A. rositae

[rasmusW]

Hi all!

-A week or so ago, i finally got one of my current top 5 apistos. A. rositae.
I bought one pair, or so i think it is...
The male i'm very sure is correct sexed, but the female, I'm still a bit unsure if correctly sexed. The LFS, gave me the net, so i could pick and choose as pleased, so if any blaim it's on me
I took a few pictures, which i hope is good enough for sexing. The fish is around 4cm TL.

They are living with my remaining pair Pyrrhulina Obermuelleri at the moment. I have thought of getting a second female, though not sure if the tank is big enough? -It's 75 Liters.
I am looking into other dithers such as Nannostromus eques, Hemmigramus ocellifer, Tyttocharax Tambopatensis and hatchets. -Any thoughts? -I'm only gonna keep one of them. I suspect the Tyttocharax, to be fairly expensive.
Here's a few pictures of the tank and fish in question.

Thanks in advance.

-r

 

[Mike Wise]

At 4 cm / 1 5/8" total length (mouth to tip of tail) it could be an immature male or a female.

 

[rasmusW]

Thanks Mike.
what do you think of adding another female, taking tank size and decor in consideration? -i know it’s up to myself, but it’s always great to hear your and others opinion.

-r

 

[Mike Wise]

If it were me, I would add another possible female. A. rositae is a nijsseni-group species where specimens can be a bit 'choosy' with whom they form a spawning (not mated) pair. You will have better odds of getting a compatible pair. A 75 l tank is a bit small for 3, but at their size it should be OK - until 2 decide to pair up.

 

[rasmusW]

thanks again Mike.
i think i will see if i can spot another female.

-r

 

[rasmusW]

Hey!
Here’s a small update on my rositaes...
The one i was sure to be male from the first couple, died...(not sure why, as i couldn’t see any sign of illness) -so i went down to the shop and got a new pair. This time i got a pair, but the male was in very poor condition.. and died.
The upside to all this is the one i was uncertain of in the first place shows more and more signs of being a male. So now i’m quite sure that i actually do have a pair.
-and both fish looks very healthy.

fingers crossed.

-r

 

[rasmusW]

Another update…
I did have a pair and both looked healthy and showed colors.
A week ago the female started gasping and her mouth was very open all the time. Yesterday she went all pale and today i sadly found her dead.
Within this last week she did look like she was guarding a cave, so i didn’t see her much and thought “yes, she’s guarding fry”, but sadly i didn’t went that well.

The open mouth and gasping looked like how the last male died too..
The only male left now, shows luckily no signs of any of that. The six pencils also looks to be doing fine.

Could this be some form of gill infection or parasite?
I have also thought if it could have something to do with the shrimps i have in the tank. If they are still there. They are nocturnal meat-eaters.

Anyway, now i’m on the lookout for some new females.

-r

 

[rasmusW]

PS. It’s this shrimp:

Euryrhynchus amazoniensis​

 

[MacZ]

PS. It’s this shrimp:

Euryrhynchus amazoniensis​

Yeah... great shrimp, hard to find and definitely a keeper, but I would be very careful with diurnal fish that sleep on ground level at night.

 

[rasmusW]

Thanks MacZ!
i bought the shrimps before i actually read much about them. Not very clever…
Live and learn… but yeah! Funny little critters, though i haven’t seen much of them.

-r

 

[MacZ]

I would actually give away my Apisto for 2-3 of those, but they are so hard to find here, I have basically given up.

 

[rasmusW]

They have regullary on Ruinemans. So if your lfs gets fish from there, maybe he/she can order some for you.

-r

 

[MacZ]

Only one of our stores orders from them and I don't buy there anymore. It would be easier to get a friend to drive me the bit less than 100km directly to them but they won't sell to private customers.

 

[rasmusW]

Ahh!! I see. Well, i hope you will find them somewhere else then.

-r

 

[MacZ]

Thanks!
Right now I neither have the money nor the space for a new tank, so they stay on the list of animals I want to keep.

 

[rasmusW]

They had one last a. Rositae in the store, which happend to be a female, so i got it.
Now i just hope that i can keep that alive.

-r

 

[anewbie]

What size is your tank. One thing i observed between my postings and @MacZ posting is that if the tank is too small (10 gallon) she is more likely to be killed by the male than if the tank is larger (I have 29). I noticed that in my 5 gallon pail the female is playing dead to escape the male (they are in there for treatment); but in the 29 there is enough hiding spots and distance they don't have to go through this silliness (I have hongsoli).

 

[rasmusW]

Hey anewbie!
Sure tank volume could be an issue aswell. It’s a 19 gallon (75 liter) tank. I’m pretty sure the last female got ill, because of the way it reacted.

-r

 

[rasmusW]

Damn it… another one bites the dust..
My female died today. Same diagnostics. All good to begin with and then it starts to have trouble breathing.
The remaining male seems to be doing fine. Aswell do the six n. Marginatus.

not to say i haven’t done something wrong or there might something in the tank, but i have a feeling the fish have been from a bad batch.

now i hope someone will buy the healthy male.

-r

 

[MacZ]

It’s a 19 gallon (75 liter) tank.

What's the footprint? 60x30?