Re: Apistos in a community tank

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

Max,

Nothing to "slab" you on this translation. "Bachlingen", I think, means small
rivulins (killifish).

Uwe has always been a proponent of keeping his apistos in conditions as close to
natural as possible. He believes (and is very probably correct) that apistos
behave more like they do in the wild in this kind of set-up. Most of his tanks
where he keeps such communities are in the 2m (7') [500 l or 130 gal] range (nice
if you can afford them). I see absolutely nothing wrong with this method, but
most people want more than 1 or 2 fry from a spawn. If you want a community tank,
and do not expect any breeding success, this will be a great one to try.

Mike Wise

Max Gallade wrote:

> Hi all,
> I'm a long time  reader "lurker" of the list.I'm a Apisto , SA dwarf cichlid
> nut for a few years.I was born and raised in Germany and moved to the US 11
> years ago.
> I stumbled across a very interesting statement in Uwe Römer's Book
> "Cichliden Atlas" that I translated for y'all to kick around(Page 306
> -308)Aquarium Biology  A.bitaenniata,beginning of 4th sentence:
> An optimum keeping  would be in groups of ca.10-20 individuals of this
> species w.small characins or small top oriented Bachlingen (Pencilfish?) in
> relatively soft humic acidic water.Corydoras,ancistrine and loriiciid
> catfish or small pike cichlids (dwarf crenicichla)would be adequate aquarium
> companions.In contrary to the often in the aquarium world mentioned
> fear,healthy dwarf cichlid are very able to raise their brood around catfish
> and small crenicichla,if they have enough hiding places.In such aquarium
> keeping which I practise for many years,the breeding  success is not as high
> as single pair keeping, but it is high enough to keep the line going,and the
> fish develope their complete natural behavior repertoire.Unfortunately many
> aquaristik publications suffer under the little knowledge their authors have
> about the behavior potential of the above mentioned species.
> A.bitaeniata is e.g.in isolated pair keeping (like other Apistogramma
> species)often very aggressiv what could lead to death.The fish stay polygam
> in bigger tanks,if you keep groups in an enemy free situation.The males will
> defend large territories in which they will breed with as many females as
> possible.If enemy fish appear like fry robbing dwarf crenicichla the fish
> will build a binding pair that will defend their fry together against the
> enemys.The roles between the sexes are strictly divided:The male defends the
> larger breeding area of ca.20cm radius or the fry and the fem.mainly takes
> care of the eggs,larvey or fry.If an overwhelming predator appears both
> partners will collect as many fry as they can in their mouth and move them
> out of the dangerzone.Therefore only the fry that the parents are able to
> collect will survive in the wild.There are of course a few graduations
> between these extremes.In any case has the behavior under such husbandry
> more diversity and is closer to the wild behavior than single pair keeping.
> Plus another aspekt of the husbandry with enemy fish is the avoidance of
> mass reproduction.Only pairs that have the biological behavorial adaption
> potential will have reproduction success.End of translation, M.W.  slab me
> if I made to many mistakes.
> Very happy to have two weeks old A.nijsseni fry .
> Max Galladè
>
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