Need help on my A. Panduro

[M1dzj3T]

I just recently bought a pair of A. panduro. Both of them have been acting normally except for the fact that i never see them eat food. They nibble at the Java moss in the tank but not at what i feed them. When i open the lid the male comes to the surface very excited ut as soon as the food hits the water he darts to the bottom and doesn't touch it even though it floats by him. Today when i came home from work his colours were pale but he is still very active. Any advice?

 

[Mike Wise]

Two words: live food. Apistos are very picky about food, especially wild caught species. Most take a long time to wean over to dry foods. Your next best option to live foods is frozen foods.

 

[M1dzj3T]

I went to the fish store that I bought them from and they gave me some pellets to try, I also bought some brine shrimp in jelly from tetra, the female ate both kinds but the male only nibbled at it. I tried all the fish stores to find live foods, there was nothing, not even brine shrimp eggs.

 

[M1dzj3T]

found some really pricey brine shrimp eggs and hatched them, guess there's nothing wrong with my fish except for being extremely picky because they have been going wild for the newly hatched brine shrimp. Will have to wait for summer to find some wild daphnia or other waterfleas to rear for them. is it hard to do so without sunlight? in winter we only get 4 hours of daylight :/

 

[Midraj]

Daphnia can be grown with that much sunlight, but it is a challenge. I would keep them as close to room temperature as possible. You can make some bacterial cultures to feed the daphnia with. Scuds(gammarus) may be a little easier across all temperature and light ranges. I would also look into white worms. Not the type you keep in yeast, but the species that is more like a small compost worm.

 

[Mike Wise]

If you can't find frozen foods, then go to the market and buy normal small shrimp. Chop fine and add some vegetables. They should eat this. Never buy brine shrimp eggs in small quantities. It is outrageously expensive! It would be much cheaper to buy half kilo or whatever size cans they come in from an EU source or even an American one. Just keep a small quantity of eggs out at room temperature and put the rest in the freezer. They'll last for years this way.

 

[M1dzj3T]

well found frozen bloodworms, they seem to like them. Now for the next step, they are not showing colours, the female is not yellow like when i got her more like grey with darker bands, i'm buying a test kit to get water parameteres up tomorrow,

Tank is
Juwel Rio 180
light: 2x45w t5 with reflector
- they have plenty of plants for cover from the light

tank mates are:
8 black neon tetra
2 small SAE
a herd of endler's livebeaer
4 corydoras paleatus
small red tailed shark
NOTE: the shark is very calm and does not bug any of the other fish
1 big bristlenose
1 hillstream loach

could it be anything of this that is bothering them?

i have a smaller tank with some pearl danio fry and dwarf rasbora and shrimp
but that tank also has assassin snails that would munch on their eggs if i ever got them to spawn

 

[M1dzj3T]

Water parameters:
NO2 = 0mg/l
NO3 = 10mg/l
GH = 8°d
KH = 6°d
pH = 6.2

 

[M1dzj3T]

The male is showing colours but he is constantly harassing the female, which is grey and colourless, would it be better to move her to the smaller tank and let her establish her territory there before introducing them again?