Hello and Help needed

[snoopy65]

Hi, I have come to this forum to educate myself on these wonderful dwarf cichlids. While I am new to apistogramma, I am not new to fish keeping. I am keeping quite an assortment of fish from guppies and endlers to discus and frontosa (not in the same tanks:biggrin.

Anyway, due to a friend, I will be the owner of 2 pairs of apistos. One pair my friend called Viejita and the other Trifasciata. Hopefully, I spelled those correctly.

I need to know as much accurate information about the two species as I can before my friend mails me these fish. I would ask my friend, but they had them in with large south american cichlids and I am pretty sure that is not the set up they should be in. So I offered to take them. I know little to nothing about apistos and what I have read googling is so conflicting. There seems to be so much information on other types, but not these. So please give me some help.

First, can these two types of apistos live in the same aquarium or do they need to be separate? I hope eventually they will breed. I have a 15 gal, 55 gal, and 75 gal empty at the moment. If they need to be separate, is the 15 large enough for a pair? I can rearrange other tanks for these guys to have their own 20 to 30 gal tank if necessary.

I have read they like planted tanks with lots of little single opening caves. Is this accurate? What type of caves? How big of an opening? Most of my tanks are planted low light low tech set ups, is this ok? Driftwood?

Do they normally live as pairs or harems? Some sites say one, some sites say the other.

Next, the water parameters for them. My ph runs about 7.8 and is moderately hard. It is stable and remains about the same over a week time span with out aging or using RO, etc. I do have discus and they do fine in my water so I am hoping apistos will as well. What temperature range?

I am sure there are many things I am forgetting to ask. So let me just say, anything you can tell me about these species, I would greatly appreciate. Normally I research and research any fish or invert I decide to keep, but saving these little fish from their current situation makes me have to learn about them rather quickly.

Again, thank you for all of your help.

 

[snoopy65]

I just thought of another question. A pretty important one too. What types of food?

 

[Mike Wise]

Hi, I have come to this forum to educate myself on these wonderful dwarf cichlids. While I am new to apistogramma, I am not new to fish keeping. I am keeping quite an assortment of fish from guppies and endlers to discus and frontosa (not in the same tanks:biggrin.

Welcome to the apisto forum. There is a lot of good information on the forum. I suggest that you use the "search" feature.

Anyway, due to a friend, I will be the owner of 2 pairs of apistos. One pair my friend called Viejita and the other Trifasciata. Hopefully, I spelled those correctly.

Your "A. viejita" are almost certainly a domestic produced form of A. macmasteri; 99+% of viejita in the hobby are.

I need to know as much accurate information about the two species as I can before my friend mails me these fish. I would ask my friend, but they had them in with large south american cichlids and I am pretty sure that is not the set up they should be in. So I offered to take them. I know little to nothing about apistos and what I have read googling is so conflicting. There seems to be so much information on other types, but not these. So please give me some help.

First, can these two types of apistos live in the same aquarium or do they need to be separate? I hope eventually they will breed. I have a 15 gal, 55 gal, and 75 gal empty at the moment. If they need to be separate, is the 15 large enough for a pair? I can rearrange other tanks for these guys to have their own 20 to 30 gal tank if necessary.

It really depends on how you set up the aquarium. If it is heavily decorated with plants, wood, and caves, then both pairs should be able to live together in a 30L or 55. If the tank is relatively open, then there will probably be more problems. It is important that territorial boundaries are marked off with something. If breeding, I would use separate breeding tanks.

I have read they like planted tanks with lots of little single opening caves. Is this accurate? What type of caves? How big of an opening? Most of my tanks are planted low light low tech set ups, is this ok? Driftwood?

Most apisto in the wild don't live in waters with aquatic plants. Most live among submerged leaf litter and tangles of brush. Any kind of hiding place is welcomed. Low light is preferred by most species.

Do they normally live as pairs or harems? Some sites say one, some sites say the other.

With over 300 different species/forms of Apistogramma, there is considerable variability. Both A. trifasciata and A. macmasteri will form polygamous groups if given the opportunity. A. macmasteri is less polygamous, but more territorial than A. trifasciata. A. trifasciata is highly polygamous and often harass single females if she doesn't have many different hiding places where she can hide from the male.

Next, the water parameters for them. My ph runs about 7.8 and is moderately hard. It is stable and remains about the same over a week time span with out aging or using RO, etc. I do have discus and they do fine in my water so I am hoping apistos will as well. What temperature range?

Do you breed Discus under these conditions? Both of your species are fairly tolerant of a wide range of pH and hardness, but it's unlikely that your apistos will breed in it. Ideally, your species should have slightly acid and moderately soft water if you want reasonable spawns. You might get them to breed in alkaline water, but broods tend to be very small and weak.

I am sure there are many things I am forgetting to ask. So let me just say, anything you can tell me about these species, I would greatly appreciate. Normally I research and research any fish or invert I decide to keep, but saving these little fish from their current situation makes me have to learn about them rather quickly.

Again, thank you for all of your help.

I know what you mean. I got my first dwarfs in the same way 40 years ago. They were Rams - in a Rift Lake cichlid tank!

I just thought of another question. A pretty important one too. What types of food?

It really depends on the fish, whether domestic bred or wildcaught, and what they have been eating in the past. Apistos don't really care for flake foods. Pellets aren't eagerly eaten either, unless trained to do so. I feed mostly live and frozen food. Live baby brine shrimp are an excellent primary food suplimented with live and frozen foods.

 

[snoopy65]

Thank you so much for your answers. No, I do not breed my discus. I understand that breeding them and/or apistos will require water modification on my part. Eventually I may do that, but for now, I just want to make sure they can do better than just exist in my water. If not I will have to order something to "soften" the water. They are on their way to me. Once I receive them, I will post pictures to get positive identification. Hopefully, I can make these little guys happy. Either way, they will at least be able to live without the threat of large mouths getting them.

Thanks again
Sam