analyze this....my apistos

[ronig]

Hi apistosmaniac,

Yesterday, i noticed my young pair of A.Hongsloi (M=2" & F=1.5" size) is starting to use the little flower pot 'cave' that i have provided in the tank.

The small little enterance of the 'cave' was partly covered by a pile of gravel. The female was inside most of the time. The male is always swimming around the 'cave'. I can tell that the female somehow does not allow the male to enter the 'cave'.

This morning i found out that both fish were inside the 'cave', & hell know what are they doing inside?. Mind if someone can tell me whats going on with these creatures?

cheers

ron []

[Simon]

make a wild guess [] what is the colour of the female? is the female showing her side to the male everytime the male swim near her? does she happen to be in the cave all the time? only coming out for food?

[ronig]

Hi Simon,

i am not sure if the female 'expose' herself to the male. but the male 'harrass' her like before. instead he just stay outside the cave, and he definitely knew that the female is inside, as the female will stick her hear out of the 'cave' sometimes.

I have not notice them feeding since last night. both of the seems to be totally out of side. i suspect they are both inside the 'cave' together

colour wise...not much different compare to when i bought them home.

I hope they were spawning alright, but i dont see any display of guardianship by both fishes.

moreover, my fishes are so small...

ron

[ronig]

I mean the male did not 'harrass' the female fish like before....

[Trevor]

i replied to yr postin in aro.com

Well. Tell tale signs are like what simon said.

The female show her belly to the male.

Tail lashing is involved.

Female turns yellow colour.

Female becomes very violent, chasing the male arnd when he comes to near to her or the nest.

thats all i can think of..

good luck !!

[ronig]

ya ya..i remember seeing tail lashing

but female is not violent. only tend to 'push' the male away if he happens to be near the enterance of the 'cave'.

Does A.hongsloi have the reputation of being a good parent?

[Simon]

LOL... imagine a wife scream at her husband

usually characteristics I notice after the female has laid her eggs;
1) she will go on her side and show the male her belly (egg stage)
2) she is always in or around her spawning area, leaving only for food but gets back ASAP (egg & fry stage)
3) she will chase everyone including the male away (egg stage)

[Trevor]

My suggestion to u now ronig is not to stare at the tank AT ALL.

My both apisto tanks are showing signs of hornyness too, hopefully some eggs will appear in 2-3weeks time.

So what i did to gave them the privacy they need just like humans. I took some paper and cover up totally the front of the tank.

Cheers mate.

[kubrich]

All the best to you ronig. Hope your apistos do spawn. One of either 2 things could be happening in my opinion...Either they're about to spawn soon. All the tell tale signs are what both trevor and simon mentioned. either that,they just suddenly seem to be getting along better. My cacas also do the same thing. When i first bought them, the male kept harassing the female and all. Then the female would always be hiding. Now she seems to be abit more gutsy and he leaves her alone more. They too occasionally share a pot tt i have for them . Cos i just moved them from a 1.5ft tank to a 1 ft tank with just a pot and another pot cut into half and i made like a terrace thing out of it and put in a small driftwood and a sock of peat moss. Hoping they will breed there cos in all the 5,6 months i have had them in the 1.5 ft tank, they never bred once...which is quite demoralising. For the past 5,6 months, the male always flares and lashes his tail at the female and the female sometimes does the same to the male. Thing is,she is constanly a slight yellowish shade. but never really yellow and never showing the sides to the male like my agas female does when she breed. So All the best to you ronig, but don't be too dissapointed if they don't spawn. apistos can be like humans too,change habits and behaviors,have different moods.
Cheers!

[Trevor]

Sean, sometimes gotta change the setup alittle.. Water change abit more then usual.. Etc.. Give them variation its good like what Simon had said.

For me i change my setup every 6mths. Heh.. Well Ronig.. Best of luck !! Oh ya, at times i throw in lotsa ice in da water too.. Hehe

[kubrich]

i do change the set up once every few months...then sometimes i'll change the water frequently after i leave it for like 2,3 weeks so that there is tt change tt sometimes triggers spawining.it's worked for my agas but not for my cacas...i'm gonna wait a few more weeks to see if they spawn in the diff tank they are in now,if they don't then i'll put them back in the 1.5ft but i'll change the layout abit.as for throwing in ice,i dun think tts a very gd idea...sudden change in the temp might shock the fish...but as long as it works for you..hey,anything goes rite.. so any luck with your fry trevor? manage to raise any?

[ronig]

Hi All,

thanks for all the good reply. just a few more questions though :P

Must i switch the lights off at all time to induce spawning?

I notice my male a.hongloi is really skinny. Infact both fishes doen not eat much. i often see the bloodworm (i only give 1/4 cube) which i gave them in the morning still left uneaten in the evening

What do you people use to feed your apistos? I gave them Hikari frozen bloodworm & daphnia.

ron

[kubrich]

You don't have to switch off the lights at all times but it would good if you could as tt would provide them with more privacy and less stress.
As for food, try a variation and see which one they respond better to. It could take them some time to get used to a certain type of food. Just be patient, meanwhile, just try and remove as much of the uneaten food as leaving it in there will just foul up your water quicker. i feed my apistos with hikari frozen bw too and sometimes hikari frozen brine shrimp,but they dun seem to like the frozen brineshrimp much. don't worry...they'll do fine. Just remember tt if you want them to spawn, try and keep good water conditions and don't stress them too much.[]
cheers