Rio Negro biotope for Ivanacara adoketa

[illumnae]

Hi all, my LFS is getting in a shipment from Glazer and in the shipment are some German bred Ivanacara adoketa juveniles. I'm thinking of setting up a 24x18x18 (about 30 gallons) biotope tank for about 5-6 juveniles to raise them and hopefully eventually get a pair or two out of the group (I hear this species can't simply be paired up by throwing one of each sex together).

This tank will be filtered by an Eheim 2075 connected to a Hailea HC150a chiller. Chiller will be switched on as required, as my tanks reach up to 31C on hot days, and it's summer all year round here. Ivanacara adoketa is supposed to prefer temperature in the range of 25-28C.

I've tried to do some research about sympatric fish, but the only information I can find are that they can be found with tucano tetras, which are not available to me. In the same shipment there are true Ancistrus L183, which also dwell in the Rio Negro. Are they suitable biotope accurate fish? I also have access to green neon tetras, but not sure if they'll decimate the fry eventually. I may be able to get beckfordi pencilfish, as well as red and purple ones (but they are from Peru!). 3 line and dwarf pencils are rarely if ever available. I can get marbled hatchets too.

Appreciate advise on the sympatric fish as well as tips on tank decor. I have got fine white sand from a garden Centre and almost limitless access to cheap/free Indian Almond leaves (they are native here).

Thanks in advance!!

 

[dwarfpike]

Penjuin tetras (Thayeria boehlkei) are from the Rio Negro. Not sure where in the Rio Negro the Ivanacara are found, but I know the Penguins were found with Crenicichla notophthalmus around the Anavilhanas Islands according to an article in AFM from years ago.

 

[illumnae]

Thanks for the recommendation dwarfpike

I ended up being able to source 20 pcs of Tucanoichthys tucano and Ancistrus cf cirrhosus for this setup. Current inhabitants in the tank now are:

7x Ivanacara adoketa (1" juveniles)
20x Tucanoichthys tucano
5x Ancistrus cf cirrhosus (0.75" juveniles)
3x Dicrossus filamentosus (1" juveniles)

The Dicrossus filamentosus was put in to ensure that the water conditions were right for the other fish, as the Ivanacara adoketa and Tucanoichthys tucano are pure blackwater species, while the Dicrossus filamentosus is more tolerant of more "normal" water conditions. The plan for the Ancistrus cf cirrhosus is to grow them out to decent size (2+"), then transfer them to my 120 gallon discus tank. If I put them into the discus tank now, they will end up as expensive feeders.

Plan for the tank is to add in floaters (I got a bag of Amazon frogbits today, and will get some Water Lettuce too, as both are found in the Rio Negro). I also intend to add in some pencilfish and hatchetfish. I have a ready source of C. strigata, and am sourcing for C. marthae. Also sourcing for N. eques or N. marginatus.

Here's what the tank looks like a the moment:

 

[illumnae]

No one else have any feedback about an I. adoketa biotopes setup?

 

[Mike Wise]

I wouldn't expect checkerboards to survive long with breeding I. adoketa.

 

[illumnae]

Hi Mike, thanks for stopping by this thread

The checkerboards are currently in there to "share" the deworming treatment (metronidazole, flubendazole and praziquental) that I am putting the tank through. They're eventually intended for another display tank. The same goes for the dither tetras - I will move them to another tank once the I. adoketa pair up.

At the moment, I have 7 juvenile I. adoketa in this tank. They are only about 1.5 inches in length. Based on what I've read, I. adoketa are harder to pair up than apistogramma (where usually just a male and female together will do the trick for many species). I was advised to buy a batch of juveniles and grow them out together and hope for 1-2 pairs to form from the group. That's what I'm doing. All the dithers/tankmates are meant for the growing out stage.

In the long run, I hope to have a biotope-correct breeding setup for them. This is where I need advice - what tankmates (if any at all) would be suitable for such a setup?

Here are some current shots of the tank and tankmates.

FTS:

Ivanacara adoketa:

Dicrossus filamentosus:

Tucanoichythis tucano:

 

[illumnae]

Anyone has any advice on long term tankmates for an I adoketa biotope breeding setup? I will soon have access to Nannostomus eques and Nannostomus trilineatus. Also have access to many species of corydoras, if appropriate.

