help me get my a. elizabethae going...

[aspen]

after a summer of watching my 2 pairs of a. elizabethae swimming around and eating very well etc, in separate 10 gal tanks, i have decided to change things up a bit. i recently picked up 2 more females from the same batch, they have come out of quarentine and are ready for action. what would you do?

1. set up 2 30 gals, side by side with a pair in each.
2. set up 2 30 gal with a trio in each.
3. set up a 20 gal with a pair and a 35 with 1 M, 3 F side by each.
3. set up a 65 with 1 male and 4 females, with the odd male in the tank next door.
4. set up a 65 with 2 males and 4 females. i'm thinking of maybe doing this and pulling the least agressive male, or just see what happens.
5. set up an 85 gal as above.

i have lots of choices of tankmates (tetras, s/a cichlids, plecos), but would probably just stick with the apistos, jic they do breed and so a spawn doesn't get eaten. filtration will be sponge or corner box only.

water will be almost pure r/o with oak leaves and peat. no plants, just fish and decorations. any thoughts of whether to put on bottom shelf with no view of other tanks, or full view of other tanks, 2 active larger s/a cichlid community tanks, geophagus, proteus pikes, aquidens diademas, discus, tetras etc and a couple of other apisto pairs tanks.

tia, rick

 

[Mike Wise]

Any of the set-ups that you mentioned should be fine - the bigger the better. I suggest that you start with water with 0 - no hardness at all, and a pH of 5 or below. In these conditions they should breed. Fry seem to be very susceptable to variations in water values & quality, so very small very frequent water changes will work best.

 

[Xanathos]

I had no problems at all breeding elizabethae. I had 1 male and 3 female in a 108 tanks with discus and dicrossus.

I would setup a 65 gallons with the entire group of elizabethae in it, so the male and female can choose his partner freely. I think it's a very important aspect of their breeding. Add a sandy bottom, as they seem to appreciate digging and looking for their food. As a companion, I would had pencil fish, or something like that.

When they spawned, water has nearly no hardness ( 20 ppms ) and was acid. I never tested my ph, but all my water changes were made with re-mineralized r/o water. Temperature was at 28. Hardness is what matters here, IMO.

I found out a great trick that helped me a lot in spawning other apisto supposedly difficult to breed: freshly hatched artemias. Make a batch of artemias, just like the one you feed to fries, and give them to the adults. It makes them go crazy. I dont know why exactly, tho. Maybe it's because of the nutrionnal content, or maybe just the fact that they need to "hunt down" their food, but combined with water changes with colder, softer water, it never failed to make any apistos ( or any other dwarf, in fact ) spawn.

I didnt have luck with the fries, they spawned just before I left for vacation, and I had no available tanks. I know it's kinda stupid to not have isolated them, but still... I'm trying my hands again.

Hope this helps
Good Luck
Phil

 

[aspen]

i made my move last night, i put 1 male and 3 females in a 30 gal with 3 females last night, and i got a trio of cacatuoides and put them into a 20 tall next door. now to just sit and wait. i kept the other pair in their own tank for insurance, as they are stable and i don't want to lose a male from agression. i have no idea whether i could get these fish again, so i want to err on the side of caution. thanks for the replies.

rick