Home of Aquacharlotte.net and The Local Charlotte, NC Fish Club
|
CAAS::Charlotte Area Aquarists Society Home of Aquacharlotte.net and The Local Charlotte, NC Fish Club |
| Jump to: | Main Page | Join | LFS | Calendar | Forum | Auction | |
| | Home | Articles-Main | Article - 'Apisto-1' | |
|
Care and Breeding of Apistogrammas in Charlotte, NC I became intrigued with the various species of 'dwarfs' a few years back. It started by my fascination with planted tanks. At the time I was keeping Severums and Angelfish. Well come to find out, Severums and plants DO NOT MIX! They made salad out of every single plant in the tank. Next I tried Angelfish - really as exciting as watching grass grow! It seemed to me that I needed more of a challenge. Having many small tanks I also wanted something that stayed rather small and was not overly aggressive. So off to the internet and I find Dwarf cichlids - Apistogramma, Dicrossus, Kribensis, and wow what stunning colors. These species I have never seen in the shops what am I going to do? I need these fish. Next step was to hound the local fish stores to acquire the specimens. After months of talking and begging they were finally able to order some fish. The Apistogrammas have come to Charlotte! Apistogramma species are a dwarf cichlid group that inhabits an area from northern South America to the northern parts of Argentina, which includes Brazil, Columbia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela. They inhabit soft water except on the slopes of the Andes Mountains. They are always looking for a place to hide such as caves, crevices and areas of low overhanging plants with a few fallen leaves thrown in. The water temperature is usually between 76 and 78 degrees F and mostly has a brownish tint. Keeping and breeding these fish in Charlotte, NC is a relatively easy process, as I will discuss in the rest of the article. The topics will include tank set-up, water parameters, selection, acclimation, husbandry, and breeding. This process has worked for me with a large variety of the Apistogramma species. (I will assume that the reader knows the basic knowledge of aquarium care. There will not be a section on tank cycling and plant care. Do not add apistos to an uncycled tank. You will be guaranteed to have 100% death of all your prized possessions) TANK SET-UP When setting up a tank for apistos I try and recreate a little bit of their natural habitat. They can, and some species will spawn, live in regular tap water. If your final goal is for breeding these little lovelies start-off with at least six juvenile fishes. This means that a tank of at least 10 gallonss will be required. When pairs start forming I give them their own separate 10 or 20 gal tank for breeding. Substrate is unimportant as these fish are cave spawners. have used play sand, pool sand, fluorite, and regular aquarium gravel. All have worked and the apistos do not have a preference. Myself I like and recommend pool sand - it keeps the detritus above the surface and bits of food so the dwarfs can pick it off the surface as they feed. The larger grain substrate tends to trap more detritus and is a pain in the a*** to clean. The one important thing is to add peat to the substrate. This will lower the hardness and buffer the water for premium 'Apisto Water'. I did not have much success with breeding until I added a 1/2" layer of peat to the bottom of the tank and then capped it with sand. In my opinion this layer release humic acid and trapped Ca/Mg (cat ions) thus making the water more suitable for the soft water fish. Even tetras (Characins) began spawning with their requirement for extremely soft water in this type of set-up. For caves I provide 3/4" Diameter x 4" Long PVC tubes. This is the regular schedule 40 pipe found at any home iprovement store. The size of the tube will be determined by the size of the adult fish. Use of 3/4" ID tubing works for most situations. Cut tubing into 3"-4" sections and they are placed on top of the substrate. Try to place the tubes near the center or rear of the tank to allow the apistos some hiding places. Use one tube per fish for growing up juvies and one tube per spawning pair. Provide enough hiding spots for the fish and they will be out and about for your enjoyment. Have noticed that in bare bottom and non-planted tanks apistos become extremely shy and hide all the time. All species of apistos I have bred use these tubes without hesitation. I always include some plants in the tank, as I believe it keeps the environment fresher, uses up excess nitrates/phosphates, and ammonia. It will also house microscopic foods for the fry, extremely important if you are going to start a breeding program. Any plant will do. If you do not want or have the lights and CO2 injection for a fully planted tanks try floating plants. Frogbit, azolla, and duckweed are always alternatives in a low light tank, as well as java moss, crypts, riccia, and java fern. None of my tanks are devoid of plants, they are usually jam-packed. WATER PARAMETERS Now this is always a loaded question! Coming from extremely soft water do I need to keep my apistos in RO water? Should I conditioning my water for low pH and hardness? The short answer is no. We are fortunate in the Charlotte area to have extremely soft water. Now not soft enough to breed discus but good enough to house apistos and breed some of the common species. Use water out of the tap it is good enough. Now hopefully you caught the peat addition in the above section. If you are going to try and breed these little fish you will want to add peat to the substrate or in the filter box. Whichever you prefer. What conditioners do I add? None. Not even chlorine remover when doing water changes. I believe additions of buffers or any other chemicals to the water just degrade the quality. Just add good quality Charlotte water - out of the tap!
