My 1st pair of Apistogramma agassizii

[shrimp999]

Just bought my very 1st pair of Apistogramma agassizii 'Red-Black' from Biotope yesterday. Hope they can do well in my tank. Picture taken yesterday when still bag in the plastics.
Here's the male pictures.


Here's the female pictures.

[illumnae]

congrats on your acquisition it's a beautiful pair that i've been admiring since the day after it came in a month or so ago...glad to see that it's found an owner!

this pair bred just 1+ weeks ago...i was there around the time the eggs were laid on thursday evening so you can be sure you have a fertile pair! did you see any fry in the tank when you bought the pair?

all the best with your new fish..may they live a long and happy life in your tank

[iwishweallcouldwin]

congrats bro, looks like you've gotten yourself a nice pair! hope they'll settle down fast and breed healthily for you!

[genes]

Hi shrimp999

Great buy! Notice the female is still in her breeding "dress" and her ventrals are black. Hopefully they spawn for you soon.

As long as the water is kept clean. You shouldn't have any problem with them. Enjoy this new found hobby!

[shrimp999]

congrats on your acquisition it's a beautiful pair that i've been admiring since the day after it came in a month or so ago...glad to see that it's found an owner!

this pair bred just 1+ weeks ago...i was there around the time the eggs were laid on thursday evening so you can be sure you have a fertile pair! did you see any fry in the tank when you bought the pair?

all the best with your new fish..may they live a long and happy life in your tank

Thanks! I didn't notice any fry in the tank. But they separated them into 2 tanks due to the female still aggressive. Need more advise from you guys in future.

congrats bro, looks like you've gotten yourself a nice pair! hope they'll settle down fast and breed healthily for you!

Thanks! I hope so!

Hi shrimp999

Great buy! Notice the female is still in her breeding "dress" and her ventrals are black. Hopefully they spawn for you soon.

As long as the water is kept clean. You shouldn't have any problem with them. Enjoy this new found hobby!

Thanks. They start eating now and notice that the female always bully the male. Keep my finger crossed!!!

[illumnae]

haha yeah they were separated after the eggs were laid as the female was whacking the male.

can you share with us what your tank setup for them is like?

[shrimp999]

I am using my "2ft Jungle" for them.



Tank consists of 20+ cardinal tetra, 4 x oto, 1 x SAE and 2 x yamato shrimps.

[Cacatuoides]

Welcome to the Apisto Club!!

Nice tank you have there, if you intend to breed them, there are too many occupants in it, you may want to remove them and keep only a few....since they've spawned before, it should be easy for them to go at it once again soon....

[doppelbanddwarf]

Yup i would remove the cardinals and the SAE. They could pick on the fries.

[shrimp999]

Welcome to the Apisto Club!!

Nice tank you have there, if you intend to breed them, there are too many occupants in it, you may want to remove them and keep only a few....since they've spawned before, it should be easy for them to go at it once again soon....

Thanks! How many of tankmates consider "a few"? Is yamato suitable to put together?

[doppelbanddwarf]

Your agassiziis might attack the yamatos. Otherwise if the yamatos manage to find places to hide then should be ok.

[Cacatuoides]

I would keep 2 otos and 5 cardinal tetras in it.
My pair is having a hard time fending off 5 neon tetras from their fries =p

[illumnae]

alternatively if you want more tankmates, try using pencilfish. my female caca had no problems fending off 10 golden pencilfish that were larger than her in size! didn't lose a single fry to the dithers in that batch.

yamatos are touch and go with apistos. i've had really poor luck with them...they last maximum 5 days before my apistos tear them to bits...i've tried 10+ yamatos over 4 different pairs of apistos with the same bad result.

[shrimp999]

Mmm...Looks like i have to get rid off most of my cardinal tetras.
Maybe will left 5 x Cardinals, 4 x oto and 2 x yamato in the tank and the rest will transfer to my another 2ft HC tank.
My yamatos are quite big. Hopefully can survive in the tank.
Notice that the female more use to the "natural" cave from the bogwood rather than the cave that i bought.
The male colour looks more stable now. But more timid compare to the female.
They swim freely now and sometime flaring at each others. Female currently more fierce.
I am using ADA amazonia with external canister filter.
Some how my PH around 6.8 to 7.0.
Will buy some ketapang leaf to lower the PH.

Hope to get more advise from you guys and i will be greatly appreciate.
Thanks in advance!

[illumnae]

the female would prefer the natural bogwood cave over the one you bought as it's more compact and thus makes her more secure and confident of defending it. the purchased cave has a big entrance hole and a huge interior...makes the fish scared

my experience is that most of the time, my apistos prefer the natural caves even over 1.5 inch diameter flowerpots. the only exception to this that i've had is when the female digs at the soil below the flowerpot and hides half the entrance under the soil

[genes]

Teach you a trick. Sink your cave into the soil such that only half the entrance is exposed.

[shrimp999]

Thanks for the explanation and tricks.....Will follow the trick and see what will happen!
Today added Ketapang leaf into the tank.
Will check the PH tomorrow.
And also removed all of my cardinal tetra from the tank.
Really hard time for me to catch the SAE but at last manage to net it.
Now my tank left 4 oto and 2 yamato only.
Went to NA this evening but cannot find any pencil fish.
Will look out other LFS tomorrow.

[illumnae]

if you put ketapang leaves into the tank, the female will likely breed under the leaves the moment i put leaves into my tank, both my pairs of apistos in separate tanks abandoned their favourite caves and went to breed under the leaves.

pencilfish wise, golden pencils are available usually at polyart and seaview. they're the cheapest type i think, but tend to grow rather large. dwarf pencilfish seem to be out of season at the moment

[shrimp999]

That means i need to put my Ketapang leaves inside the cave?
Or maybe i should roll up and tight it right up of my tank to prevent the female to breed under the leaves. Is this adviseable?

Will go around and check out the pencilfish stock at seaview

[doppelbanddwarf]

Personally i think if you want dither fishes the otocinclus would be enough. However if you want a school of pencilfish for aesthetic purposes then its ok, but a large school of pencilfish could mean competition for the slow-to-feed Apistogrammas.