n25philly
New Member
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- 10
I'm not new to Apistos and have had my apistogramma cacatouides for probably six months or so now if not longer. When I first got them they bred a few times, and while raising the fry didn't work out for them it was fascinating to watch. I had a very busy summer wish a lot of problems, and while I took very good care of them I was too busy to noticed that they stopped breeding.
I keep reading all of the time that they are very easy to breed and that if they aren't breeding there is likely a problem in the tank. I've been trying to figure out what they problem could be, but after a few weeks I am stumped. The water is very soft. I don't have an RO unit, but I use a zero water unit that I use to keep the tds of the water I am adding low and I keep fluval peat granules in the zero water to help keep it soft like they like. The water in the tank tends to have a very low PH even without this.
I have a trio in the tank and there are three caves, one with java moss growing on top. In general the tank is a jungle with plants growing wildly all over and I typically don't mess with the plants unless something is dying.
I almost exclusively feed them frozen food and get them live blackworms whenever I go to the lfs. This tank is in my office at work, so they typically get fed well during the week, but are on their own on the weekends.
Best I can tell they are very happy. I see them flirting with each other all of the time. Tail whipping all of the time. The male is constantly showing off his fins. At times I see the ladies getting protective of their little territories on each end of the tank. Beyond that though, nothing. The females will hang out by the caves, but it's clear there are no eggs in them and they are not really guarding them. If I come near the tank they always rush over like little puppy dogs and they seem to really love their tank.
What should I be looking for parameter wise that might be off? Maybe something I am doing wrong? I am especially wondering because I got another kind of apisto at home (labeled Borelli at the store, but could possibly be Steel Blues) that already bred and have managed to keep some babies alive for over a week and a half now, better then my cacatouides have ever done and that tank is nowhere near as nice as this one.
I keep reading all of the time that they are very easy to breed and that if they aren't breeding there is likely a problem in the tank. I've been trying to figure out what they problem could be, but after a few weeks I am stumped. The water is very soft. I don't have an RO unit, but I use a zero water unit that I use to keep the tds of the water I am adding low and I keep fluval peat granules in the zero water to help keep it soft like they like. The water in the tank tends to have a very low PH even without this.
I have a trio in the tank and there are three caves, one with java moss growing on top. In general the tank is a jungle with plants growing wildly all over and I typically don't mess with the plants unless something is dying.
I almost exclusively feed them frozen food and get them live blackworms whenever I go to the lfs. This tank is in my office at work, so they typically get fed well during the week, but are on their own on the weekends.
Best I can tell they are very happy. I see them flirting with each other all of the time. Tail whipping all of the time. The male is constantly showing off his fins. At times I see the ladies getting protective of their little territories on each end of the tank. Beyond that though, nothing. The females will hang out by the caves, but it's clear there are no eggs in them and they are not really guarding them. If I come near the tank they always rush over like little puppy dogs and they seem to really love their tank.
What should I be looking for parameter wise that might be off? Maybe something I am doing wrong? I am especially wondering because I got another kind of apisto at home (labeled Borelli at the store, but could possibly be Steel Blues) that already bred and have managed to keep some babies alive for over a week and a half now, better then my cacatouides have ever done and that tank is nowhere near as nice as this one.