Back into Apistos.. with a slight problem

[stormhawk]

After some work, I got this tank complete:



I decided against using ADA soils. My experience with them has been less than satisfactory in the past, especially with Africana. I went instead with the GEX soil (dark green bag). The size of the soil pellets are just what I needed, so that food doesn't get trapped in spaces amongst the soil pellets, and apparently my Apistos in this tank like the current environment.

Filtration is via an Eden 501 and a GEX E-Roka201 mini filter. The GEX mini filter is just to increase the water circulation. I decided not to use sponge filters, since the sponge at the dividers will probably act as biological filters of sorts.

From left to right:

3 x trifasciata juveniles (very greedy)
1 x trifasciata pair
1 x male bitaeniata (the dominant one)
1 x bitaeniata pair

I kept the female with the smaller male to see how he develops, and boy is he showing off more right now. The dominant male bitaeniata is constantly displaying to the male trifasciata through the glass.

Keeping a close watch on this tank over the next few days. Now I need another suggestion. What scavengers should I keep with the juvenile trifasciata? I thought about using my ramshorn snails, but I don't want them to overrun this tank as well. Perhaps some cherry shrimp should be fine?

Little bit of news, the dang trifasciata female laid eggs, while she was still in the breather bag. I was hoping she'd lay eggs in the tank instead, but she couldn't wait..

[altezza_87]

nicely done! i think a good lighting will make your tank and fish look good.

why not bumble bee snail? they don breed in the tank right?

[stormhawk]

The light I'm using is an old Kotobuki StepLight set. Adjustable to 1.5 ft, but since the maximum length is too short, I left it in the middle sector. They don't seem to like bright lights. I wanted to get a proper 2 ft light, but decided against it since the Kotobuki PL light is fairly bright to begin with. Even brighter than the old 1.5 ft FL light I was using for the Wilhelmi tank.

Bumble bee snail for the fry section? I don't think they can survive in the acid conditions. If they are Sulawesi snails, I doubt they'll stay alive in my tank. I'll probably get some Malayan or Cherry Shrimp since those guys are tough little critters.

I need to get some peat to help in acidifying the tank water, and some moss or extra Java fern for each partition. There's a ketapang leaf in the fry partition but not much effect for now. Water is still crystal clear.



The little trifasciata fry that retro_gk gave me. 2 of them in the shot, the 3rd is hiding. All 3 are healthy and feeding on almost everything I give them. Size between 1.3-1.5 cm, and already flaring at one another.

The father trifasciata is a stunner, but I can't get a clear shot at the male. He is very shy and runs away once he spots the camera. Has some fine lines in the tail fin. Very strange for a trifasciata.

[stormhawk]

Finally.. success.. in photographing the dang trifasciata male:



He's a stunner. Look at the tail fin. I've never seen trifasciata with stripes in the tail before. So this male is a boggler, at least to me.

Female here:



Pardon the crappy photographs. Taken with my handphone.

[mobile2007]

stormhawk, thanks for the pictures. The trifasciata really looks marvellous. The size looks bigger than my type of trifasciata ( female). One of the female spawned when she was still very small size.

I noticed that the centre lateral band is missing ?

The partition looks very nicely done. However, i think that 4 partitions is too small for breeding purpose. For more aggressive species, casuality might occurs during mating or after fries free swimming period.

[joopsg]

Regarding Mobile2007 Question:
I noticed that the centre lateral band is missing ?


I think he took the picture while they are still sleeping..

[stormhawk]

Nope they weren't sleeping. The male shows the middle lateral band when he's out feeding. In darker conditions like that cave hideout, he loses it and turns all blue. The female is huge. She's about the same size as the male. So far no action from them yet, but I noticed them moving around together.

I got no choice but to stick with the current 4 partitions. Took awhile to get them into place, because the space to work with wasn't easy, especially with a GEX tank that had the top black bracing piece around the edges. So I had to put the partitions in the tank and push them into place. Fitting the black sponge at the slots in between the partitions was very difficult too, because the space in between the tank panel and the divider's edge was like 2-3 mm. Took my gf awhile to squeeze them into place.

