Apistogramma Eremnopyge

[chris1805]

Hi Guys!

I currently have a young pair of Apistogramma Eremnopyge that still need to mature some more and colour up some more. Now i am quite doubting about the diet i feed them. I feed frozen artemia (brine shrimp) and frozen " bosmiden" and some granulates from dennerle. I am in doubt wheter or not i should feed them also frozen bloodworms or any other frozen type of worms.

I am also wondering about how many times a day i should feed my fish, i feed them once a day but am wondering wheter feeding twice a day would stimulate their growth, or if feeding my fish twice a day will lead to fat fish instead of normal growing fish.

I am also thinking about the water changes, it's a 60L tank and i about 10L water changes a week, would it enhance their growth and overal well being if i would do a 5L water changes every 3 days, or should i do bigger water changes instead of more frequent?

I am looking forward to your opinions/idea's

 

[Mike Wise]

I find only 1 problem with name-brand frozen foods. It must not be allowed to thaw at any time before feeding to your fish. If you buy your frozen foods from a shop that makes certain it is always in the best condition, any frozen foods from name-brand suppliers should be fine if the fish eat it. I personally prefer to use more live foods like newly hatched brine shrimp and use frozen foods as a supplement. My apistos do not eat dry foods well so I don't use it for them. I try to feed 2X per day and often allow the fish to fast on 1 day each week. The exception is for fry. They are fed several times per day. Most people over-feed their fish, which results in obese fish and/or dirty tanks.
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Tank maintenance depends of the number of fish/volume of the tank and if overfeeding occurs. I would suggest a larger (25%) water change every week or 2, depending on above. For A. eremnopyge, a blackwater species, I would use water that has been conditioned to a lower pH and soft. Hope this helps.

 

[chris1805]

Thanks a lot for all the information about the food mike! Here i have some pics of my pair, do you guys think the females is a real female? The female is the first 2 photo's and the male is the last 2 photo's.

 

[MickeM]

It is hard to tell from these pics and at this size/age.. (Female.. pic 1+2????????)

My young females of eremnopyge have got a more yellow color than the males..and lacking the red color on the gill covers..
They(my fishes) also shows some thin black markings in the first(shorter) spines of the pelvic fins ..
Males tend/start to get blue/turquoise at a quite small size..(at least if you are highlighting their bodies with an extra lamp/lightsource..!!)
..and they often get some colorpatterns at the caudal fin.. ( lyretail) + dorsalfin extensions and red color at "the base" of the dorsal fin/spines... (as your male shows!!)

If you can support the "female" with some extra food , you will probably soon know what "she" is.....
(I often feed my fishes with the help of a plastic pipette..then you can distribute the thawed food in an easy way!!)

 

[chris1805]

my female was quite yellow in the shop, but lost all of it as soon as she was in my tank with the male. I should indeed look for such a plastic pipette, even though the fish are still not showing themselfs very often. They like it in between the wood.

 

[Mike Wise]

I use a kitchen turkey baster to distribute BBS. Not as selective as a pipette, but gets the job done for the most part.

 

[chris1805]

Today the female was bright yellow and showed the little black lines in the pelvic fins, i think i now have enough evidence to assume it's a real female