Re: tucurui, first behaviour.

[Marco "Túlio" Lacerda <marcolacerda@ax.apc.org>]

Jan Busser wrote:
> 
> Last week I asked some things about A.tucurui and did get some info back
> (thanks for that).
> I'm 99% sure it really is tucurui due to a pic i saw.
> I bought 4 speciman (2 males, 2 females, it was all they had!) and placed
> them in a 150cm tank with 4 juvenile P.altums.
> One of the females is already yellow and according to her body she layd some
> eggs (haven't found them yet).
> In my oppinion: A big difference with other apisto's is their aggression.
> Esspecially the males can't be kept together. My tank is 150 * 50 * 50 cm
> (375 liters) and it's still too small.
> The "father" also hunts down the other (not-yellow) female. Logical
> conclusion: I'll split the two couples later this afternoon in order to try
> and get spawn from 2 couples, especially since they seem extinct in nature
> (read mike's and bob's reply).
> With two seperate couples the spawning-chance is of course much bigger!
> I'll keep you informed.
> I also like to know something about the waterchemistry of there (disapeared)
> natural habitat.
> Jan

Dear Jan,

At first the natural biotope is not disapeared, see my previous e-mail.
Water is tea-colored, with pH 5.5-6.0 (varied depending on the point of 
the swampy stream). An opened area, with Cyperaceae (aquatic plants 
Eleocharis-like) providing lot of shelter. Other fishes on biotope were 
some tetras. A. sp. "Tucurui" is not abundant on the biotope.
Yes, I also have same experience that they're very agreessive towards 
themselves.

Cheers, Marco.