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,
Nice tank, the fish look really healthy. My only suggestion is that it looks a bit bare, and there isn't much to break up "line of sight". I'd probably add some structural leaf litter <http://www.seriouslyfish.com/all-the-leaves-are-brown/>.

Although the natural biotope would probably only have floating plants (if any plants at all) plants make maintaining water quality easier so I'd add Ceratopteris perhaps?, I know these aren't geographically appropriate but maybe add some Java moss (Taxiphyllum barbieri) to the wood? and Java fern (Microsorum pteropus) or Bolbitis heudelotii? Moss is a really useful resource in Apistogramma etc. tanks for small fry. <http://www.apistogramma.com/forum/index.php?threads/german-ram-wigglers.11256/>
I believe that "Christmas Moss" (Vesicularia dubyana 'Christmas') is Brazilian, although probably not biotope appropriate <http://www.tropica.com/en/plants/plantdescription.aspx?pid=003A>.

I will soon have access to Nannostomus eques and Nannostomus trilineatus. Also have access to many species of corydoras, if appropriate

The Pencilfish should be fine, N. eques are a good dither, I've never kept N. trilineatus, but I would imagine they should be good too.

I wouldn't add any Corydoras, as they will occupy the same space as the cichlids and are likely to be damaged if your fish spawn. I've kept Corydoras pygmaeus with Apistogramma with success, but I've never kept Ivanacara.

Why don't you keep the Marbled Hatchets? they are good dithers.

cheers Darrel

 

[illumnae]

Hi all,
Nice tank, the fish look really healthy. My only suggestion is that it looks a bit bare, and there isn't much to break up "line of sight". I'd probably add some structural leaf litter <http://www.seriouslyfish.com/all-the-leaves-are-brown/>.

Although the natural biotope would probably only have floating plants (if any plants at all) plants make maintaining water quality easier so I'd add Ceratopteris perhaps?, I know these aren't geographically appropriate but maybe add some Java moss (Taxiphyllum barbieri) to the wood? and Java fern (Microsorum pteropus) or Bolbitis heudelotii? Moss is a really useful resource in Apistogramma etc. tanks for small fry. <http://www.apistogramma.com/forum/index.php?threads/german-ram-wigglers.11256/>
I believe that "Christmas Moss" (Vesicularia dubyana 'Christmas') is Brazilian, although probably not biotope appropriate <http://www.tropica.com/en/plants/plantdescription.aspx?pid=003A>.
The Pencilfish should be fine, N. eques are a good dither, I've never kept N. trilineatus, but I would imagine they should be good too.

I wouldn't add any Corydoras, as they will occupy the same space as the cichlids and are likely to be damaged if your fish spawn. I've kept Corydoras pygmaeus with Apistogramma with success, but I've never kept Ivanacara.

Why don't you keep the Marbled Hatchets? they are good dithers.

cheers Darrel

Thanks so much for your help Darrel It's not easy finding information on Ivanacara adoketa's habitat. There's barely any information on the Internet, and Cichlid Atlas 1 gives only limited information.

It may not be very visible from the pictures, but I've planted the tank with Cyperus sp., Echinodorus sp. and Helianthus tenellus. These are the most biotope accurate plants that I can find. This is in addition to the Limnobium laevigatum that is floating in the tank. The roots of the floaters and the broad leaves of the Echinodorus provide some hiding space for the fish, as does the wood. The Ivanacara adoketa has reacted favourably to the Helianthus tenellus and like to rest inside the bunches of "grass" - I guess that's what they have evolved to do given that their natural colouration includes vertical striping.

The good thing about the plants is that they not only provide some hiding space for the fish, they also absorb nutrients. My TDS is under 20ppm, and I'm having to dose ferts to keep the Limnobium laevigatum alive!

I take in your feedback about moss, but I would really like to be as true to the biotope as possible. Maybe after the fish pair off and start to show breeding signs, I will introduce moss in for potential fry.

I have bags and bags of Indian Almond leaves in my store, so I will also put them into the tank to be more biotope accurate as well as to provide more hiding space for the fish. I used to have leaves in the tank, but I removed them for the photo shoot and have not replaced them yet.

