I just got the lfs to order me in some Apistogramma ortmanni. I brought home my pair today. They appear to be steindachneri as I expected. They only got in 3 fish, the largest of them appeared to have some black on the ventrals and while it was in the bag I noticed a black ring around the anus which I have seen on females of other apistograms. All of their fins were tattered so it was difficult to determine much from that. These fish are about 1.5"-2". I left one behind as I only have a 10g and I just wanted a pair. I am a bit worried about the gender of my "female" as she has similar markings as the "male" such as vertical bars on the caudal fin and posterior and is larger than the "male". I also realized that the "male" is missing one of his pectoral fins, will he be functional without it? Could it grow back from nothing? They also were not interested in food today, I offered some frozen daphnia. They seem more interested in their reflections but I would really like to fatten them up. Any ideas?
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New steindachneri
- Thread starter james595
- Start date
- Messages
- 357
- Location
- Spring Grove PA USA
Baby brine shrimp, black worms and more baby brine shrimp. Water changes
- Messages
- 87
- Location
- Carnegie, Pa 15106
Depending on how extensive the damage is to the fin it may regenerate. If it is to deep of a wound and no rays are left it probably will never grow back. Under controlled circumstances(not to much aggression towards him) he will be functional , but may have problems. Also depending on how fresh of a wound it is you will need to watch for infection.
here are some pics, I know they are bad
Male:
http://i549.photobucket.com/albums/ii393/barr1542/apistogrammasteindachneri009.jpg
Female:
http://i549.photobucket.com/albums/ii393/barr1542/DSC00231.jpg
http://i549.photobucket.com/albums/ii393/barr1542/apistogrammasteindachneri002.jpg
Can you guys lend any sexing advice from these photos? I may just go buy the third fish today in the unfortunate even that the finless male is never the same.
Male:
http://i549.photobucket.com/albums/ii393/barr1542/apistogrammasteindachneri009.jpg
Female:
http://i549.photobucket.com/albums/ii393/barr1542/DSC00231.jpg
http://i549.photobucket.com/albums/ii393/barr1542/apistogrammasteindachneri002.jpg
Can you guys lend any sexing advice from these photos? I may just go buy the third fish today in the unfortunate even that the finless male is never the same.
- Messages
- 37
apistos
i have about 20 apisto STEINDACHNERI they are a nice little apisto not real pretty but a good beginner fish. mine were also labeled incorrectly as ortmanni
i have about 20 apisto STEINDACHNERI they are a nice little apisto not real pretty but a good beginner fish. mine were also labeled incorrectly as ortmanni
The female is being agressive towards the other two. She is pretty large and showing breeding coloration. I think the males are still immature. Her aggression is not enough to cause damage. If the males are about 1.5" now, how long will it take for them to mature?
- Messages
- 37
steindachneris
growth of them depend on water quality feed ect here is a pic of mine
growth of them depend on water quality feed ect here is a pic of mine
- Messages
- 37
steindachneris
- Messages
- 37
steindahneri
all my apistos are fairly young so my biggest males are about 2 inches or a little more not sure if they will get 4 inches though probly closer to 3 or 3.5. i have about 10 or 12 in a 75 gallon south american bio tank that has angels apisto macmasteri different types of tetras , 3 large keyhole cichlids and various clean up crews cory cats , bushy nose plecos ect.
all my apistos are fairly young so my biggest males are about 2 inches or a little more not sure if they will get 4 inches though probly closer to 3 or 3.5. i have about 10 or 12 in a 75 gallon south american bio tank that has angels apisto macmasteri different types of tetras , 3 large keyhole cichlids and various clean up crews cory cats , bushy nose plecos ect.
- Messages
- 11,225
- Location
- Denver, Colorado, U.S.A.
I think it depends on the population. I personally have not seen the "giant" ones since the 1970s - the almost entirely blue 'A. wickleri' form.
Two days ago I traded in my immature male and extra female for a gorgeous male at a LFS, making a pair of adult fish. Last night the female was able to convince her new friend(whom she is much nicer to than the immature male) to spawn. I was suprised seeing as it was his second day in the tank. I have had some victorian cichlids spawn the same day I brought them home, but this steindachneri male comes in a close second, plus it should go down with an asterix as the female was in the tank for a few weeks already.
Here is how it seemed to go down:
Male was focused on battling his reflection in a small mirror I had left in the tank and was ignoring the female as she attempted to lure him into her coco cave.
I removed the mirror and she was able to get him to go in the cave. However after about 20 seconds a domestic dispute broke out. A very angry female came bursting out of the cave. Then the male came out and they proceeded to attack eachother.
After about 5 minutes the female was able to convince him to come back, however once again violence broke out in the happy home. After this fight the female had a deep notch in her caudal fin, but the poor male had more notches than her. For a few minutes the female had her caudal fin clamped, I would assume from the fresh wound, yet she persisted on trying to get her man back.
