Apistogramma sp Amapá

[Erik82]

Hi all,
in a few weeks I may have the opportunity to buy a couple A. sp amapá. I was curious if some have some photographs of this fish. Google gives me no useful pictures.

The search button here on the forum is not working for me. Mike, is this a common problem?

Greetz,
Erik

 

[Mike Wise]

What can I say? A. sp. Amapá is not commonly imported commercially. This is probably because it doesn't have fancy fins or bright colors. Still, it is easy to keep and breed. It accepts conditions similar to A. cacatuoides. Roland Kipper (Rolo) has a photo at http://www.apistogramma.net/rolo/amapa_m.jpg. There are several different population that look subtly different in color and shape of the head and body. This is probably due to isolation of the populations in river systems that are separated from each other in the Amapá State of northeastern Brazil.

Ted has had problems with the software/server for the site for a while. The search function is one of the problems. Tom C explains how to search this forum through Google (http://forum.apistogramma.com/showthread.php?t=10353).

 

[Microman]

I had a group of these from Uwe about 18 months ago and despite their ease of maintenance i found them to be some of the most agressive Apistos i have ever kept,especially the males.
Despite having 2-3 trios i have not had any luck with breeding either.
Uwe mentioned their agressive tendencies prior to passing them onto me and recommended a large tank.
I have pics somewhere so will try and dig them out, if not i will try and get more pics of my group.
Mark...

 

[Erik82]

Thanks for the tip for the searching thing Mike. The (male?) at the photograph is a nice fish. I am curious if some more photographs will be posted here.

 

[Mike Wise]

There are photos of various populations in Romer's "Cichlid Atlas" (v. 1 and 2), Koslowski's "Die Buntbarsche Amerikas Band 2: Apistogramma & Co.", and the DATZ special publication "South American Dwarf Cichlids". Sorry, but not everything is available for free.

 

[Erik82]

Mike, i understand not everything is for free. I have the Romer atlas 2, and waiting for the new English release of #1.

I am also looking for good books, just mailed Tom about developing more knowledge about apisto's. He recommended the books just posted in your reply ;-) Thanks for the titles!

Best regards,
Erik

 

[Microman]

A.sp.Amapa

No need to be curious any longer Erik....
Took a couple of,not so good,pics this evening for you.
Hope they help....

Mike would you say these are from the A69 population?
Mark...

 

[Rolo]

Hi,

Well, the picture Mike posted above, is a a semiadult male as it looked like in a tank, a few weeks after catching on a sand bank in the Rio Armontabo, a tributary of the Rio Oyapock.

Have a look at this one: It's the same species, from the same locality... just older.

After growing up, they look different, got more colour and they are polychromatic, e.g. some got orange cheeks, some not. Some got the red colour in the fins as you can see in the photo, some not.

...i found them to be some of the most agressive Apistos i have ever kept,especially the males.

Really? Interesting! Mine are abolutely NOT agressive. They are pretty shy and they are hiding below wood most of the time, when I'm in the room (interesting, because there are no wood in their habitate). In nature, they are swimming in open water but always not far away from some plants to hide. And, most of the time, I saw them in small groups, swimming together. So, it's pretty interesting, that they are that aggressive in your tank. From which locality are your fishes? Probably yours are from a complete different type of habitate.

Here are some photos of the habitate, where I catched mine:

regards,
Rolo

 

[Mike Wise]

Mark, I wouldn't give them an A-number unless I knew from where the fish came. I would just list them as A. sp. Amapá (aquarium import).

Rolo, wonderful biotope photos (species photo, too). What model of camera did you use to get the underwater photos?

 

[Rolo]

Rolo, wonderful biotope photos (species photo, too). What model of camera did you use to get the underwater photos?