In relation to the dithers, the numbers of Carnegiella strigata is decreasing. Of the 15 I bought, 5 jumped out before I thought to put a cover on the tank (I thought the floating plants would be sufficient), 2 managed to find some hole even with a cover on the tank, and 3 were killed by the Ivanacara adoketa. I may add more in time to come (I'm exploring lowering the water level and making this into a riparium setup), but for now I will get the Nannostomus to add to the dither flock.

I will update as changes are made!

 

[Mike Wise]

Both Römer and von Drachenfels, who collected I. adoketa in the wild, report no aquatic plants in their biotope. Basically, the biotope was submerged wood and thick leaf litter. von Drachenfels notes that the land around his collecting locality had many palms (possibly like the blackwater 'aguajol' biotopes of Peru?). Fish in the same igarapé were few: a school of piranah, a Mesonauta sp. and an Aequidens sp. In a nearby stream they had collected Cardinal Tetras/Red Neons.

Good references (if you read German):

Römer, U. 1995. Nannacara adoketa Kullander & Prada-Pedreros, 1993. DCG-Info. 26(3): 58-62.
von Drachenfels, E. 1995. Nannacara adoketa - der große Unbekannte. DCG-Info. 26(9): 193-200.

 

[illumnae]

Thank you for your feedback Mike! The effect I was trying to create was a stream edge, where grass and other semi-submerged plants from above ground line the edges of the stream and "spill over" into the water. Hence, I used Helianthus tenellus to emulate the "grass effect" and Cyperus sp. and Echinodorus sp. as the "spill over" plants. I will definitely take into account your description of thick leaf litter and throw in lots of Indian Almond leaves

I am exploring the possibility of carrying this emulation further by lowering the water level and hanging baskets at the back of the tank to create a Riparium instead. This will allow me to keep plants out of the tank itself, but have the "overhanging from stream bank" effect with the palms you mentioned (I'll have to find alternatives that look like palms hanging over a stream).

So far, the only other references to sympatric fish other than what you mentioned above is that Tucanoichthys tucano is found with Ivanacara adoketa (Cichlid Atlas I and SeriouslyFish description of Tucanoichthys tucano), and that pencilfish are found nearby at the edge of the streams (Cichlid Atlas I) - the only "Rio Negro" pencilfish I'm able to obtain from the list on FishBase is Nannostomus trifasciatus. I included Carnegiella strigata and Nannostomus eques because I've read they're found "all over the Amazon". However, I can remove them if they're not accurate.

Unfortunately, I am not able to read German, so I can't read the references you posted

 

[illumnae]

Lots of changes to this tank! Everything except the I. adoketa succumbed to a serious bout of white spot, and I removed the Glaser juveniles as well to replace them with a trio of wild caught I. adoketa adults. Also added some Otocinclus sp. to replace the bristlenoses and some Nannostomus unifasciatus as well as what came in as N. eques but looks more like N. marilynae. The N. marilynae has developed white spot as well now, and I'm medicating the tank with the temperature set between 26 and 27 degrees Celcius.

The 3 I. adoketa get along well, though there is some chasing of the subdominant female by both the male and the dominant female. However, the male seems unusually subdued and spends half the day hiding. The dominant female is always out and about and the undisputed "queen" of the tank. The male only comes out once in awhile, but when he does he dominates both females. Is this usual? Aside from the occasional chasing, there is no aggression/fighting at all between the 3. I know many people say it's impossible to pair up adult I. adoketa that have not yet bonded, but yet I have seen the contrary happen both on this forum and with friends (admittedly, they use captive bred specimens which are supposed to be less aggressive). I'm hoping to get the male to pair up with one of the females, but no luck as yet.

Here's some random poor pictures that I took the other day.

Male:

2 females:

Dominant female:

All 3 together "playing nice":

Male and dominant female "dancing" together:

 

[Xenaph]

Wow, they look beautiful.

I also have Ivanacara Adoketa, i bought 8 juvéniles from Thailland and now i have a good pair and remove 6 other fish to another tank.

White sand is not show off the color ?

 

[KGlo]

Wow, Your tank looks beautiful! I'm planning on setting up a Rio Negro biotope tank soon. I'm going to stock it with
2x Ivanacara adoketa
1x Candy Striped Pleco (l-066)
10x Black-Winged Hatchetfish
and I'm trying to figure out whether or not it would be safe to put a Jaguar Catfish (Liosomadoras Oncinus) in there too.

 

[Fikret Celik]

Very good tank and beautiful Adoketas. Thank you for sharing...