# Apisto Agazzizi Tankmates (possibly)



## PhilW (Mar 28, 2012)

I have had my pair of aggazzizi a little while now, no idea how old they are, but picked them out at the lfs, and guess i was lucky to correctly pick a male and a female who are nicely colouring up now 

They are kept in a 2x1x1 60 Litre tank, and was wondering if i should add a few other fish as tankmates or not?

Do you guys keep any with yours or not, seems pretty bare in there with just the 2 of them in there?

If i got any mates for them what are the best choices to go for, platies or any other plant eating fish are out as i am aiming to grow the plants into a nice jungle effect?
regards
Phil 
:thumb:


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## BelieveInBlue (Jul 17, 2011)

Depends. Do you want to breed them? If yes, then just leave the set up as it is, with just them in there, and add a couple caves. If you're looking to turn the tank into a display tank, then any type of tetra, Corydoras catfish, Otocinclus, rasboras, and the likes will all do fine. They're all schooling fish though, so be sure to get at least 6, preferably 10, of the same species.


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## PhilW (Mar 28, 2012)

BelieveInBlue said:


> Depends. Do you want to breed them? If yes, then just leave the set up as it is, with just them in there, and add a couple caves. If you're looking to turn the tank into a display tank, then any type of tetra, Corydoras catfish, Otocinclus, rasboras, and the likes will all do fine. They're all schooling fish though, so be sure to get at least 6, preferably 10, of the same species.


If i wanted a crack at breeding them, is there ant special requirements they need? I have a couple of decent sized slate caves in there etc plants etc

wasnt sure if they'd feel more safe and likely to breed if there was some other small fish in there with them? would tetras or briggate rasboras eat any eggs should they spawn?
cheers
phil


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## PhilW (Mar 28, 2012)

Here's my tank, wth the male in the background, his lady was camera shy


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## DeadFishFloating (Oct 9, 2007)

Nice looking male back there.

You may try lowering the PH buy adding rain water. Works for me.


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## PhilW (Mar 28, 2012)

DeadFishFloating said:


> Nice looking male back there.
> 
> You may try lowering the PH buy adding rain water. Works for me.


I have a 25 Litre of RO water, but dont have any re-mineralising agent, just some nutrafin KH african cichlid booster and tropic marine cichlid salt. which dont think does the same job?

I am lucky mind, as my tapwater is approx 6.8ph .......


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## BelieveInBlue (Jul 17, 2011)

Add a couple caves (with terracotta pots or rocks), raise the temperature a bit, and do a massive water change, and they should spawn. All fish will eat eggs/fry if given the chance; dithers aren't really needed for apistos: mine spawn fine with or without them, as long as the conditions are right, they'll have at it, and before you know it, you'll wish they'd stop :lol:


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## PhilW (Mar 28, 2012)

BelieveInBlue said:


> Add a couple caves (with terracotta pots or rocks), raise the temperature a bit, and do a massive water change, and they should spawn. All fish will eat eggs/fry if given the chance; dithers aren't really needed for apistos: mine spawn fine with or without them, as long as the conditions are right, they'll have at it, and before you know it, you'll wish they'd stop :lol:


slate caves and terracotta pots already in there amongst the plants, temp is up there, will need to check again but thnk it was about 80 last timi checked, and did an approx 40% water change yesterday.......fingers crossed then :lol:

The male does seem to be out and about a fair bit, where the female does hide a lot, usually under a large catappa leaf or in the slate cave or both as they are next to each other :thumb:

Once eggs are laid, if i get lucky, how long approx is it before they hatch please?


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## BelieveInBlue (Jul 17, 2011)

2-3 days usually, and free swimming in another 3-4.


