My delight in finding Apistogramma's

[Carol Anne]

Hi Everyone,

I have come back to the fish hobby 18 months ago after a break of 18 odd years almost. I completely stopped with the notification from the doctor of the expectancy of our third child. I figured that with all we had going on in our little family that the fish tanks were just too much to keep up with. We intially moved them from Perth with us to Port Hedland and when it came to the move back in the following year I sold it off. Fish tanks and fish are hard to come across in Port Hedland. So I made another fish enthusiasts life a very happy one.
I first started with shrimp coming back into the hobby and within 6 months had bought a 70 litre and a 90 litre tank plus a small nano. I then joined the big boys and bought a 6 foot tank. I had a go at my first planted tank and was quite surprised with the finished product. I had a mixture of fish in this a royal whiptail pair, two red lizard whiptails, Cory catfish, 8 assorted rainbows, golden panchax and 2 featherfin cats.
After 6 months I purchased a divided 4 foot and purchased a breeding pair of Archocentrus spirilus. This was the start of my love with cichilids. Within less than a month of having them they spawned and produced 57 babies. I then went on to purchase 2 breeding pair of Pelvichacromis Pulcher which produced 150 babies. I found these to be a very easy to keep fish with a lot of aggression shown to tank mates when it got down to breeding. They both proceeded to kill 400.00 worth of L002's and L004's overnight once the fry had become free swimmers. Up till this point there seemed to be no animosity in the tank. I have learnt a hard lesson. I still have both breeding pairs though, I figured it was my own stupid fault for not understanding their need to protect their young from all tank mates. I was given 12 beautiful baby rainbow cichilids and have since sold of 6 of them. I'm still waiting for them to pair of for me. Their colours are quite beautiful. I was then taken by a pair of Cockatoo cichilids in my local store. I have since added more than 13 or so other species of Apistogramma to my obsession. I have now more than 35 tanks and have set myself up to breed and learn as much as I can about this adorable but fiesty little cichilid. I put the success of breeding this lovely little species down to our rainwater which we fill a 200 litre barrel in a corner of the shed and add techden dechlor and a air stone and let it age. Lots of oak leaves which I have growing on my 5 acres.
Also indian almond leaves and I swear by Sera aquatan blackwater also. I am using a mixture of Cal Aqua labs black earth as a subsrate and also NZ black iron sand on the top. I find this combination has helped the crypts, anubias and swords flourish without me having to use to many fertilisers.
I may have a few spelling mistakes or species names incorrectly edited, if so please feel free to correct me. I have only been collecting seriously for the last 8 months or so.

The list of my Apistogramma species as it stands today:

A. agassizi double red
A. agassizii rio tefe
A. baenschi inka i
A. bitaeniata kleei wild
A. borelli
A. cacatuoides gold/orange
A. cacatuoides quad red
A. elizabethae blue mana
A. geislieri
A. hongsloi (2 pairs) *fryA. panduro (2 pairs) *fry
A. Macmasteri (4 pairs) *fry
A. norberti
A. panduro (2 pairs) *fry
A. Trifasciata

I hope you enjoy my introduction and I will try to post regular updates of my beautiful fish and their progress. :>)

[tetrakid]

That's wonderful, Carol.

If I have your kind of space, I'd be keeping a pacu for sure. Think Rufus.