Back into Apistos.. with a slight problem

[stormhawk]

Haha Joe, yes major poison. I'm seriously considering getting baenschi now.

The eremnopyge female is all yellow but no action yet. I need to get a proper pH pen and reduce the pH further I think. Perhaps 5.5 - 5.8 should get them to breed. Funny thing is, now my bitaeniata in hiding mode. They never come out, only during feeding time, and the female is busy doing something under her hideout.. I hope not another spawning in progress.

[SCOPE]

Haha Joe, yes major poison. I'm seriously considering getting baenschi now.

The eremnopyge female is all yellow but no action yet. I need to get a proper pH pen and reduce the pH further I think. Perhaps 5.5 - 5.8 should get them to breed. Funny thing is, now my bitaeniata in hiding mode. They never come out, only during feeding time, and the female is busy doing something under her hideout.. I hope not another spawning in progress.

hehe! Master breeder got more pictures to poison us soon.....

[stormhawk]

I wish I was a master breeder, but I'm not.

Took a crappy photo of the female bitaeniata a few days ago with my HP:



I hope it's really female and not another random sneaker. Same fish I photographed last year after I purchased it from C328.

[SCOPE]

I wish I was a master breeder, but I'm not.

Took a crappy photo of the female bitaeniata a few days ago with my HP:



I hope it's really female and not another random sneaker. Same fish I photographed last year after I purchased it from C328.

i am sure this is a female.....

[stormhawk]

That's what I thought too, but it's been a few months and no action as yet. Maybe the male is not working hard enough. This particular female seldom turns yellow and never gets fat, but occasionally displays the mid body blotch like other females.

[joopsg]

I wish I was a master breeder, but I'm not.

Took a crappy photo of the female bitaeniata a few days ago with my HP:



I hope it's really female and not another random sneaker. Same fish I photographed last year after I purchased it from C328.

Could it be a female from another species?
Sneaker male?

[SCOPE]

Could it be a female from another species?
Sneaker male?

it is Bitaeniata...100% female....

[Luc Tango]

yuh, looks exactly like the female i have.

[mobile2007]

seems like all apisto keeper got sneaker phobia.

I wish I was a master breeder, but I'm not.

Took a crappy photo of the female bitaeniata a few days ago with my HP:



I hope it's really female and not another random sneaker. Same fish I photographed last year after I purchased it from C328.

[doppelbanddwarf]

I think a sneaker male is every apisto keeper's nightmare.

[genes]

That's what I thought too, but it's been a few months and no action as yet. Maybe the male is not working hard enough. This particular female seldom turns yellow and never gets fat, but occasionally displays the mid body blotch like other females.

Looks female to me too. I think Romer stated that bitaeniatas are not easy to breed and sensitive to diseases. Maybe thats why you still have no luck. However, i think otherwise. Try doing frequent 50% water changes. May help. But then again, maybe this trick does not apply to farm bred specimens because they have not experienced the seasonal water/temp changes compared to their wild cousins. I had lots of success breeding wild bitaeniatas but have never bought farm bred bitaeniatas before so, no experience with the latter.

[stormhawk]

Well I swapped out the bigger male with the smaller male. Let's see how it goes. I'm just hoping for the best. If there's no action I'll move them to my community tank, and see if that helps.

No losses among the trifasciata fry even with the last water change. I guess taking out the male was highly necessary. I did some minor modifications to the tank dividers so the fry don't escape via the gap behind the holders. So far so good.

[genes]

I think a sneaker male is every apisto keeper's nightmare.

Chongyu, its also part and parcel for keeping apistogrammas.

Even very experience players cannot do a 100% ID sometimes. These fishes are just too good in cloaking themselves!

[leeruisheng]

Looks like male to me too. Can see that it's about to form very small caudal extensions.

[stormhawk]

Update on my apistos. I lost the female wilhelmi to dropsy, the male bitaeniata to some other weird disease, and the female went with him up to fishy heaven soon after. Lost my eremnopyge male and now the female is not doing so good. My trifasciata female is gone as well, so the male is lonely again. At least the 3 juveniles are still going strong.

In any case, got myself these cheap Rams from C328:





The only 2 I could catch decent pictures of. I bought 10 originally, over 2 trips, but 1 died recently. Colouring up nicely in my community tank with brand new tank mates. Bought a bag of 30 Cardinals and those guys are little gluttons!

[exotic_idiot]

I'm sorry about your Apisto.. But it's just how it is.. Some people thinks they're hardy some people like me mine keep dieing too.. That's why we have the Apisto trading programme..

[stormhawk]

It's alright. Fishes die, it's a part of life. I think of it this way. More tank space for other fish. Always look on the bright side of life.

[exotic_idiot]

Yup it's good that you think that way "positive thinking"!!!
Lesson from mistakes too.. I have been reading your past threads..
Try not to partion them into small space should use atleast 1ft or more to house a pair if you want to breed.
And partion using silcone if your pair do breed the fries won't squeeze to compartment, I do make the same mistakes and a lot of fries end up as snacks..
So now planning to get a female for your trifasciata male?

[stormhawk]

I'm not going to breed them any more. Just raising the juvenile trifasciata and hoping I'll get a sexable pair out of them. Turning to other things for now. After losing the eremnopyge, the mood is lost so might as well keep other fish. The Rams are keeping me busy as well. I think I have 2 pairs out of the 9 pieces.

[joopsg]

I know how it feels when you see your precious apistogramma dies.
Just want to highlight something, try keeping them in cooler water condition.
Last time i tried keeping 1 pair in cooler water condition and 1 one with higher temperature.
The pair with the high temperature died first, think they age faster in higher temperature.
like human, as they age, they tend to fall sick easily.