Thanks, Mike.
I used a "normal" compact camera with an underwater-case. I can't tell you the exact model, because I just borrowed it from a friend. It was a Canon model.
But the conditions for photographing and filming are pretty well in French Guyana, this is one reason why we travelled there. The water is clear and e.g. at the locality of the Apistos about 50cm deep. But you have to get close to the fishes, because you can only take photos with wide-angle. If you try to "zoom" the fishes, they get out of focus. But the flight distance of the most fishes are pretty small. It was no problem to take photos of the Apistos from a distance of about 30cm.

regards,
Rolo

P.S. Mike, have vou ever heard of a brazilian Apisto called A. sp. "Assuruion". I read this name in a german magazine...

 

[Mike Wise]

P.S. Mike, have vou ever heard of a brazilian Apisto called A. sp. "Assuruion". I read this name in a german magazine...

I have not heard of A. sp. "Assuruion". Which magazine? Any information?

 

[Rolo]

Hi Mike,

I have not heard of A. sp. "Assuruion". Which magazine? Any information?

Now I bought the magazine... ;-)
(before I just had a short look into it at my LFS)

The name is from an article in the "Aquaristik Fachmagazin" (Dec 2009/Jan 2010) about a breeding project in Brazil. The author is Janne Ekstrom. There is only a photo of that fish shown, titled as a "new species" A. sp. "Assuruion". It shows a female from the front, so it is impossible to identify the fish.
I will try to contact Janne and ask him for more informations. I keep you informed...

regards,
Rolo

 

[Cor]

a. sp. Amapá

Hello, Rolo,

Through Henk from Holland ik have become a pair of A. sp. Amapá that he received from you a short while ago. After trying once (which resulted in disappearing larves), they have now produced fry, or better larves (± 40 to 50) and are still living after 3 days from hatching. How long does it take before they are ready to swim freely and where do I have to look for in order to keep (a part of) the fry alive?

Any chance that the female will ultimately kill the male? I am asking this because they are at the moment in a relatively small tank (70 x 30 cm). By the way, untill now the male is not attacked in a way that I fear for his live.

Greetings from Die Niederlande,
Cor

 

[Rolo]

Hello Cor,

Through Henk from Holland ik have become a pair of A. sp. Amapá that he received from you a short while ago. After trying once (which resulted in disappearing larves), they have now produced fry, or better larves (± 40 to 50) and are still living after 3 days from hatching. How long does it take before they are ready to swim freely and where do I have to look for in order to keep (a part of) the fry alive?

Congratulations for these nice fishes! ;-)
Breeding this species is almost the same as breeding any other apisto species.
It takes about one week from hatching to free swimming. Then you should feed living artemia nauplies. If the water conditions are good enough (low bacteria density, not just water parameters), there should survive enough juveniles, provided, that there are no predators in the tank.
But if they survived until now, they should survive even longer. ;-) ...just feed them enough artemia and change water.

Any chance that the female will ultimately kill the male? I am asking this because they are at the moment in a relatively small tank (70 x 30 cm). By the way, untill now the male is not attacked in a way that I fear for his live.

I don't think so. My ones are not aggressive to each other. But this is an individual characteristic and can depend on several things. In a different tank with a different structure and decoration, the fishes maybe could be more aggressive. You have to observe it and find it out by yourself.
But my experience is, that especially in small tanks, the fishes are often less aggressive than in bigger tanks.

good luck & regards (also to Henk)
Rolo

 

[Cor]

free smimming

Hello Dwarf-fanatics aspecially Rolo,

The offspring A. sp. Amapá (Rolo, are they f1, f2, f3 ore have you lost count of the generations you bred from the time you collected the fist fish from the wild?) are now 4 days swimming freely and have already grown.

Interresting to see that mum is leading them through the whole tank. My Nijsseni sticked at least the first twee weeks in one place. I have to say that the tank were the Nijsseni were born in 1 m. long was and the tank of the Amapá only 70 cm.

The male and female, by the way, are living in total harmony, at least for the moment.

 

[Rolo]

Hi Cor,

Nice to read, that all juveliles are still alive.

(Rolo, are they f1, f2, f3 ore have you lost count of the generations you bred from the time you collected the fist fish from the wild?)

They are F1, offspring from the wild caught fishes.
It's no problem to count, because I have not more than F2 generation. ;-)

regards,
Rolo