Apistogramma elizabethae (lousy pictures)

[doppelbanddwarf]

My pair of wild Apistogramma elizabethae bought from nicktc. A combination of wet weather today and some feeding of bbs have brought about an unexpected surprise. Pardon the poor pictures.






In the last picture the female is under the echinodorus leaf where she has laid her eggs.
Prior to today I was afraid I might have a sneaker male. Now she has proved me wrong.
But I'm surprised that even in breeding dress the female does not display any black on her ventrals. Is this normal?

[genes]

Thats interesting. So far, my female A. elizabethae all spots black ventrals and yellow body with black lateral spots when they are breeding.

Good luck with your brood!

[doppelbanddwarf]

Thanks. The lack of black on ventrals is what led me to suspect she was a sneaker. But even now the ventrals are transparent.
Even if this batch of eggs don't make it I'm still glad that now at least I know I have a male and a female.

[illumnae]

told you she wasn't a sneaker congrats on your spawn! i like the red cheeks of your male that doesn't extend to the belly

[doppelbanddwarf]

Haha thanks Yi Xiang. Ya you were right. As for the male, its more orange rather than red but I also prefer colour restricted to face area.

[nicktc]

The female sure is sneaky.

Congrats on the spawn. The male looks really good. Hope you get a good hatch.

[SCOPE]

Congrates on the spawn.....

[yorky]

Chong Yu,
Interesting to note that she has not displayed brood care colours at this stage.
But is she at least displaying brood care behaviours?

[doppelbanddwarf]

Thanks all. Eh York Seng the female has displayed the two spots and yellowish breeding coloration. The only thing that is lacking is the black on the ventral fins. Also she's been swimming around and back to the eggs.

[doppelbanddwarf]

Its 2 days since the eggs have been laid, and I'm surprised the eggs are still there and seem to be viable too.
Also the female is starting to show black on the ventrals.

[illumnae]

hope to see pictures of your fry soon

[doppelbanddwarf]

The setup isn't really conducive for spawning. Its still the temporary partition until I setup a more permanent one for them. I'm not sure whether I should pull some of the fry out, that is if I manage to get fry.

[illumnae]

haha i feel your pain. my elizabethae have also spawned numerous times, but due to the way the tank is set up, i have been unable to maintain the eggs/wrigglers/fry...they've perished at various stages. i think i had a spawn again last night...maybe this time i'll try benetay's method of artificial hatching.

all the best to you!

[doppelbanddwarf]

Haha maybe I should pull some out and leave some so that i can see the parents in broodcare.

There's a small gap between the partition and the tank wall and one crystal tetra likes to be in this half. The strange thing is the 2 elizabethaes do not seem to mind the tetra at all. Also a few otos always hang out just centrimetres away from the clutch of eggs but again no aggression.

Seems like the only fish they deem is a threat are the A.baenschi on the other side of the partition.

[illumnae]

i guess it depends on the fish my bitaeniata female didn't mind otos either, but my agassizii 'tefe' killed all the otos even when the otos were at the other end of the tank, and the hatchetfish that hung out at the surface. my elizabethae pair is comfortable with 3 Trig. espei, 6 dwarf pencilfish and 3 otos. any more added are always whittled down to this same number

[doppelbanddwarf]

The pair doesn't even chase the tetra when it gets really close. And the tetra likes to get into that half of the partition no matter how many times i move it back. But well I'm just glad I have a confirm female. I'll get them into a more permanent setup.

[yorky]

I think they have good survival chance assuming they do hatch, since there's no other fishes except 1 tetra.

[doppelbanddwarf]

What I'm afraid of is the fry swimming to the wrong half of the tank. However for now I'm still counting my chickens (fry) before they even hatch.....

[raymond]

Good luck bro. Nice pair of wild eliza you have there. Keep us updated on the progress of them.

[nicktc]

It would be easier to remove the tetra and the other apistogramma.

Unless you have the lights on 24hr, chances of fry straying to the other side of the partition is very high.