Apistogramma Macmasteri

[ste12000]

Ive only bred Apistogramma macmasteri once before despite it being a commonly seen fish in fishshops up and down the country.. That was several years ago so when i had the oportunity to import wild fish from Columbia i jumped at it, unfortunately the first two imports of macmasteri were A.alcrina and A.cacatuoides!!! then A.viejita showed up on the list, knowing that it was almost certainly not viejita i ordered them expecting macmasteri. When they arrived it was a real mixed bag, only 8 macmasteri arrived, the rest were a mix of Iniridae, sp 'Broadband' and even a few cacatuoides(The Columbian exporter in Bogata obviously has links to the very north of Columbia/South Peru)
Anyway i setup a nice pair of largish wild macmasteri and two months later ive been rewarded with my first spawn, i knew they had spawned but didnt know when!! i was suprised to see aprox 80 freeswimming fry this morning when doing my feeding.. They are stunning fish and im glad i kept a pair for myself..

Male.

Female..

 

[KittyKat]

Very nice, thank you for sharing. Do tell us about the set-up and how you care for them.

 

[karin]

Wonderful. Awesome photography. Thanks. And welcome to the forum!

 

[Curiosity101]

I've got 4 youngsters at the mo, 2 males, 1 female and 1 I'm not sure about but I think female. I'm looking forwards to them being large enough to breed and doing a bit of a stock shuffle so they can have my 60l (prob as 1 male and 1/2 female).

Not sure they'll be too interested in pH 7.6 but gonna give it a go. I've gotta say they are stunning in the flesh. Mine are the tank bred strain as opposed to wild type though so not quite the same as yours.

I'd also be interested to know the set-up they're in.

 

[ste12000]

Very nice, thank you for sharing. Do tell us about the set-up and how you care for them.

I'd also be interested to know the set-up they're in.

Hi guys, they are in a setup that is designed to mimic the small, slow flowing streams that these fish are found in in the wild.
The substrate is a fine grained Inert playpit sand, this does not leach any minerals and does not alter the very soft water thats vital for wild Apistogramma. Over this is several smallish pieces of bogwood, this is designed so that the fish can swim, hide and make caves under it, caves for spawning are made from half coconut shells with a small entrance out of one side, around this i let oak and beech leaves fall in natural drifts, these are for decoration and simulating the natural habitat, they also add tannins to the water.

The Water is very soft 55ppm, acidic PH4.5-PH5.5 and heavy in tannins from the leaves, wood and alder cones, in this enviroment the fish feel at home and breed with little difficulty, i feed live foods and perform regular water changes and the fish do the rest, i have 18 tanks setup like this, each holding a different dwarf cichlid species, Most have fry!!

 

[ste12000]

Wonderful. Awesome photography. Thanks. And welcome to the forum!

Thanks..Its a great forum and very friendly.

 

[KittyKat]

Hi guys, they are in a setup that is designed to mimic the small, slow flowing streams that these fish are found in in the wild.
The substrate is a fine grained Inert playpit sand, this does not leach any minerals and does not alter the very soft water thats vital for wild Apistogramma. Over this is several smallish pieces of bogwood, this is designed so that the fish can swim, hide and make caves under it, caves for spawning are made from half coconut shells with a small entrance out of one side, around this i let oak and beech leaves fall in natural drifts, these are for decoration and simulating the natural habitat, they also add tannins to the water.

The Water is very soft 55ppm, acidic PH4.5-PH5.5 and heavy in tannins from the leaves, wood and alder cones, in this enviroment the fish feel at home and breed with little difficulty, i feed live foods and perform regular water changes and the fish do the rest, i have 18 tanks setup like this, each holding a different dwarf cichlid species, Most have fry!!

..just how I used to breed by dwarf SA cichlids..

 

[ste12000]

..just how I used to breed by dwarf SA cichlids..

Superb, what else do you breed?