Re: Apisto pairs [rant, but interesting]

[Mike & Diane Wise <apistowise@bewellnet.com>]

Sam,

Half of my apistos I keep as pairs in small tanks
(10-15 gal.). The trick for beginners is to know
which species are polygamous and which it doesn't
matter. Your bitaeniatas & cacatuoides are
definitely polygamous. In such species "sneaker
males" are fairly common. The are often hard to
tell from real females even for me. Your problem
seems to be bad luck as much as anything. My
suggestion is to buy 2 or 3 pairs if you don't
feel that you'll be able to find them later.
Quarantine them in an open tank. Like other
cichlids if there are no territorial markers in
the tank, territories are almost impossible to
maintain by any but the largest most aggressive
males. Make sure there are 2-3 hiding places for
each apisto (both male & female) in the tank.
Flower pots & PVC pipe work well for this. In a
24" long breeding tank of polygamous species keep
2 females & a male together. Hold the other male
in reserve. Make sure the tank is split by 2 or 3
obvious territorial markers.  Leave all other
bottom dwelling fish out of a breeding tank. They
just add stress to the apistos who really don't
need them. After some successful experiences with
apistos I'm sure you'll be able to better ID pairs
and even keep polygamous species as pairs. It just
take patience & practice.

Mike Wise

wingko yung wrote:

> Hello everyone... Here's an observation that I
> would really appreciate some feedback on.  I
> don't know if its just me, but I find buying
> pairs of dwarf cichlids does not work.  I've
> never had success (breeding) in apistos that
> I've bought in "pairs".  The first "pair" that i
> got was A. bitaeniata at a fish convention.  The
> "female" turned out to be a subdominant male,
> and was promptly killed...the larger fish later
> died.  Next, I bought a pair of A. borelli, as
> I'd heard they were easy to breed (lucky i
> didn't buy the pair of A. agassizii
> "Alenquer"...), and the female died a couple
> weeks later, still don't know why...the male
> followed dutifully and quickly after. Anyway, my
> latest venture has been with a pair of A.
> cacatuoides "orange".  For the first time I
> thought I'd got a viable pair.  Then I
> introduced a couple corys and I found the female
> dead the next morning.  The nice male
> survived...and i was hunting for a good
> replacement female.  The only problem was that
> the shop that stocked the fish only sold apistos
> as "pairs only" and wouldn't sell me an extra
> female.  Well, i got lucky once as i counted all
> the fish in the latest shipment and found one
> extra female, and I took the fish home.  Anyway,
> this time I wanted to make sure the female
> wouldn't die (or until after she had at least
> spawned...) so I kept her in her own 20 gal
> aquarium for 3 weeks, feeding frozen BW and
> BShrimp as well as BBS.  As the female grew
> plump with eggs, I netted the male and placed
> him in the tank with her.  The female was so
> desperate to spawn that she immediately started
> displaying to him.  The male looked a bit
> quisy...but I was sure a spawn was imminent
> (hey, what male in his right mind wouldn't want
> to get it on with a ripe female?).  Anyway, I
> went downstairs the next day (today) and found
> his nice carcass on the bottom of the tank... Is
> it just mmmmeeeee??  Has anyone had success
> spawning with just a pair of apistos?  If so,
> how? If my experiences mean anything, buying
> just a pair will hardly ever work.  Especially
> for beginners it might seem enticing (you pay
> less for just a pair than a group), but in the
> end it will be much more beneficial to spend the
> extra little money (or in my case, find a source
> who would sell more than "pairs only") to get a
> group, than to have one fish die and dash your
> hopes for fry.  In a group, the fish will have a
> much better chance to survive against violence
> (i.e. fighting spread out), and you can afford
> to lose a fish or two and still got one or two
> good pairs. What do you think? regards Sam Yung



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