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Recently Added Sand to Apistogramma Tank (pic heavy post!)

Katsutaro Yoshimoto

New Member
Messages
22
WOW what a difference it made to the overall look and the apisto's behavior! I read many of your guy/gal's post on this website and determined that sand is very beneficial, almost necessary in apisto tanks.

They seem like they're very attracted to it naturally and I can't help but drop food on top of it to see them sift it up. What a treat to see them act naturally! I used the Caribsea Super Naturals white sand, fine grain.

(Indian Rice Fish dither - Oryzias Dancena)
20190327_194016.jpg


(Happy Couple)
20190327_200007.jpg


(Thinking about eating the MTS lol)
20190327_200301.jpg


I also added some sand to the connected 'dresser drawer' tank that gets continuous water from the main display. Since my apistogramma cacatuoides bred, I had to move the 6 Corydoras pygmaeus temporarily to the dresser tank until I can rehome them (females are mean!).

This tank will hold fry until they are 1/2"-2/3" in size to move them on to my friend's grow out tank. The tank also houses cherry shrimp and I am planning on adding sections of PVC pipe for the fry to hide in.

(Overall view)
20190327_194054.jpg


(Dim but Delightful!)
20190327_201152.jpg


(Hopefully a kind soul will take these fellas)
20190327_201140.jpg


I also have a culture of daphnia, moina, dero worms and California blackworms in it's own dresser tank right under for easier collection to feed the fish.

(They are in here I swear!)
20190327_203952.jpg


Just wanted to say thanks to the apistogramma community for the great info and ideas for the tank!

20190326_235016.jpg

Just one question for anyone that made it down this far. Should I add sand to the Marina large hang-on breeder box? I keep 2-3 week old fry in there, when mamma breeds again, to target feed them before they move on to the dresser tank.

I'm not sure if the sand is too big for the fry. I have ceramic rings in there for hideouts and moss/Pelia. Thank you!

20190327_202152.jpg

20190327_202603.jpg


Edit: Spacing/punctuation
 
Last edited:

ButtNekkid

Active Member
5 Year Member
Messages
315
Location
Finland
Hi,

There´s no such thing as a pic heavy post!
I think your breeder box is fine as it is. Plenty of microfauna to feed on.
 

Katsutaro Yoshimoto

New Member
Messages
22
Hi,

There´s no such thing as a pic heavy post!
I think your breeder box is fine as it is. Plenty of microfauna to feed on.
Thanks for answering my question!

I'm going to keep the breeder box unchanged for now. I think you are right that there is plenty of microfauna for the fry to feed on in between live BBS feedings.

On another note, the female decided to show her new batch of fry how awesome the sand is :). There must be at least 40 fry that I can see! It's amazing how the female rearranged the sand area to better suit her babies. She moved around leaves, moss and sand to make a nice pocket for them!

20190328_152934.jpg
 

Drayden Farci

Active Member
5 Year Member
Messages
207
I am glad you saw such immediate success! I see so many keepers having bare-bottom tanks or tanks with large gravel and their Apistogramma just look bland, skinny, or deformed even. Bare-bottom are great for mass-producing large fry, but to the overall success of a spawn, I think sand is necessary.
 

Katsutaro Yoshimoto

New Member
Messages
22
I am glad you saw such immediate success! I see so many keepers having bare-bottom tanks or tanks with large gravel and their Apistogramma just look bland, skinny, or deformed even. Bare-bottom are great for mass-producing large fry, but to the overall success of a spawn, I think sand is necessary.

I completely agree with you about the sand being necessary. I remember reading on this website a while back about sand being a 'Tooth Brush' for the Apistogramma, cleaning their gills and what not.

Another interesting fact: I read on some research papers that the larger Geophagus species have sand in their stomach/gut content when they were dissected for research. It reminds me of some species of bird (I think Mallard Ducks and Sea Ducks?) eat pebbles to help break down their preferred diet of hard shell nuts and crustaceans. Maybe, and I'm only speculating, that the sifting and eventual (accidental?) ingestion of sand with the Apistogramma species helps in their digestion of food products. I know birds have a gizzard to break down solids, but those ducks I mentioned also consume pebbles to further break down food.

Almost like the gizzards of birds, Apistogramma have pharyngeal teeth in their throats to break down solids before digesting. With the Apistogramma's known diet of crustaceans and insect larvae in the wild, maybe it's not such a wild idea to think that they ingest sand to help in their digestion of harder to break down food. I'm no scientist, not even damn close (I'm a chef btw, lol), but maybe that is why the sand is so crucial to the health of Apistogramma of all ages.

Like I said, this is all speculation, but maybe there's someone smarter than me that can explain this further, like Mike Wise :).
 

Ade205

Active Member
Messages
172
Location
Swadlincote, England
I completely agree with you about the sand being necessary. I remember reading on this website a while back about sand being a 'Tooth Brush' for the Apistogramma, cleaning their gills and what not.