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## PhilW (Mar 28, 2012)

BelieveInBlue said:


> 2-3 days usually, and free swimming in another 3-4.


ok cool, thanks for that - appreciated


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## PhilW (Mar 28, 2012)

OK peeps, a total surprise but we have BABIES  

whats the chance of survival, or will the parents eat them? there's no other fish in there either....do they need any particular requirements?

cheers
phil


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## DeadFishFloating (Oct 9, 2007)

Freshly hatched, live baby brine shrimp. You can make a cheap and easy hatchery with a soda bottle. Google videos are your friend.

Other than that, just do things as normal.


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## PhilW (Mar 28, 2012)

DeadFishFloating said:


> Freshly hatched, live baby brine shrimp. You can make a cheap and easy hatchery with a soda bottle. Google videos are your friend.
> 
> Other than that, just do things as normal.


Thank you, just checked out a vid of the natchery, easy peasy, just need to buy some brineshrimp eggs then 

PS - would it be safe to add a small internal filter into the tank, will the fry stay well away to avod being sucked up into it?


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## DeadFishFloating (Oct 9, 2007)

Why do you want to add an internal filter? I believe doing extra water changes each week will be more beneficial than an extra filter.

I run sponge filters in my dwarf cichlid tanks, and the fry always like grazing over the sponges, eating micro organisms, so I don't know if fry understand to stay away from internal filters.

Personally, I don't see the need to add an internal filter. I don't know what you are running at the moment, but I would make sure the intake is covered well enough, so that fry can't be sucked up. Just checked your tank photo again, and see the sponge filter, mate that's perfect. Just do one or two extra 20% water changes per week.


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## PhilW (Mar 28, 2012)

I got the filter as i wasnt sure of adding some ember tetras etc so was advised the internal would be a good addition for the extra bioload?

I aint sure if i will add any other fish, prob not, so wll stick with things as they are and just do an extra water change at the same time i do my shrimp tank water changes 

cheers matey


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## DeadFishFloating (Oct 9, 2007)

Just going to offer a tip. The female may become quite aggressive towards the male, especially if she thinks he's snacking on fry.

In all my apisto tanks I have some floating agricultural drainage pipes zip tied together to offer a harassed fish some where to hide. They might look a bit ugly, but at the end of the day, you just have to take them out of the tank if you want to take a photo.










The agg pipe comes in a range of diameters. You could use piping from 3/4 of an inch in diameter up to 2 inches in diameter. I usually cut lengths about 3 inches long, and use zip ties to tie three together in a triangle shape.

Because it floats at the top of the water level, what ever fish is hiding in it is usually out of site and out of mind of the fish down at substrate level.


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## PhilW (Mar 28, 2012)

HI DFF - GREAT tip thank-you, never even thought of that 

So far she seems pretty chilled, not seen her having a pop at the male, if i look too closely in their tank she fires out and stands her ground with me, blimey i have a kamikazi fish 

I did panic a bit last night, i saw mum taking the fry in her mouth, but not muching as though she was eating them, a UK Apisto breeder tells me its normal behaviour, as she will be moving them to where she wants them......i was absoloutly fascinated, flippin brill to see, now i know what she was doing.....nature can be a wonderful sight 

PS - what fish have you in your tank, are they grown on fry, or is it a breeder tank? May i ask how big it is please? and what maintenance regime you have on it, looks mighty clear water, lovely.......i added some more broken leaves to mine, still watng for some to sink, been about 4 days now and still floating......also, how long should i wait before removing the leaves so it does not cause water chemistry problems in the tank?
regards
Phil



DeadFishFloating said:


> Just going to offer a tip. The female may become quite aggressive towards the male, especially if she thinks he's snacking on fry.
> 
> In all my apisto tanks I have some floating agricultural drainage pipes zip tied together to offer a harassed fish some where to hide. They might look a bit ugly, but at the end of the day, you just have to take them out of the tank if you want to take a photo.
> 
> ...


