stormhawk's Apistogramma cacatuoides

[stormhawk]

Found these fellas at C328. Decided I'd give 4 of them a home. Here's one of their shots:



Pardon the quality, I am equipped with a nooby camera, and shaky hands.

Now.. to find females for these handsome boys.

[trident]

nice catch storm

[stormhawk]

Thanks Richard. They're now in a breeding trap in my 3ft tank, feeding on live tubifex. When they have fattened up a little more I will move them to new quarters. When I fished them out of the tiny tank they were quite skinny.

When I get some females I'll probably rotate the males around. I cannot release the extra males into the main tank because there are 2 Nannacara anomala females patrolling the tank.

[genes]

I would suggest you feed frozen brine or any staple foods if they eat. We avoid tubifex and bloodworms because some of us have experienced death of the apistos from internal parasites when we feed them these foods.

[benny]

Hey!! Nice!!

Welcome back to fishkeeping stormhawk!

Cheers,

[Shadow]

I would suggest you feed frozen brine or any staple foods if they eat. We avoid tubifex and bloodworms because some of us have experienced death of the apistos from internal parasites when we feed them these foods.

how about those frozen bloodworms? will it cause death due to internal parasites as well? m guess is the parasite will also be killed during the frozen process

[genes]

I am not too sure about that. Hikari bloodworms are parasite free as mentioned on the package. However, i still prefer to feed frozen brine shirmps. Bloodworms only as a treat occasionally.

[mobile2007]

How come no females? how to breed ? From their finnage, they are still very young, i think.

Would suggest you feed them new life spectrum, live tubifex/bloodworms as a treat once a week.

[stormhawk]

They came in a bunch with no females, and were being sold cheaply. I just took the 4 nicest (to me at least) and brought them back. They're nicer in real life than in the picture I took.

I'm using tubifex for now and they're happily feeding on it. I will be switching them to Hikari Micro Pellets soon. All my fishes get tubifex every 2-3 days, whenever I manage to get the worms that is. There's a shop near my place that sells live bloodworms regularly. I might try them soon, but because these males are still skinny I would prefer for them to fatten up on the tubifex first. The ball of tubifex I gave them is almost gone, and they're pooping normally.

Hikari Frozen Bloodworms are parasite free when you first purchase them. If stored too long they will get infested by bacteria, which in turn may kill your fish.

mobile2007, I have never tried out NLS. Might look into it the next time I visit C328. I did enquire about the females but the uncle said only these males arrived in 1 bag. I did see such males for sale too at Wu Hu sometime ago, for roughly the same price. Same type of colour and finnage form. In the picture, the bottom 2 are smaller than the other two. The top-most fish has a pale purplish?bluish? colour in his pelvic and belly region. I guess my flash washed it out.

Thanks Benny. I'm slowly getting back into it. Now I just need females.

[Edit: I was just checking on my males in the breeding trap, and the anomala females have taken on brooding colours and displaying to them!!]

[Zenislev]

Yeah, my female cacatuoides is calling out for your males. Haha!

[stormhawk]

Well if I can make it to the east, I'll pick her up. They're waiting too.

Some pictures to add:



My strongest male, although not the biggest, but he has the best finnage and pattern out of the 4 males.



Same fish, without flash. Shaky hand syndrome again.

[stormhawk]

A little update, this time with better pictures.



The nicest male in my quartet, now in his personal palace of love.



One of my newly acquired females, courtesy of a fellow forumer. Big thanks to Ram for the females. This particular one is absolutely beautiful, I love her to bits.

She's beginning to show a yellowish body colour, and her dark stripes seem to have increased in intensity, especially when the male is nearby. I will be fattening up both fishes with some live food, and hopefully they will start breeding soon.

[trident]

stormhawk,
wow, that was quick, breeding color is up, now to wait for the eggs

[Jaws]

Somehow... Cacas is still my favourite Apisto. The other one is Macmasteri.

(Edit: The differences on the variants have been split to this thread, http://www.aquaticquotient.com/forum...ad.php?t=39740, for consolidation and better discussion.)

[Ram]

Ray, your photo's skill has improve a lot, nice pictures and colour.
You have to prepare more tanks once they are successful in breeding.
Have fun with your new collection.

[doppelbanddwarf]

A wonderful pair. The female is a real beauty. Good luck with breeding them.

[stormhawk]

Thanks all. I'm hoping all goes well this time. My first caca triple red pair from C328 conked out on me. I'll update if they do spawn.

[Fei Miao]

Nice catch...

[Don90]

The finnage of your male cacatuoides looks a little yellow in this pic.

but still, nice catch.

[stormhawk]

It is yellowish, orangish, to that extent. Does not bother me, he is doing fine and flaring constantly to the female.

I got him for $4, so I can't complain much.