Re: Agassizii breeding assistance needed

[David Sanchez <barbax2@yahoo.com>]

Dave Apistos are eager to spawn so just hang in there
and things should happen on their own. As all south
american riverine Cichlids love water changes are the
best trigger to getthem to spawn. As you have noted
water changes brings the level of dissolved waste down
as noted by the reading on your TDS meter. Keep
feeding heavy and doing regular water changes.
bringing the pH up is not the best idea s their native
water are rather low. I have spawned Aggies in very
low pH myself with great results. The key to spawning
them is lots of food and very clean water. Water
changes will stimulate them to do what comes natural
to them. One point to consider is trhe fact the
Apistos are short lived fish so if you bought them
very large it is possable they are past their prime.
Older fish takelonger to spawn then younger fish and
older fish take longer to acclimate to new tank
conditions as well. I would only suspect age at as the
last resort. Everyone has given great advice so just
take the pieces that will help you the most Good luck

Dave Sanchez


--- rdlittle3@comcast.net wrote:
> I have a pair in a 15 gal tank by themselves and I
> can't seem to find the trigger that will get them to
> spawn.  
> 
> They both at times look like there is some interest
> as the male on occasion will flare the fins and go
> through some body posturing.  The female will mirror
> the displays every now and then.  
> 
> The female is enormous; it looks like she is going
> to burst.  Her coloration is the drab brown with
> hints of yellow above and below the horizontal
> stripe running down her body.  I've never seen the
> intense yellow coloration the female is supposed to
> take on during breeding.
> 
> A couple of weeks ago there was a similar discussion
> so I checked my water parameters and found my pH a
> little low, 5.3, temp 78F and my TDS meter was
> reading about 150.  I undertook some water changes
> and last week I brought the TDS reading down to 97
> and the pH was 5.6.  Last night I did a massive
> water change and the reading on the TDS meter is 55
> (the reading had crept up to 117), pH is 5.75 and
> temp is 78F.  
> 
> Other than bringing up the pH to 6.2 or so, what
> else can I do to get them to spawn?  The only thing
> I can think of is adding some dithers.  The only
> fish I presently have that I feel comfortable adding
> from a "cleanliness"  standpoint is some Nannostomus
> beckfordi, and I'd rather not use them unless
> absolutely necessary as it looks like they are close
> to spawning themselves.   I don't like the idea of
> adding some fish I just bought from the LFS to my
> pair.
> 
> Any other suggestions.
> 
> Thanks as always for the great information.
> 
> Dave
> 


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