The male was quite turned off at this point, his fins were clamped(from the damage I assume) and he seemed to be avoiding the female. Yet the female was constantly looking around for him to try to lure him back. After about 30 minutes the male finally went in the cave and this time stayed for about 20 minutes. I assume this means there was a successful release of gametes by both partys.
After this event the females displays changed from "come to my cave" to "get away". "come to my cave" involves the females fins down, a bright yellow body color and some suggestive swimming that may include an amazon sword pole dance. "get away" involves all of the females fins raised, and about 5 swift blasts from her tail. Her colors are also more of a golden yellow.
Does anyone know how long it will take before I have free swimming fry? I may have to remove the fry as There are quite a few fish in the tank(guppys, 2neons, 1 SAE)
I should note the apistos fins are already beggining to heal and they seem to be extending them freely today.
Here is how it seemed to go down:
Male was focused on battling his reflection in a small mirror I had left in the tank and was ignoring the female as she attempted to lure him into her coco cave.
I removed the mirror and she was able to get him to go in the cave. However after about 20 seconds a domestic dispute broke out. A very angry female came bursting out of the cave. Then the male came out and they proceeded to attack eachother.
After about 5 minutes the female was able to convince him to come back, however once again violence broke out in the happy home. After this fight the female had a deep notch in her caudal fin, but the poor male had more notches than her. For a few minutes the female had her caudal fin clamped, I would assume from the fresh wound, yet she persisted on trying to get her man back.
The male was quite turned off at this point, his fins were clamped(from the damage I assume) and he seemed to be avoiding the female. Yet the female was constantly looking around for him to try to lure him back. After about 30 minutes the male finally went in the cave and this time stayed for about 20 minutes. I assume this means there was a successful release of gametes by both partys.
After this event the females displays changed from "come to my cave" to "get away". "come to my cave" involves the females fins down, a bright yellow body color and some suggestive swimming that may include an amazon sword pole dance. "get away" involves all of the females fins raised, and about 5 swift blasts from her tail. Her colors are also more of a golden yellow.
Does anyone know how long it will take before I have free swimming fry? I may have to remove the fry as There are quite a few fish in the tank(guppys, 2neons, 1 SAE)
I should note the apistos fins are already beggining to heal and they seem to be extending them freely today.
- Messages
- 102
- Location
- Hungary, Middle Europe
Nice post! Any update?
They have spawned twice for me. About 2-3 days into the spawn something seems to go wrong and the female stops spending time in her cave and then about a day later the male begins to attack her and she loses her spawning coloration. I think it may be a fertility issue. Typically they spawn every 14days or so. I have been using tap water in my tank that is fairly hard(have not tested it) with a pH around 7. Recently, I began changing out the water with distilled water one gallon at a time in hopes to soften the water and lower the pH a bit. The female should be ready to spwan again in a few days so hopefully lowering the pH and hardness will solve the issue.
- Messages
- 102
- Location
- Hungary, Middle Europe
Something similar happened with my cacs. In my case, I think, the female ate the eggs because of stress (lot of other fish and I often looked into the coconut cave with a torch) and that made the male angry. That time I thought the eggs were unfertile but later the subfemale surprised me with freeswimming fries. I took them but no other spawn occured since then. I hope I can a better tank for them later and will spawn again.
Maybe I'm not right at all, who knows?
Maybe I'm not right at all, who knows?
- Messages
- 2,771
- Location
- Wiltshire UK
Harem
Hi all,
James wrote:
".......About 2-3 days into the spawn something seems to go wrong and the female stops spending time in her cave and then about a day later the male begins to attack her and she loses her spawning coloration. I think it may be a fertility issue. Typically they spawn every 14days or so......."
I haven't kept A. steindachneri or any of the panduro group, but harems work for A. borellii, A. trifasciata and A. cacatuoides.
James I know you've only just traded your "spare" female, but can you get two more females? this would give your female a rest as the male would have other females to interact with. I try not to bother the female at all (no peeking) until the fry are out and obviously swimming/feeding, and I have lots of "spare" clay pots, tubes, coconut shells etc.
cheers Darrel
Hi all,
James wrote:
".......About 2-3 days into the spawn something seems to go wrong and the female stops spending time in her cave and then about a day later the male begins to attack her and she loses her spawning coloration. I think it may be a fertility issue. Typically they spawn every 14days or so......."
I haven't kept A. steindachneri or any of the panduro group, but harems work for A. borellii, A. trifasciata and A. cacatuoides.
James I know you've only just traded your "spare" female, but can you get two more females? this would give your female a rest as the male would have other females to interact with. I try not to bother the female at all (no peeking) until the fry are out and obviously swimming/feeding, and I have lots of "spare" clay pots, tubes, coconut shells etc.
cheers Darrel
