A. papgai (Algodon I)

[Ghazanfar Ghori]

I've had a pair of A. papgai (Algodon I) for a few months now.
They spawn every 3-4 weeks but the batches are very small
compared toother apistos I have - typicall anywhere from 10-20
eggs. Is this normal for the species or am I doing something wrong?

 

[Neil]

Ghazanfar Ghori,
Congratulations! getting any fry out of that species is pretty tough. You may need to condition your female a little better, if you want bigger spawns. If you take the male out for a week or 2 and feed well, it will help. But you always run the risk of aggression problems occuring when you reintroduce the male, especially with these guys.
Neil

 

[Ghazanfar Ghori]

Yeah, the male was pretty hard on the female in the beginning. I added
some tetras in, and that really helped tone down the males aggression.
I think I have 5-8 fry following the female around now. Didn't know
it was hard to breed! They definitly took their time though.

What I'm really having a hard time with is the A. bitaeniata. I'm going
to start lowering the pH this week and see if that helps.