What species of apisto do I have?

[Zapins]

Apistogramma ermnopyge male:

 

[Mike Wise]

Yes, it is. Beautiful male.

 

[Zapins]

Apistogramma ermnopyge Female

 

[Zapins]

The eunotus spawned again in a small clay pot. I'll probably remove the eggs in another day and a half and raise them in a 2.5g tank.

The baby eunotus from my first batch is growing well and is about half an inch long now. Looks like a female since it has a black stripe under its eye, but I am unsure if it is possible to sex them this early or if it is just baby colors. Ideas?

I think the eremnopyge pair spawned a few days ago, since the female's stomach looked very concave, but there are no eggs that I can see, and the female isn't inside the pot so I assume she lost her eggs somehow. I've been feeding them beef heart and she is eating a lot steadily packing on the weight again. Hopefully she will spawn soon so I can snatch her eggs.

I'm trying to get the cacatuoides to spawn. The male sometimes flirts with the female who seems half interested. I suppose I'll have to wait a while with those two, perhaps they need more conditioning before they'll lay eggs.

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,
They are lovely looking fish.

I'll probably remove the eggs in another day and a half and raise them in a 2.5g tank.

Any reason why you are going to rear them artificially? Are there predatory fish in the tank with them? I find they aren't like Angels or Rams and the female usually does a good job on her own.

I'm not very good at water management, and for me it is more difficult to maintain water quality in a very small tank.

I've been feeding them beef heart and she is eating a lot steadily packing on the weight again.

Watch out for bloat. I've never fed mine Beef-heart, but I've had some problems when they have had too many Grindal/Black worms and too high a fat/protein diet.

cheers Darrel

 

[Mike Wise]

I agree with Darrel on both points. Females not only protect the fry from predators, but make them feel more secure. She signals danger and safety. Without a mother, the fry mostly just sit on the bottom and don't actively go out looking for food.

Beef heart and any mammalian meat has fat that stays semi-solid until around 90°F/32°C. This commonly causes blockage in the intestines (bloat) of cold blooded animals.

 

[Zapins]

Any reason why you are going to rear them artificially? Are there predatory fish in the tank with them? I find they aren't like Angels or Rams and the female usually does a good job on her own.

Yes there are several predatory fish in the tank. Other apistos, and 2 rainbows. I've tried raising kribs in a similar situation and while the parents ferociously tried to defend their young many were eaten. The remaining fry died of starvation despite me pipetting brine shrimp into the fry cloud. The 90g tank is just too big to feed them enough.

I'm not very good at water management, and for me it is more difficult to maintain water quality in a very small tank. Watch out for bloat. I've never fed mine Beef-heart, but I've had some problems when they have had too many Grindal/Black worms and too high a fat/protein diet.

I do 50% water changes every week and have a heavily planted tank, so keeping the water clean in the 90g isn't a problem. The 2.5g tank will just be for the babies, and I'll be using baby brine shrimp until they are large enough to take flake and other foods. I don't feed grindal/black worms, I've got several cultures of cyclopse, rotifers, and daphnia going which I can feed the fry when they are weened off brine shrimp.

I agree with Darrel on both points. Females not only protect the fry from predators, but make them feel more secure. She signals danger and safety. Without a mother, the fry mostly just sit on the bottom and don't actively go out looking for food.

Yes, I do find it a shame that the interesting interactions between parents and fry won't take place but I have no other option, they won't survive in the 90g tank.

Beef heart and any mammalian meat has fat that stays semi-solid until around 90°F/32°C. This commonly causes blockage in the intestines (bloat) of cold blooded animals.

I've never heard of this before. Raised many fish using beef heart and never seen bloating? When I prepared the beef heart I was careful to cut off all the fat, there should only be ground up lean meat in the food I feed. How often does bloating occur?

Thanks for the replies.

 

[Zapins]

Well, I snitched her eggs and replaced the cave with another pot. Looks like she laid a little over 70 eggs though a few were eaten or removed by something, leaving about 67 left. I've got them in a 2.5g tank at 80F. Hopefully I will get 50-50 or more females than males. Which way should I set the temperature for more females? Also, the eggs are 24 hours old now, is it still early enough to get more females?

A. eunotus eggs:

 

[Mike Wise]

At 80°F/26.5°C you should get close to an even sex ratio or slightly more males. I find that more males survive even when the temperature is slightly lower for some reason. Maybe they feed more aggressively than females, I don't know. If you want more females, I'd drop the temperature a little bit.

As for the fat in mammal meat, I got the information from someone I knew long ago, Ken Reeves, a veterinarian and expert discus breeder. He used a similar mixture, but used turkey heart instead. Apparently poultry fat has a lower melting temperature and works well.

 

[Zapins]

Thanks for the temperature range.

The eunotus eggs are starting to hatch already (about 6 so far) which seems a bit fast (36 hours or so). My other cichlid eggs usually took about 3-4 days to hatch. How long will they stay as wigglers? I'll be traveling until monday night or Tuesday and won't be able to feed them.

I'm fairly sure the A. eremnopyge spawned because the female's stomach is suddenly very concave, but I cannot see where her nest is she doesn't seem to be guarding the pots I've set for her, but keeps swimming around some wood I have in the tank. Maybe the nest is behind the wood, though the male looks as if he is guarding a pot.

Very strange. Do you think they laid? Maybe ate their eggs?