I planned it this way though. The 3rd partition containing the big male bitaeniata is like my male storage facility. If either trifasciata or bitaeniata spawn, I'll move the male into that partition. So far it's okay. Enough floor space for the fish to establish territories.

Right now the female trifasciata is fattening up. I hope she gets into spawning mode soon.

I still need to get peat and apple cider to help in acidifying the water further. Probably going down to C328 this weekend to get some aquarium peat.

[SCOPE]

i like the first pic......very nicely taken with the blue shine. the Photo is swee

[stormhawk]

Taken with flash scope, he's usually more white when he's out looking for food. Only time he ever turn bluish is when he see the bitaeniata male then flare like mad.

I hope they breed soon. This strain from bro retro_gk is awesome. I don't like the yellow headed trifasciata forms, this one with bluish head I love a lot.

[SCOPE]

Taken with flash scope, he's usually more white when he's out looking for food. Only time he ever turn bluish is when he see the bitaeniata male then flare like mad.

I hope they breed soon. This strain from bro retro_gk is awesome. I don't like the yellow headed trifasciata forms, this one with bluish head I love a lot.

yes, agree! swee...look like those German bred colors... not seen for many years already since SamYick last brought in from Germany.
Great sharing!

[joopsg]

Scope, you mean the Guapore Red strain??
Long Time no see the wine red dorsal..

[mobile2007]

For partitioning, i think everyone faced the same problem and used the sponge to plug the gap.

Kind of troublesome, so i went down to serangoon hadrware shop and cut the acrylic sheet to size. Very nicely fit into the fiveplan and nisso 2ft tank. 28.7cm for the width, no more gaps, fries can't even get though. But u need to drill some holes in the middle for the water circulation.

[stormhawk]

Well too late for that now. I'm happy with the sponge fillers at the gaps. They don't restrict water flow. As of right now, the fry partition's water level is slightly lower, but the other 3 partitions are equal level. Even when I top up water, it stays the same way. So I don't bother any more as long as there's no water flow issues.

Besides, sooner or later the sponge will host some beneficial bacteria anyway. So in essence they will act as mini sponge filters within the same tank.

[altezza_87]

For partitioning, i think everyone faced the same problem and used the sponge to plug the gap.

Kind of troublesome, so i went down to serangoon hadrware shop and cut the acrylic sheet to size. Very nicely fit into the fiveplan and nisso 2ft tank. 28.7cm for the width, no more gaps, fries can't even get though. But u need to drill some holes in the middle for the water circulation.

did you silicon it to the tank since there won't be space to use the holder to keep the acrylic in place?

[mobile2007]

The acrylic sheet stand on its own, but will slanted to one side when you siphoned water from the partition.

You can use silicon gel to permantly fix it in place. As i don't want a fix partition, i placed 1 rubber suckers on each side to support them.

[altezza_87]

i see i see. i don't want to see my partition moving so i rather stick to using the holder and covering holes with sponge.

[mobile2007]

Well, for your case, as long it works fine, don't see anything wrong with that method. I always believed there are more than one way of tackling a problem, just sharing alternative way over here.

[altezza_87]

yea no problem keke. i think as long as there is flexibility it will be great for the fishes.

[stormhawk]

Well for those who want to make the holders as "invisible as possible, place them right at the bottom and fit the dividers in. Then when you fill in the gravel/substrate, it "disappears" from sight.

A photo I took last night:



The bigger male bitaeniata. Anyone got an idea of the population? I like the bluish tones.

[cory]

Nice bitaeniata you have there

Can share where you acquired them & pm me the damage if possible?

After clearing some of the fishes have some tank space for a new pair of apisto, yesterday after reading bro burpz's post thought of getting a pair of panduro. Is it difficult to find in spore? Any recommendations?

Thanks.