Yeah I've seen this before ... quote from article....
''Use fine grain sand! This one is important, even if it doesn’t seem so. Apistos like to sift sand through their gills. They do so to collect food, but it serves another purpose. It is thought that to an Apisto, sifting sand is the same as brushing teeth is to a human. It cleans their gills and keeps them parasite free. Maybe it even helps their breath, who knows? Either way make sure it is a very fine grade, as Apistos are small, and a large grain won’t go through their gills.''

Here is the link to the whole article...
https://tanninaquatics.com/blogs/th...isto-s-home-into-your-house-by-william-garden

Ade.
 

Katsutaro Yoshimoto

New Member
Messages
22
Yeah I've seen this before ... quote from article....
''Use fine grain sand! This one is important, even if it doesn’t seem so. Apistos like to sift sand through their gills. They do so to collect food, but it serves another purpose. It is thought that to an Apisto, sifting sand is the same as brushing teeth is to a human. It cleans their gills and keeps them parasite free. Maybe it even helps their breath, who knows? Either way make sure it is a very fine grade, as Apistos are small, and a large grain won’t go through their gills.''

Here is the link to the whole article...
https://tanninaquatics.com/blogs/th...isto-s-home-into-your-house-by-william-garden

Ade.

Thank you Ade! Maybe I've read that article before, my memory is pretty bad so forgive me :). I'll definetly have a looksie and read through it.
 

rasmusW

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Messages
455
hey katsutaro!

which plant is it you got on the left in the first picture?
thanks for all the pics and good luck with the fry.

-r
 

dw1305

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Messages
2,755
Location
Wiltshire UK
Hi all,
hey katsutaro!

which plant is it you got on the left in the first picture?
thanks for all the pics and good luck with the fry.

-r
You'll have to wait for a definitive answer, but it looks like Rotala rotundifolia.

cheers Darrel
 

Katsutaro Yoshimoto

New Member
Messages
22
hey katsutaro!

which plant is it you got on the left in the first picture?
thanks for all the pics and good luck with the fry.

-r
Darrel is right! It's Rotala Rotundifolia, and it grows like a weed in my tank, lol. I'm trimming this plant by half at least once every 2 weeks. It's a root feeder, but I have the trimmings growing as a floater in several of my other tanks.
 

rasmusW

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Messages
455
thanks a lot guys..
does any of you know of a south american plant that looks similar?

-r
 

Katsutaro Yoshimoto

New Member
Messages
22
thanks a lot guys..
does any of you know of a south american plant that looks similar?

-r
No problem r.
When I want to look for specific plants from a particular region, I use the Tropica website and search for plants there. You can search by 'origin' and it makes looking for specific regional plants easier.

https://tropica.com/en/plants/search/?mode=search&sew=&dif=&pgr=&ori=SYDAMERIKA&use=

The origin filter is on the middle left and you can start from there!
 

dw1305

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Messages
2,755
Location
Wiltshire UK
Hi all,
Darrel is who you need for an answer to that question! I've a feeling he'll be along shortly!

Ade.
I couldn't think of anything specifically S. American that looks similar. Options would include Staurogyne repens (shorter and green) and Hygrophila costata (thinner leaf and green).

If I wanted a S. American stem plant that will grow in soft water (but does need a reasonable amount of light) I'd probably go for Heteranthera zosterifolia, but it doesn't look similar. Potamogeton gayi would also do, but again is a much more lax plant.

cheers Darrel
 

rasmusW

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Messages
455
Fantastic guys! Thanks for helping. The reason i ask is because i recently found this amazing website that had a lot of great collecting pictures (-sadly i don’t know japanese). -and so i was pleased to see some actual water plants in some of these black water pools (-now, there’s probally some wise guy come and tell me this isn’t black water but clear water.... hehehe)
Well, long story short, some of the collecting sites had similare plants in them.

Here’s the link:
http://amazonicoaquarium.blog.fc2.com/blog-entry-51.html?sp


Check also this video:

All picture credit goes to the owner... -ofcause.

-r
 

dw1305

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Messages
2,755
Location
Wiltshire UK
Hi all,
Fantastic guys! Thanks for helping. The reason i ask is because i recently found this amazing website that had a lot of great collecting pictures (-sadly i don’t know japanese). -and so i was pleased to see some actual water plants in some of these black water pools -r
That plant looks like <"Tonina fluviatilis">. It isn't the easiest plant to grow.

cheers Darrel
 

Katsutaro Yoshimoto

New Member
Messages
22
Don't worry about hijacking my thread. I like hearing people's thoughts on things. BTW, I got rid of all the Rotala and added branches, botanicals, and some more sand to round out the Amazon biotope vibe. I'm shooting for the look of the Rio Ucayali shoreline, but it's not the Clearwater-est? What do you guys think?

20190418_204459.jpg
 

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