Help with choice of Apistogramma

[Gustavo Soares]

So, I'll be taking pics and possibly a video now, might take a bit to upload them to a image host and youtube, but when they do upload I'll be sure to send them here;

You should go to Aquiraz or Aguas verdes and catch some Killifish....Ceara has a lot to offer when it comes to that

Thanks for the clue, I've known about our killies ever since a while, and there are reasons for them being here, droughts and floods seasonaly with a lot of wildlife adapted to it, why not killies too ? thing is, I just don't know of collection points, if I do find out some I'll be sure to try to go there, it's really close from here, and killies can take really small thanks which is a big plus to my wallet.

 

[Gustavo Soares]

Okay so here we go, these are the fish I've got:
Supposedly Pair of A. cf. sp. Abacaxis
Supposedly Pair of C. regani
1 L270
2 Platydoras costatus
4 Hyphessobrycon eques
1 Geophagus sp. Redhead Tapajos
Supposedly Pair of A. cacatuoides, I believe they were being called Gold

Now some pictures:

This is the Cacatuoides male, or so do I believe, he've got the first rays of the dorsal protruding a fair bit considering his diminute size, he seems to have low self steem though, always near the bottom of the tank, there are some driftwood hides in there, but I'll get some terracota pots monday

Heres the female, I believe her to be so because even though she is bigger than the male her dorsal's first rays are very non-protruding compared to his, she seems to be the little boss of the tank

I think this is the male A. sp. Abacaxis, not sure if they really are Abacaxis for now, so I'll just let them grow

The other one which I assume to be a female

And here is the Geophagus, he's recovering from the stress, still not showing his/hers full color

All of them are eating pellets and frozen brine shrimp, the Abacaxis aren't very eager for the pellets though

Currently in this tank there are the four apistos, the geo, a pair of albino bristlenose plecos, 8 albino glowlight tetra and 4 serpae tetra, I've decided I'll take out the geo and Serpaes to the tank that is holding the angels though, in my head this seemed like a working stock but when I look at it it feels crowded, I might end up finishing this stock as the apistos, glowlights and the L270.

The C. regani are separated in a 40 litres plastic tub with some guppy fry to see how they'll eat, if they'll get frozen brine shrimp, or plain shrimp and I'll even try pellets, unsure on what to do;

So to finalize this thread, a few final questions/requests:
1) Could you share your opinion on their (Apistos) genders ?
2) What is the A. cacatuoides strain ?
3) Is it possible to identify the Abacaxis whilst so young ? if so do you think they are Abacaxis ?
4) Should I also take out the pair of plecos ?
5) Should I add almond leaves and therefore blackwater (can this even be a verb ?) this tank
6) Would you have any hints on getting the C. regani to eat something ?
7) Do you feel I could make this tank better somehow ? Please do let me know of it!

 

[Shane Puthuparambil]

Just sourced some Abacaxis!! Super excited man! Thanks for inspiring me!


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[Gustavo Soares]

You're welcome Shane, they've started putting on some colours in the tail, they're eating frozen brine quite wll but it seems the pellets are too big for them, it seems I'll have to grind them a bit...

And not all is good news unfortunately, it was quite a rare sight to see cacatuoides in the LFS but the little male I've gotten wasn't lucky...

he seems to have low self steem though, always near the bottom of the tank

Me and my mouth, next day I saw some weird red marking, and thought he felt weird, sending a photo of him, I guess I'll try to administer an euthanasia so he won't suffer for long...

I guess I had been too focused on sexing them and didn't realize it, it's a shame, he was a pretty guy, he's isolated and none of the other fish show any sign of dropsy other than him, I guess it's living and learning, also as he gave me that big ass scare I'll most definitely stop procrastinating on getting a quarentine tank.

Could get some trifasciata, young, can't be sexed yet according to the seller, but I'll see if I'll actually get more apistos in the future, at the least the female cacatuoides and the Abacaxis are well, will wait to see if she is truly a female and in the future might get her a new mate, not quite right now though...

 

[Shane Puthuparambil]

That really sucks! I need to get a quarantine as well...