Joe's 140L South American Blackwater Biotope

[Joe]

Tank: 650x500x500mm, 10mm thick glass, internal base, low iron glass for the front panel.
Filtration: Eheim Classic 2213 with Eheim EhfiMech, Eheim 2213 coarse blue filter pad and Eheim EhfiSubstrat Pro.
Lighting: Aqua Medic Ocean Light 150 with Fish-Street.com 6,700K bulb, suspended approximately 35cm from the surface.
Heating: Jager 300w, set to 23°c.
Substrate: Dark pea gravel.
Decor: Oak leaves, Indian almond leaves (crushed - removed from tea bags).
Fauna: Trio of Apistogramma trifasciata

I am planning to buy an inline heater, add a black backdrop and of course add more leaves and some wood and alder cones.

Photos

Full-tank shot.

One of the females eating blackworms.

Male flaring. The mirror has been propped up against the glass on the outside of the tank.

 

[oaken]

That's a very cool tank. I like the clean look. Nice fish as well!

 

[Joe]

Thankyou :biggrin:

Here are some more photos. I have added a nice piece of wood for them to spawn on

 

[Joe]

 

[nijrem]

That looks awesome! Love the photos!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[ZliBrka]

Congrats!

I really like your tank setup!

 

[Joe]

Thanks!

Down to 8 fry now... Don't know why they're all dissapearing. This is her first spawn though.

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

Down to 8 fry now

Are you feeding them with some live food? they need some live food that moves to stimulate their feeding response. I usually mix some very finely powdered Astax red crumb with decapsulated brine shrimp and micro, or banana, worms. Hopefully the worms stimulate the feeding response, which leads to the fry trying some of the brine shrimp cysts and Astax crumb. If you use live BBS they would work as well. If you haven't got any live food try squeezing out a filter sponge for them, these have lots of Rotifers in them.

I also think some more structure would aid fry survival. I like the wood and leaves, but I would add some Java moss (ideally a large amount), and some floaters, not sure what you can get in NZ.

cheers Darrel

 

[Tom C]

....Down to 8 fry now... Don't know why they're all dissapearing...

It's a beautiful tank, Joe!

A few thoughts from me:

The water:
If you search through at least the following books:
Dwarf cichlids, A handbook for their identification, care and breeding, Horst Linke & Wolfgang Staeck, Tetra-Press 1994
South American Dwarf Cichlids, Hans Mayland & Dieter Bork, Landbuch-Verlag GmbH, Hannover 1997):
Südamerikanische Zwergbuntbarsche, Wolfgang Staeck, Dähne Verlag 2003:
Cichlid atlas / Cichliden atlas, Dr. Uwe Römer, Mergus Verlag GmbH, German edition 1998 and english edition 2001/2002)
Die Buntbarsche Amerikas, Band 2: Apistogramma & Co, Ingo Koslowski, Verlag Eugen Ulmer GmbH & Co, 2002,
you'll find that there are no reports at all of Apistogramma trifasciata being found in blackwater; these fishes are always found in clear- or white water.
And if your blackwater in addition has a typical blackwater low pH; then I don't think this conditions are the best for this species and their fry (but like heaven for other species!)

The gravel:
Your gravel seem to be of a size that makes it possible for the small fry to disappear between them. They might be difficult for the mother to find, and they might have difficulties finding their way out of there when their mother calls for them.
Very fine sand is much better (and more natural) for Apistogramma, and fine sand doesn't "eat" small fry.

The food:
A newly set up tank like yours will contain very little microorganisms, compared to an old, mature tank. This will make it difficult for the fry to find other food than the food you provide them with.
Give them lots of mud from an old tank, and as Darrel says: "..try squeezing out a filter sponge for them..."
Feeding the fry at least a couple (2 - 4) of times every day with newly hatched BBS, or other small, live food, will probably increase the survival rate of the fry considerable.

Good luck, Joe!

 

[__CAV__]

Thats a real nice tank, the male tri is a nice lil fish.
personally i'd ditch the gravel for some sand, as apistos will also sift through the sand like other Geophagine species.
Also see if you can get a brine shrimp hatchery going, i had issues keeping my aga, and caca fry alive, until i started feeding them live BBS, i think the movement stimulates the small fry to eat.

 

[GM Amor]

a fascinating tank.

I usually feed the fry with decapulated brine shrimp.

 

[Gwendal]

I love the photos and the tank. Great pics!







1 saludo

 

[Senninha]

AWESOME ¡¡¡ I like it, for a two years I have a Couple of Trifaciata with his four first fries, and it was fantastic, its one of my favorrite Apisto, maybe soon will have other pair hehehhehehe, great pics of this beautiful fishes

un saludicoo¡¡¡

 

[Joe]

Thanks for all the comments and replies guys!

Tom your information is incredibly helpful. Thanks so much

This tank is currently being used as a holding tank and it has some new tetras (Hyphessobrycon elachys and Paracheirodon simulans), and is still the same as before except without the leaves. I have two new 50x45x40cm breeding tanks and a brine shrimp setup, so I will now be able to successfully raise the fry.

I also have a whole lot of new test kits so I will be able to test the pH, GH and KH of the water to insure that I am providing them with the correct conditions when I put them in one of the the breeding tanks.