SELECTION There is an array of colors to choose from when selecting apistos. In my opinion the more decorative the species the more fragile the species. Many of the aquarium strain fish - breed over many generations in captivity - are less prone to water quality problems. They are on the other hand less hardy then the wild caught specimens. I have had the best luck with wild caught fish as far as durability. The aquarium strains are weaker the more they are in bred. So if there were a choice the wild caught would be the ones that I purchase. These are most likely less colorful but still quite striking in appearance. You will never see a triple red A. caucatoides or Double red A. agassizzi in the wild. Use good judgment when selecting fish - no torn or frayed fins, visible signs of parasites; fish that breath rapidly, etc. Always have them fed prior to purchasing - even if recently fed healthy fish will still try to feed. Never had much luck with apistos that refused to feed. This is the best indicator whether the fish is healthy or not - IF IT WILL NOT FEED AT THE STORE IT MOST LIKELY WILL NOT SURVIVE IN YOUR TANK! I have wasted a lot of money on fish I thought would eat when I got it in my tank - it has never worked. Now selecting a pair is relatively easy. If you have seen any of the apisto species you know the male will be the most colorful of the pair. They are also more than likely sold as pairs in the local fish stores. Personally I do not like to purchase pairs but grow out juvenile fish a let them form pairs on their own. This usually gets the most robust pair to form. This has proved to be the best situation as the spawns are larger. The males are seen battling and females each stake out their own territory. It is so fun to watch ACCLIMATION I use a non-traditional method to acclimation of fish. Usually local fish stores will ask you to float the bag of fish in the tank and slowly add water until there is twice the amount in the original bag. This takes way to long for my taste. Here is my method 'The Plop Method' it works for any fish:
Have never lost a fish yet, this method will work on wild caught discus and apistos. The concept is that ammonia is building up in that small amount of water the fish bag. You want to get the fish out of the bag as soon as possible. Now the Amquel will reduce the ammonia in the bag and any in the aquarium to a non-toxic form. As the fish respires it is adding CO2 the water and reducing the pH in the bag. The rapid rise in pH is what turns the ammonia into a toxic substance, i.e. adding aquarium water to the shipping bag. Use the 'The Plop Method' it works flawlessly and is much more convenient. Most apistos that I have come across are filled with worms. I do a prophylactic treatment with Levamasole HCl and metrizadole. This does help but is only a precaution. HUSBANDRY - Keeping them The one thing you will notice with any apisto is that they are finicky eaters. I have never come across an apisto that will accept flake or pelletized food. They will nip at it but spit it out never eating it. Have tried starving them for a week with no luck. They accept any and all frozen foods so feed them a variety. Some foods that they accepted are frozen daphnia, mysis shrimp, brine shrimp, and bloodworms. Water changes should be done once a week at 50%-60% of the tank volume. I never add chlorine removers or buffers to the water. The only thing I do is to make sure the water is at a temperature equal to or slightly cooler than the tank water. That¡¯s if for keeping the apistos happy. Normal tropical water temperatures from 76F-84F will be sufficient for any of the apisto species. My tanks are normally kept at 80F-82F. As far as other waters parameters what ever hardness and pH come out of the tap will be fine. With the addition of peat the water should become soft and highly acidic. Usual water parameters for Charlotte water (with peat addition) are:
BREEDING Assuming that you have a pair and they are healthy will be the first step in trying to start breeding. Do not try this on weak or sick pairs or you will have a disaster. This is by far the best method and is bullet proof. This has worked for every species I have ever tried to breed. Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
By that night you should have a pair spawning in the tube. This is mainly done because I usually keep wild fish. This simulates the dry/wet season in the Amazon. It is surprising how well this method works. All water for changes were done with tap water and not conditioned. If I happen to purchase an aquarium strain of apisto I will skip this method. Usually I will feed heavily for about a week and change water 2-3 times the next week. This will produce a spawn. The main thing is to do water changes - the more you do the quicker the pair will spawn. Hope this gives you a basic method for keeping and breeding apistos in Charlotte. If you have an extra small tank I would highly suggest you to try apistos. You will not regret it. If you live in the Charlotte area these are great fish for the kind of water that comes out of our tap. These by far are my favorite species of fish! Any questions or if you need some apistos feel free to contact myself or anyone in our club. Join the boards you may even see some up for trade! |