Inca specs

[cootwarm]

Can anyone fill me in as to the particulars of Incas?

I'm preparing to purchase 6 wild caught Incas and can't find much about them. I did a search on this forum and came up with 34 hits. I browsed most of them and only learned that Matt kept his pH at 5.9 but nothing specific about the hardness. Also I named this topic "Inca specs" so when anyone searches about Inca in the future they'll find this info easier.

What have been found to be ideal water parms for Inca tanks?

I'm told that all Inca come from the RIO YURIMAGUAS in Peru.
Is this true? What are the water parms of their natural environment?
Black Water? Clear water? etc.

What are others experience with Incas as pairs or trios?
In the search of this forum I found conflicting info about this.

What would be a minimum tank size for a pair?
What would be a minimum tank size for a trio?

Thanks,
Michael

 

[Peter Lovett1]

Well i suppose i am in a position to answer some of your questions.

Inca is on the hole very easy to spawn and the males that i have had make very good fathers.

Unfortunately i have no record of the PH the fish spawned though i can give you a good run down on the Hardness of the water that mine have spawned in.

I fist got my wild fish about 2.5 years ago. The 5 wild fish that i got where thought to 2 males and 3 female but one of the female turned out to be a sneaker male. Of the two females I had spawned quite happily together in a 4' aquarium for the time that i had them and first female died about a mouth ago and the other female last week. They both spawned constantly. Having a brood about once every 6 weeks.I think this proves that spawning shortens the life of females as all the males are still alive. Though through lack of space all the young where to start off with kept in the tank with the fish. The male treated the young very well and constantly chased all dither fish away from the young and was also allowed from time to time guard the new fry when the mother want to go and feed.

I never really played around with the water in their four foot tank it was filled from the start with straight ro water. Two pieces of non soaked bog wood a good layer of oak leafs and a dusting of play pit sand which is not inert and would raise the hardness to about ppm in a week.

I also did a twenty percent water change every week.

About 2 months ago i had the chance to get another 5 wild fish which where about an inch long at the time all 5 where placed in a small 2' tank with just RO water some cabomba and not much else. The tank was not for breeding but more for growing on. But about to weeks after putting them in the first female spawned and before the first females brood where free swimming another female spawned. The other male and female where removed at this point and put into a tank i am using to grow on some f2 incas.

At the moment I have

1 wild spawning trio
1 f1 spawning trio
2 f1 spawning pairs
2 wild male/f1 spawning pairs

the hardness in all these tanks range from ppm to ppm though it does seem that a lower hardness is required to get them started after that it does not seem to matter. Though i would also say that some tannin in the water helps as well.

I would, depending on the size of the fish you get, put them all in a 3' tank to start off with and wait to see what happens. But be ready to remove fish when they start to spawn also when they have spawned a pair can be house in a very small tank.

I hope this helps.

I'm sure Mike will be able to fill us in with there wild conditions

 

[farm41]

Mine spawned in water with EC<80µS peat treated too, in the QT that was only 10g, also a 2 inch layer of oak leaves.

 

[Mike Wise]

My sources report that A. sp. Inca has been collected in several tributaries of the Rio Huallaga between the cities of Yurimaguas & Tarapoto, Peru. These are typical black water streams with white sand, some rocks, leaf litter, & few aquatic plants.

 

[cootwarm]

Great! Thanks guys. This is just the kind of info I was looking for. Sounds like it shouldn't too difficult to simulate their environment.

How about current?
I usually use sponge filter bubblers. Do you think they might prefer a UG filter with a power head? If so, I have a 30 gallon long with some Marbled Hatchetfish I could put them in.

Mike Wise,
Is there such a river as RIO YURIMAGUAS? Was the importer confused? Perhaps Rio Yurimaguas is one of the tributaries that you wrote of near the city of Yurimaguas?

Matt,
What does EC<80µS equate to in terms of GH and KH?

Does anyone know of a formula or coversion table for this?
(I should probably post this question on the Lounge Forum).

Thanks,
Michael

 

[Peter Lovett1]

I would use a sponge filter or internal power filter as the Inca like sand as a substrate.

Having said that the 30g long sound good to me.

When it comes to there collection location I was told they came from a small stream near Tarapoto so that ties up with what Mike said and makes me more confident on what I was told. The chap i got them off showed me a photo of the stream where they where collected and you could hardly see the water for the over hanging vegetation.

too covert from gh or kh to ppm gh x 17.8 = ppm or µS
kh x 17.8 = ppm or µS

Hardness when given as ppm or µS is a little bit hypothetical as all solids give a different conductivity rate, so it depend on what is in the water. But is still a very good indercation of the hardness of your water.