2 cockatoo pix

[red]

My buddy currently has a bunch of different species of apistos in the following tanks. 2x 10g, 15g, 55g...

I finally decided I wanted some apistos for my 40g square tank.

I could only get pics of a triple red female and a yellow male. If someone could tell me what the proper color definition is for the yellow guy that would be appreciated!

 

[Mike Wise]

If these are the fish in the attached photos, I think I see a triple red male and a mediocre orange-flash X yellow male.

 

[tjudy]

I think the bottom fish is a triple red. The top fish is hard to say... the orange flash strains I have had were clear-bodied... no lateral line stripe. I have a strain I got from Chris called Sunburst that has orange flash finnage with a lateral line stripe.

 

[red]

The top fish is definitely a FEMALE. The males in the tank were all triple reds, so I'm just assuming that would mean the female is a triple red too.

The bottom fish has YELLOW fins.. It looks a bit more orange in the pic then it actually is. It's definitely yellow, not red or orange.

These were bought from an LFS that has never carried apistos, so I wasn't expecting to get high quality fish. I was just happy find actually find some apistos around here! I guess I can be satisfied with them being mediocre!

 

[tjudy]

I bet if you fed them baby brine for a few weeks those markings in the fins would get darker red.

 

[Mike Wise]

Does your female have caudal fin extensions? Your photos are small, but it looks like it does.

 

[red]

No extensions, just a little bit of red coloring on the top/bottom.

A yellow one I picked out thinking it was a female turned out to be a male. It has lots of black on it's ventrals, but definitely has extensions also.

 

[Mike Wise]

So they all turned out to be males? Bummer.

 

[red]

Nope I did end up getting 1 female from the 4 I bought. My buddy had a pair in a 10g, and his male mysteriously died, so he gave me his female.

So I have 2f 3m in a 40g tank. Just waiting for a pair to form, then the remaining female and males will go into his 55g community apisto tank.

1 of the males isn't doing so well. It spends a lot of time sitting at the bottom kinda waving it's body slowly. I don't think it will last long.

Didn't get them from a reputable place, and they were quite cheap, so I kinda expected this type of stuff to happen. Was pretty much an impulse buy.

 

[Mike Wise]

A. cacatuoides don't form pairs. Males will breed with any female available, be it 1 or 100.:biggrin: You will probably end up with a dominant male (and female) and the rest submissive to him (her). If you have enough hiding places, your 40 should be large enough for all 5 apistos. You'll see some interesting intraspecific activities between males and males, females and females, and males and females.

 

[red]

HMMM... We've always seen a male choose out a female and stalk her relentlessly... I'll leave them all together and see what happens.

I can definitely tell which male is the dominant one. The triple red male died yesterday. The smaller female isn't doing so well right now.

So I'll see what happens.

 

[DH247]

What are your phosphate levels at? I've made that mistake in the past. Lost an incredible triple red male that way....

 

[red]

I have no idea! I'll have to see if my buddy has a test thingy for phosphate. What would trigger the phosphates to rise?

They weren't looking spectacular in the tank at the store, so I was expecting some issues. The male hadn't looked right from the day I put it in the tank.

I've been doing lots of water changes lately to try to keep the water as clean as possible.

 

[leamos]

The top one is female, doesn't have the frogmouth of the male below

 

[red]

Yep I think you're right.

I'm down to 1f 2m now.. They weren't the healthiest buggers.

A good friend of mine got some in at his store, so I'm going to pick up some females tomorrow.