Csababá from Hungary says Hi!!

[Csababá]

Hello everybody,
this is my first forum experience in a foreign language so please, treat me nice. I was told to introduce myself, so I'm here, hopefully in the right topic.
I was searching the Internet to find out how I could make my apistos breed and I saw that not everything I see or think is real (sneaker males). So I googled and got somehow here.

[benny]

Hi Casababa!!

Welcome to our forum!! I've split out your introduction into it's own thread so that it doesn't get buried in the other thread!

We care glad to have you here!

Cheers,

p.s. and thanks for your nice e-mail!

[Csababá]

Thank you very much. Somehow I had the feeling I wasn't doing right but I was happy to find a topic (or thread?) to fit my intentions.
I've just noticed that you're a mod so please, don't take it as a coax.

[celticfish]

Welcome to AQ Csababa!
No worries about the language.
We try to make AQ an internationally friendly site!

You are in good company for apisto keeping and breeding.
Do share with us the species that you keep.
If there is any particular species that you are trying to breed post your question in this section ---> here
I'm sure is someone has breed them can give you some tips.

[jacian]

Welcome to AQ, another apisto-lover!!
So, what is your favourite apisto and what apisto are you keeping now?

[Wackytpt]

Welcome to the forum.

Glad to know another apisto keeper.

Do share with us what apisto are you keeping?

Cheers

[Csababá]

Hi all,
I'm keeping cacatuoides, 1 female

1 male, arrived later than her

and I got this one a couple of days ago (people say it's a young, sub-dominant male)

this was my previous male

they had eggs with my female

Unfortunately that was an unsuccesful story. Day-by-day I saw less eggs and on the third there were nothing. The old male died and the female doesn't want to breed with the new one. So I went to the shop and bought the most female like cacatuoides.
The situation is not going on as I wanted. The male chases both.

I separated the dominant male to make some rest for the other two.

I wanted to buy another female because my "old" one didn't want to breed with my new male, although she did it with my previous. Is it possible that the new male is not good enough for the female? Or is it a problem, that the new male arrived later than the old female? Anyway, what's the optimal sex ratio by cacatuoideses?

Another interesting thing is that the female is chasing the new, sub-adult male as well. Why is it? Does she think that the newcomer is a female, because it doesn't have the color of a male? Do they decide only by color?

There are some hiding places and some plants in the tank but no matter where the sub(-dominant)male hid, he was found by the do(minant)male.
The female usual hiding place is the wood/root (how do you call it) where she had laid her eggs.

Thank you for any reply.

[Csababá]

I live in a small town which has only one fish store that doesn't sell apistos, only very simple fishes (guppy, tetra, danio, betta, etc.). I have to go to another town where there are 3 shops. 2 of them sell rams and kribs some times and only one sells apistos but not all the time. I wanted a pair of rams but I dont like long fin version and they looked unhealthy so I waited. Then a a new friend introduced cacatuoideses. I bought a pair but they were 2 females, he got 2 males so we changed. The male died at him so I got bak the female. My male got stuck between the wood and the glass and had wounds. The new female hid a lot and didn't eat. I lost her. Than the remaining two bred. Later the male died and I bought the new one.
All that happened in a br 96L community tank with corys, ancistrus, livebearers and 2 false and 1 RSA.
I'd like to have some more tanks (smaller). The mentioned shop has now agassizii(maybe, not colored up), krib, ram, bolivian ram, badis, dicrossus but I can't decide.

[benetay]

Welcome to AQ, hope you enjoy your stay with us.

Cheers!

[WaterH2O]

I tried this method before my pair of apisto veijita bred. As usual my female was very aggresive to my male and she chased him down till he has torn fins. I was unable to see any eggs laid in the tank so I took the male out and put in a seperate tank.
Did this cycle a few times but still the female seem to be too aggresive for the male.
Then I decide to condition/bond them togather. I got myself a smaller transparent plastic tanks that has suction cups on it, put it into my tank and stick it to the side, just below the water surface. Put the male in so that now both fish are in the tank and the female can see the male but cannot harm it. Left it like that for 1 week or so. The male manages to escape it and the rest is history, they bred.
Hope it is helpful.

[Csababá]

Thanks. So you suggest to separate the non aggressive one?
How did you release him finally? How did you know that the female would no longer chase the male?

[WaterH2O]

The point is this, if we seperate the both of them into different tanks then they are not going to mate at all. It does not matter which one to seperate, whether the aggressive one or the non-aggressive one. The reason I put the male in a small seperation tank that is placed just below the water surface of the main tank is for both of them to be in the same tank without the female injuring the male. I also read from the net that the male tends to stay above to guard its territory and so it makes sense to place the seperate just below the water surface so as to train him to be the " man " of the tank and do what a man got to do. ( No scientific proof here just my experience).
I did not release him, he escaped by himself and a week later I noticed fries in my tank.
Apistos are aggressive by nature and there is no way to fully eliminate chasing or aggression but to mitigate it. After I tried this method, my female is still chasing the male because it is protecting its fries. A tank with alot of hiding place is good e.g lot of ferns.
The aim here is to bond them not to totally eliminate aggression.

[WaterH2O]

Just another thing my tank is a 1 feet that that has no other fishes with only this breeding pair.