Breeding Apistos' - Help Please!

[mikeboyce2003]

I have a male and two female Apisto sp. viejita, which are exhibiting all the textbook signs of breeding, the females have found a 'cave' each and are keeping other fish away, the male has been "strutting his stuff" to both of them and they have both really coloured up. They are currently in a community tank with loads of rocks, bogwood and plants for them to hide in, other tankmates are various tetras - serpae, silver tip, glowlight, black neons - and a flying fox. Will it be safe for the fry to be left in the tank, or should I purchase a small set up specially for them? If they are breeding, then it will be my first success, as I have only had the Apistos a couple of weeks and these fish are something special , I'm very excited, as I love these fish and would hate to lose any offspring. My tetras have spawned in the past, but the eggs where eaten very quickly by the other tank occupants. The tank is 30" x 15" x 24", water parameters pH 6.6, GH 5, KH 5 and temp 79 F.

 

[thegnu]

hi,
fingers crossed. i had this dilemma . i have apisto's in my community tank along with discus, rams and some "dither fish"
my agassizii and blue rams would breed every 20 odd days which can be a bit hard on my discus (if you haven't seen a tiny agassizii or ram defend its fry you wouldn't believe it) anyway they wouldn't last much longer than a week before being eaten.
a LS i sometimes visited was going down hill for sometime and in december last year i went in and all the tanks where gone. when i asked what became of them they said "their outside". i asked if i could buy some and they said "take what you want, they are only going to be dumped. i couldn't get out there quick enough. got 3 36"x12"x12" tanks, 8 bubble filters. these tanks had been running for 10 years in alkaline water with lime scale over them and when i opened the filters they stank. anyway i cleaned them up, the filters and the tanks, seeded them with filter start (its from tetra and its brilliant) and now one of them has blue ram and agassizii fry in it and one of the others has a pair of a. cacatuoides with wrigglers, lucky erh. anyway i waited until the ram and cacatuoides were freeswimming and siphoned them out of the community tank.
i have a pair of a. macmasteri, similar to a. viejita, and they have shown no signs of spawning at all.
anyway good luck with your fish

edit: by the way, how does your flying fox behave. they can be a nuisance cant they

 

[irishpunk74]

I have a male and two female Apisto sp. viejita, which are exhibiting all the textbook signs of breeding, the females have found a 'cave' each and are keeping other fish away, the male has been "strutting his stuff" to both of them and they have both really coloured up. They are currently in a community tank with loads of rocks, bogwood and plants for them to hide in, other tankmates are various tetras - serpae, silver tip, glowlight, black neons - and a flying fox. Will it be safe for the fry to be left in the tank, or should I purchase a small set up specially for them? If they are breeding, then it will be my first success, as I have only had the Apistos a couple of weeks and these fish are something special , I'm very excited, as I love these fish and would hate to lose any offspring. My tetras have spawned in the past, but the eggs where eaten very quickly by the other tank occupants. The tank is 30" x 15" x 24", water parameters pH 6.6, GH 5, KH 5 and temp 79 F.

Well you are on the right track on breeding your apistos,but if it was me,I would try them in another tank.You will have a higher number of fry and less loss.

 

[Griz]

I have kept A. cacatuoides and A. hongsloi in a 33gal community tank at different times. Inevitably, the cardinal and rummynose tetras picked off all of the fry. (Although one female cac somehow managed to survive and grow to adulthood. I must have lost hundreds of fry. My aim was not to breed them however - just a show tank. If you are serious about breeding them, a species tank is really a must. Perhaps with a few dithers like pencilfish or hatchetfish. The fry just won't make it with tetras around.