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Need help IDing an apisto. Sold as a sunset

Sydeon

New Member
Messages
2
My local LFS has a supplier that rarely stocks apistos and when they do they have a tendency to mislabel what they sell. A while back they had sunset apistos available so I had my LFS get some in. They ordered three and the other two are male wild-type cacatuoides. This supplier has also previously sent in what was supposed to be trifasciata apistos that ended up being agassizzii so this isn't really new for them.

This doesn't really look like an atahualpa at all, and my next best guess would have been a macmasteri but the solid orange coloration to the tail and the vertical stripes don't really match up with that either.

This guy won't sit still for the camera so I did the best I could with the photos.

IMG_20210427_201717.jpg
IMG_20210427_201941.jpg
 

Frank Hättich

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Messages
563
Location
Germany
What is the proper care of these fishes (couldn't find any info on them); temp range; are they aggressive; ....
I never kept this species, but I don't think that they are particularly aggressive. I keep all my Apistos in soft, acidic water enriched with humic substances (EC around 100 uS/cm, ph 5.0-5.5) and tenperatures 24-26°C.
 

Samala

Active Member
Messages
99
Location
Oviedo, FL
This species was my very first Apistogramma many years ago and not demanding IME. The most dominant male had to live on his own with pencilfish because he bullied everyone. He was definitely an outlier for aggression. The females, juveniles, and sub males built a small colony (20gal long and later in a 40gal breeder) and were fun to watch. Females swapped care of fry and were very tolerant of juveniles. The tanks were absolutely choked with plants, leaves, and pvc pipe sections for caves.

I kept them in the same temperature range Frank mentioned but pH closer to 7.0 and harder water ~200-250 uS/cm (I was a teenager without RO access in the late 90s). They were very unfussy eaters: flake, pellet, frozen brine, microworms.
 

anewbie

Well-Known Member
Messages
1,365
This species was my very first Apistogramma many years ago and not demanding IME. The most dominant male had to live on his own with pencilfish because he bullied everyone. He was definitely an outlier for aggression. The females, juveniles, and sub males built a small colony (20gal long and later in a 40gal breeder) and were fun to watch. Females swapped care of fry and were very tolerant of juveniles. The tanks were absolutely choked with plants, leaves, and pvc pipe sections for caves.

I kept them in the same temperature range Frank mentioned but pH closer to 7.0 and harder water ~200-250 uS/cm (I was a teenager without RO access in the late 90s). They were very unfussy eaters: flake, pellet, frozen brine, microworms.
So softish water around 70 or so tds unless i've forgotten the conversion factor for uS/cm to tds.
 

Samala

Active Member
Messages
99
Location
Oviedo, FL
Probably closer to 120 - 160ppm TDS. Not totally sure as the meter I used at the time was in a water quality research lab and I dont have anything in my notebook on its calibration/specs. That range is pretty close.

They might do better in softer water. I never had the option when I kept them.
 

Sydeon

New Member
Messages
2
Thanks for the ID! The species of that apisto had been eluding me ever since I got him a few months ago.

This is just my own experience and I'm not looking to breed him, at least at the moment, but he's being kept in a heavily planted community cichlid tank (mostly various apistos) with hard water and pH around 7.2 as that's what I get out of the tap and I don't like chasing down certain hardness and pH levels unless I absolutely have to, so they seem pretty adaptable. He's shown no fussiness with food either.
 

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