What fish are from the same location as apistogramma trifasiata?

[Mike Wise]

If you truly are serious about starting with & breeding a dwarf cichlids, begin with a good quality pair of a domestic red or orange morph of A. cacatuoides. Get them from a quality breeder or a LFS that gets his fish from a local breeder. Add only 2 or 3 pencilfish as target/dither fish. Feed mostly live baby brine shrimp, do at least 25% water changes each week. This will get you started. Oh, yes, one last thing. Don't expect to make a profit. Dwarf cichlids are not Angelfish or albino corys.

For those in the neighborhood, I'll be in Atlanta later this month where I will be giving a program: "Breeding Apistogramma for fun ... and profit?"

 

[apisto9809]

well, since it is such a big challenge, I will focus on breeding when I am ready and have more supplies and room. Maybe when I get a job in high school in a couple years.

so would this be ok?:

9 rummys
2 pairs of Blue Rams (or maybe a trio instead)
6 otocinclus cocama

The list may change if I change my mind to apistos.

 

[Mike Wise]

see post #58

 

[apisto9809]

oh, sorry, I missed that. well, if I did ever want to breed, couldn't I use a spare 5 gallon? The reason I cant keep hatchets is becuase the lid would lower the light level on the tank.

 

[Mike Wise]

For beginners, 5 gallon tanks are way too small for breeding apistos. 10 gallon tanks are the minimum that even I use. Besides a 10 is cheaper than a 5, so why buy one specifically for breeding???

 

[Apistomaster]

That so-called Brazilian Yellow Belly Shrimp is identical to the much cheaper common Ghost shrimp. $3 vs $0.30 plus shipping on the "Brazilians." Besides, the vendor of the "Brazilians" will send you dead shrimp. Their live stock arrives as dead stock. Only buy plants from those guys.
The shrimp will do fine with the Apistogramma. I have red cherry shrimp in nearly all of my tanks. The Apistos do eat many shrimp larvae but enough survive to maintain or increase their numbers. They will not harm fry. Ghost shrimp are much better hunters but most fry will still make it with them. They make excellent dither animals.

 

[jose_vogel]

We have Palaemonetes argentinus (very similar to the one you called "ghost shrimp"). They inhabit almost every piece of fresh water in the center and north of my country (including every park with water we have in our capitol city). If we want to buy them, it´s very cheap (200 shrimps for U$S 5).

I´ve these shrimps in all of my tanks; but when it´s breeding time, I retire them because they love to predate eggs and small fries.

In the north of our country there´s a much more dangerous (for fries and juveniles) shrimp from the genus Macrobrachium.

 

[apisto9809]

eh, forget the shrimp, well, I have made a journal at a forum, here is the link:

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/g...63512-my-first-planted-tank-journal-20-a.html

 

[Apistomaster]

Hi Jose',
The feeder shrimp from SE USA is a different species but I think one would have to be pretty expert at telling them apart. I have kept both species but only the NA shrimp with any Apistos. I think your shrimp are a little larger, on average, than the USA species and perhaps more aggressive. Difficult to tell in a general community tank of SA Tetras because they are so similar. They both are bold feeders. I don't always try to raise all my fry. Sometimes a couple of dozen just to make sure I can continue keeping a species going. The NA sp has not interfered with breeding any Apistos but I have only had a two sp raising fry in the same tank as the feeder shrimp. I have complete trust in the red cherry shrimp and they make good dither animals.

 

[apisto9809]

I have decided to let shrimp be. I dont want them in my tank because they will mix the sand and the Flourite substrates together.

 

[apisto9809]

ok, the decision has been almost completely made:

1 pair of blue rams
9-11 green neons or rummynoses 9 (it turns out both fish are great schoolers)
6-7 otocinclus vittatus

Since all these fish are located in the Orinoco river, so it will be a Orinoco biotope.

 

[Mike Wise]

They are all from the Orinoco system, but are not syntopic. Therefore, it can't be called a true "biotope" community. Still, it will make a very nice community.

 

[apisto9809]

wait, if it is da same river, couldn't they all be theoretically found in the same place?