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## DeadFishFloating (Oct 9, 2007)

> PS - what fish have you in your tank, are they grown on fry, or is it a breeder tank? May i ask how big it is please? and what maintenance regime you have on it, looks mighty clear water, lovely.......i added some more broken leaves to mine, still watng for some to sink, been about 4 days now and still floating......also, how long should i wait before removing the leaves so it does not cause water chemistry problems in the tank?
> regards


There is a mixture of 10 month old Pelvicachromis taeniatus "dehane" and 10 month old Apistogramma agassizii double red in the tank. It's a grow out tank for sub adults.

The tank is 24"x12"x15" though I usually only fill it to 12" high.

I water change 40% (20 litres) once a week. I take the driftwood and plants out and siphon into two buckets and squeeze the sponges out in the old water.

As for adding leaves to a tank. I add one Indian Almond Leaf per week at each water change to my breeding tanks. I don't add leaves when I have fry with parents though. Usually takes three days for a IAL leaf to sink. I don't remove them, but let them break down to skeletons in the tank, and siphon them up during a water change.

The whole idea for adding leaves is that they do change the water chemistry by releasing tannins in to the water. Here is an article on Indian Almond Leaves and their use in the aquarium.


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## PhilW (Mar 28, 2012)

DFF - cracking fish there matey  and thanks a lot for the IAL link, great stuff :thumb:


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## Sparrk (Oct 11, 2010)

my mother apisto cacatuoide would pick each wrigglers in her mouth one by one and "tumble them" as an african mouthbrooder will tumble their eggs, I think it is to keep them clean and prevent fungus from growing on the egg sac. She would only pick them, tumble and put them back at the same spot. Cichlids are great parents!! Sometimes they need a little practice(cant be perfect from the first try!) :thumb:


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## magpie (Nov 12, 2011)

My laetacara parents would move their fry once or twice a day when they were not free-swimming. The first time it happened I thought they were all eaten!


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## PhilW (Mar 28, 2012)

So far all is good, fry seem to be growing a bit, not managed to have success as yet hatching brineshrimp eggs  could only get the decapsulated eggs that come in a bottle, made by Waterlife.......but gonna get some other ones to try  so upto now, they have got finely crushed flake, and small hikari shrimp food and jbl prawn balls, just for variety, and the almond leaves are in too 

So i am now thinking of which other Apistogramma's to get as i would like a few more, in separate tanks of course 

Not sure what to get, maybe cactuoides 'orange flash' or cactuiodes 'red', or trifasciatus guapore blue?

Or any you think have a particular WOW factor just shout em out, and i will see if the guy here in the uk has them on his list


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## Sparrk (Oct 11, 2010)

love my cacatuoides! I have a trio of double red, love their fins and tail


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## BelieveInBlue (Jul 17, 2011)

Apistogramma baenschi are nice. You should also consider the following:
Apistogramma agassizii
Apistogramma bitaeniata
Apistogramma macmasteri
Apistogramma trifasciata

Picture of my A. baenschi pair.
male:

















female:









My wild caught cacatuoides male:


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## DeadFishFloating (Oct 9, 2007)

For every pair of apistos, I have three tanks. A breeding tank, a fry tank and a grow out tank. It can 8 to 10 months to grow out apistos to a saleable size, so you can end up with 4 to 6 batches.

One batch with the parents, one in a fry tank and the rest spread amongst grow out tanks. You can grow out different species together in the one tank, especially if they are very close in age, so instead of doing species grow out tanks, you have batch grow out tanks.

I don't over feed my fry and juvies, if anything I'm a bit sparse with the amount of food per feeding, especially with the juveniles. But I am religious about water changes and keeping the tanks clean, especially when you have 40+ fry per tank.

I don't know how others handle it, I'm fairly lucky in that I work nights, so I can spend days pottering around with my tanks a couple of days a week.


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## PhilW (Mar 28, 2012)

not seen the fry in a while now, and the female does not seem protective either, so i assume they have either all died of been eaten? No idea whats happened


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## Sparrk (Oct 11, 2010)

happens sometime, sadly! :?


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