Agassizii Breeding Behaviour

[wasabi8888]

Hi all

Need to ask on the above.

I have a pair of the above. I got this pair from Aphistoworld in HK and kept them with other apistos since late August. I took them out and kept them together in mid Sept 06. So they have been together on their own for just 1 month.

I understand that a female agassizii when ready for breeding is bright yellow in color and it's stripe in the middle becomes a dot. Is that true? Currently, my female agassizii is still greyish yellow in color. Pic as attached.

However, the male keeps chasing the female into the cave and refuses to even let her come out to eat.

I have taken the male out and will wait for the color of the female agassizii to change its jacket. After which, i will add back the male.

Is the above ok?

I know sometimes some pairs are not compatible. WHEN and HOW do i draw the line and make that conclusion? i do not have many tanks. If this pair cannot breed, then i will proceed to breed others.

Please advise.

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[fishgeek]

her belly looks tucked up could she have already laid?

 

[wasabi8888]

Breeding behavior

I am not sure actually.. because i cant see the eggs unless she ate them already. However, I would assume the color of the female will change dramatically from the picture even before she lays right. The present color is not yellow enough to assume that she is ready to breed.

Unless I am wrong on the color ie the present color is already an indication of her readiness to breed.

 

[RiC]

A breeding female agassizi will definitely be bright yellow, here is mine:

Yours looks like she is ready but not quite yet, which is why (from my experience) the male keeps chasing her.

In what size tank do you keep them now? I would say to be patient, it might not take too long...

 

[wasabi8888]

Hi

Thanks for the pic..

Are you saying that I should put back the male? i am keeping them in a 1ft X 1ft X 1ft cube tank.

Currently, my female does not have the black dot in the centre. Just a black stripe for now. Should I wait for the black dot to appear first.

Also, another stupid question. Can you see whether the female is an agassizii in the 1st place? Cos i had another female in the same tank once. It was a Apistogramma baenschi germany. I suspected that female died but I am not sure. Can you help identify?

 

[ProF_FR]

Hi,

An A. baenschi female would definately have vertical stripes so i can't say 100% your is an agassizi but 100% sure its not a baenschi

ProF

 

[RiC]

I would say it's a female agassizi.
Granted she has enough hiding places (not only the cave, but driftwood, plants, etc.), I would leave her with the male and make sure she eats well. From my experience with a. agassizii, she will turn bright yellow and her spot will show only when she will lay eggs. :wink:

 

[ampdaman]

ya thats what my female looked like also. dont mean to thread steal but my male does about the same thing only he doesnt really hold he rin the cave. he somewhat trys to heard her into the cave by puffing up and turning bright colors. she once tried breeding with him but then ate the eggs and is now just her regular light yellow color. so is the male actually trying to breed or being agressive? if someone tells me how i will post videos of it. once agian sorry about the thread stealing

 

[wasabi8888]

I think the female is not eating as well. Her stomach seems to be sunken in alittle bit. It was worse when i first put her in the tank. Let's me monitor the situation to see whether that condition improves.

I am not sure whether it's parasite though as there is a thread of poo hanging from the anus.

 

[Mizu]

I noticed that my agassizii love worms, blood worms and earth worms seems to get them in breeding mood pretty fast. Mine breed trice in less then a month after getting them. the frist two batches didn't make it, they propably ate the eggs. Now I have a nice brood of at least fifty fries. I removed the male for the last batch. Your female will loose the black stripe and get really yellow when ready. good luck

 

[wasabi8888]

In the afternoon, I put in the partition and added the male back to the tank and guess what?

The female immediately changed colour to bright yellow with a black dot.. now i know how a female aga in heat looks like.... seen so many pics but never seen an actually one.....

when i went back last nite to take a look at the pair, the female kinda changed back to normal yellow with the lateral stripe... the bright yellow with black dot is not longer there..:frown:

Prob will monitor a few days and then remove the partition


Any advice?

PS
I am afraid to use live worms cos i heard that we need to wash the worms really clean in case of parasite. I currently use live brine shimp

 

[Mizu]

The bloodworms I give are frozen but the earthworms are alive when fed to my apistos. Just clen the worms carefully.