Since u say it is not a true biotope, do you have a biotope with Blue Rams in mind? I really wanted the rummynoses, I saw a vid, amazing schooling, and about the otos, they are awesome!!! I saw them at my lfs today, just list any possible biotope combos, thanks!!!

 

[Mike Wise]

The Orinoco is an incredibly long and extensive river. Over its course, it & its tributaries flow through several ecological realms with many different biotopes. The Rummynose Tetra of the upper Orinoco probably is the same species (Hemmigrammus bleheri; there are at least 3 species of Rummies) as the one that is found in the upper Rio Negro (Amazon River system). They are only found in the blackwater, Amazon-like, jungle streams in the upper Orinoco, The Rams are found almost exclusively in in pools & stream in the Llanos (open plains) region of Colombia & Venezuela in the lower Orinoco system. The biotopes of Rams and Rummies should not overlap anywhere in Nature. I'm not an expert on Loricarid (suckermouth ) catfish, but I don't think that O. vitatus comes from the Orinoco. It is found on the southern marigins of the Amazon system in Bolivia, Peru & southern Brazi. There probably is an Oto-like fish from the Orinoco, however.

 

[apisto9809]

aw :frown:

wat biotope would you recommend? I definately want Rams, so include that please!!!!!!! :tongue:

 

[Mike Wise]

For Rams you will want a Llanos "oasis" biotope. These oases are basically shallow pools surrounded by shrubs and palm trees. The water varies in pH and hardess, depending on the season of the year. The bottom of these pools are usually fine sand & silt or mud. There are very few aquatic plants. Cover is provided by flooded terrestrial grass, bog plants like Echinodoras species, Water Lettuce (an invasive species) floats on the surface. There are not rocks, only leaf litter and bogwood.

Catfish species found in this region (and moderately common in the aquarium trade include:
Corydoras aeneus (Bronze cory)
C. axelrodi
C. metae

Not many small tetras are collected in this area. Some that are found in the region include:
Pristella maxillaris - X-ray Tetra
Hyphessobrycon (Megalamphodus) sweglesi - Red Phantom Tetra
Moenkhausia pitteri - Diamond Tetra
Gasteropelicus maculatus - Large Spotted Hatchetfish
Diptail Pencilfish - Nannostomus eques

 

[apisto9809]

For Rams you will want a Llanos "oasis" biotope. These oases are basically shallow pools surrounded by shrubs and palm trees. The water varies in pH and hardess, depending on the season of the year. The bottom of these pools are usually fine sand & silt or mud. There are very few aquatic plants. Cover is provided by flooded terrestrial grass, bog plants like Echinodoras species, Water Lettuce (an invasive species) floats on the surface. There are not rocks, only leaf litter and bogwood.

Catfish species found in this region (and moderately common in the aquarium trade include:
Corydoras aeneus (Bronze cory)
C. axelrodi
C. metae

Not many small tetras are collected in this area. Some that are found in the region include:
Pristella maxillaris - X-ray Tetra
Hyphessobrycon (Megalamphodus) sweglesi - Red Phantom Tetra
Moenkhausia pitteri - Diamond Tetra
Gasteropelicus maculatus - Large Spotted Hatchetfish
Diptail Pencilfish - Nannostomus eques

are there any other locations for Rams then?

I wanted an algae eater, like otos, cuz my tanks CAN get a lot of light from the windows.

Thank you sooooooo much Mike, you have helped me sooooo much,

-Nick

 

[Mike Wise]

are there any other locations for Rams then?

-Nick

The Orinoco Ram (M. ramirezi) is found only in the middle & lower Río Orinoco drainage. You might want to see what small plecos come from this area. Try Planet Catfish on the web for info.

 

[apisto9809]

k, I will try. I really wanted otos, are you sure there are none?

I fell in love when I saw them at my lfs

 

[Apistomaster]

Copella spp are very frequently found with Rams in their pools on the Lllanos.
The best known is the Splash Tetra although it is not found with rams it's cousins are. They are very nice community tank fish. There are probably Otocinclus found in pools connected to streams but few are exported from that region. You should keep an open mind and use what you can find that are similar.