wild Agassizii Alenquer form. If you don't look really closely, and watch when they are young, it's very easy to make sexing mistakes. Once they grow, no, but they are sold young. Even from the best sellers, unless you order at least 6, you could end up with all females again.

 

[Magnum Man]

It’s funny I ended up with 4 females of the same species, when they were bought separately, and from 2 different sellers…

 

[Magnum Man]

Dominant female is out again today at 1st light… there is a large piece of driftwood, in the center of the tank so each sibling sister pair has half the tank, divided by that driftwood

Just checking, once this size, do they change sexes??? I know some fish do, if there is not at least one male or female in their environment???

 

[GaryE]

Sex is determined when they are small. They won't change.

 

[Magnum Man]

Shrimp Cocktail tonight… Apisto’s crossing the center line…

 

[GaryE]

I've never bought Apistogramma blind. I always saw them, and decided what sex they were. With some species, it's really easy, but the slender, spade tailed group is harder. They are often offered when too young. The thing that makes them relatively uncommon is how suddenly they switch from a peaceful tank of juveniles growing out to adulthood, into a tank of adults bent on killing each other as competitors for territory. I would get a brood of 50 Apistos, but even with an ideal 50/50 split, I would have needed 25 15 gallon tanks to raise them properly. So the tendency is to move them unsexed.
If not, you end up with only as many certain pairs as you have tanks to divide them into.
The Cichlid hobby tends to follow the rule of six. If you want pairs, that's how many you buy to increase your chances. It has its problems - cost and space demand if you get 3 pairs from it. You can still get 6 males. The first Apistos I ever saw were in a tank of 60 beautiful females a fish club guy was raising. He didn't get a single male in the brood, but he sold them in lots of 8, hoping buyers would be lucky. We weren't.

Getting 4 females doesn't mean you have 2 bad sellers. It is a really easy mistake to make, even for experienced eyes. Buying online is a gambler's game. I know some of us have no choice, but you've seen the danger with that substitution of large geophagus for medium sized Biotodomo - that was awful and really disruptive to anyone's tank plans.

 

[Magnum Man]

Since this is a display tank, it’s probably best, that they were all single sex, as I can have the electric blue rams, and the 4 Apisto’s in the same tank… I’m guessing my rams are the same sex as well… there were some light territory squabbles to start with, but the tank is pretty peaceful so now… the tetras are leaps and bounds more peaceful, and having more than 3/4 of the residents being assorted tetras helps that…

On the Geo’s, that were sold to me as Cupids... they are all continually battling, I don’t know how, as there is never a fin torn… they are starting to color up a bit more, and starting to get filaments or extended fins…. The Bolivian rams and the golds rams couldn’t take the stress, I suppose competing for the same space as the constantly fighting Geo’s… at least they just fight each other, and don’t attack anyone else…

I’ve been looking at a 60 inch, 100 gallon tank, but I haven’t figured out where I could put one, and during the summer, I have outside expenses that are my priority this season… if I had someone local, that I could gift, or sell 3 of them to… but you are right, huge mistake on the seller’s part, and while they were healthy, I’ve been reluctant to order from that seller again…