Please help me with my loss

[ksboy27]

I purchased a pair of A. Macmasteri a couple of months ago and they immediately became my favorite pair of Apistos. Through a tank relo and a husbandry accident I have lost both of them. Does anyone have or know a good source where I could pick up some? Any help would be greatly appreciated as I'm not done beating myself up over the loss.

Thanks,

Tony

 

[cootwarm]

Hi Tony,

ApistoDave is selling macmasteri on AquaBid. They are small, but sexable adults. Dave lives in Oregon. Last year he shipped quite a few to me all the way cross country to Vermont. The fish were in excellent shape and quickly settled into my tanks I had ready. I got a total of something like 34 apistos from him and only 1 died (a trifascatia) which was promptly replaced (replacement fish were part of the 34 count).

I was more than happy with the condition in which they arrived. In the near future, I plan to get some macmasteri and steindachneri from him myself.

Here is a link to the South American Cichlid auction where Daves fish are listed:
http://www.aquabid.com/cgi-bin/auction/auction.cgi?fwcichlids

Michael

 

[ksboy27]

I've bought numerous fish from him in the past and emailed today to see if he raised them. The only reason I was seeking out the community at large before Dave is that I heard his stock is harder to breed for some reason. Granted, this is just rumour, but I've heard it more than once.

 

[cootwarm]

Hi Tony,

I hadn't heard that before. Last August I bought viejita, borellii, trifasciata, OF cacs, TR cacs from Dave. Except for the trifasciata, they've all raised at least 2 families. The borellii seem like they can't be stopped. The trifasciata just recently spawned, but according to Romers atlas they are slow to mature anyhow.

It only took about 1 week for my borellii to spawn. The cacs spawned after about 3 or 4 weeks. The viejita spawned in about 8 or 9 weeks.

I'm sure they would have spawned more often, but I like to leave the young with the parents until they are mature. The borellii wouldn't wait though. They started another batch before the first batch were even juvies.

Michael

 

[ksboy27]

Thanks for the positive response! I'll keep him in mind for sure after I relocate a 115 reef to my house this weekend and begin to focus on the planted tank again.

T