Female Apistogramma elizabethae not colouring up
Hi all, bought a pair of ap. elizabethae 'icana' from biotope last saturday. However, i am unable to get the female to colour up despite the male already showing vibrant colours.
I also notice that the female will only colour up when it is in the presense of the male. Any other time, the female will only display a stress coat namely dark colour on the body.
Did not frighten the female at all, female very actively swimming around.
Both pair are eating very well. And i was wondering if it is due to the ph of 6.8. Currently still trying to lower the ph. Using peat but the substrate does not seem to help,
using a mixture of some old soil and ada amazonia adding some crs magic soil.
Any signs of the male being aggressive towards the female? Try adding some pencil fishes for dithers and more java ferns for hiding places. Dark body coloration does not only means stress. The female could be down with some sickness. Look out for sunken belly or bloat if her appetite deteriorates. Also, somethings adding a heater can help too
Eugene (^_^)
De Dwergcichlide Fanatiek
Now swimming: Plecos and Apistogrammas
Definately no sunken belly, my female eats like a pig! It even chases my male around sometimes. The male is more courting than aggressive towards the female, female does the S shape thing like normal.
Female seems very healthy other than the dark colour. Adding heater meaning my water too cold? So no relation to ph? Any idea the ideal ph for ap elizabethae?
Don't think its pH issues as i've kept eliz in pH 6.5 without problems. I would say a pH of 5 to 5.5 would be ideal for most apistos.
Adding a heater to relieve any signs of disease if there is.
Eugene (^_^)
De Dwergcichlide Fanatiek
Now swimming: Plecos and Apistogrammas
No signs at all. Sigh its just the colour only, and the female would colour up when the male around, which is weird, its as though she uses it to attract the male only.
All is good when they are healthy. Elizabathaes are not difficult to spawn. Just give the pair more time.
Eugene (^_^)
De Dwergcichlide Fanatiek
Now swimming: Plecos and Apistogrammas
Haha not so much about the spawn i'm hoping the female does not die on me due to unsuitable water conditions over time. But i'm guessing after one week and its eating well i should be quite safe.
female died on me. funny thing is that there is eggs inside of her that was seen inside her after death. Before that female had a bloated belly so i decided to find out what was wrong with it.
When i attempted to hold on to the dead female by the belly, i saw eggs coming out from the bladder. the eggs were pink. anyone else experienced this?
guess there's no one that experience this cause before. think its more like a miscarriage cause i decided to move the female away to another tank as it wasnt
able to feed due to the male. And within hours the female passed on. I doubt its the new tank as i have sakura shrimps inside and its suppose to have a better water quality.
May not be miscarriage. If it wasn't eating previously in the original tank, it probably got stomach bloat or some other internal parasite causing it to lose appetite and ultimately death.
Eugene (^_^)
De Dwergcichlide Fanatiek
Now swimming: Plecos and Apistogrammas
the thing is that i found eggs inside the belly, which was the cause of the bloat. after the eggs were out the stomach was normal again. so i was wondering if its possible for the female to die due to it not being able to release its eggs.
It could be the other way round, the bloat cause the eggs to flow out after her death and with your finger pressure on the belly.
Eugene (^_^)
De Dwergcichlide Fanatiek
Now swimming: Plecos and Apistogrammas
and the female was constantly looking out for food, i feed bbs daily only. the only reason it could not feed well was due to the male flaring at it. it was able to flare back the day before i transfer it to another tank which it died.
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