Chromedome: Okay, a lot of people are getting interested in
keeping Apistos, as they are more available now than any time in the
last 40 years.

Chromedome: I’ve bred several species, some very easy, some not
so much.

Chromedome: I will lay down some basic considerations for setting up
a tank for these dwarfs.

Chromedome: First, I’ve talked to several people who have had
the opportunity to collect them, and seen photos of the collecting
sites.

Chromedome: In the wild, they live primarily in the leaf litter of
backwaters.

Chromedome: I’ve seen a couple of people actually duplicate
this environment, with almond leaves or Oak leaves, and a few pieces of
wood.

Chromedome: These are very shallow areas as well, rarely more than a
foot deep. Usually much less than that.

Chromedome: I like to see my fish, however, so I tend to compromise
a little on my setups.

Chromedome: First, gravel or sand is a necessary substrate. It must
be fine enough that the female can move it around, and the females are
generally less than an inch long.

Chromedome: I prefer to use Red Flint gravel, as it is darker than
sand, and the fish tend to look better. It comes in various sizes, but
#20 or #30 size works best.

Chromedome: As you can see in that photo, the small stuff is not
much bigger than sand.

Chromedome: I also use caves, though they really will spawn
underneath objects, much like central American Cryptoheros.

Chromedome: I don’t like keeping them in deep tanks, like 29 or
20 long. Usually, breeding can be done in a 10, 15 gallon for slightly
larger species.

Chromedome: One of my favorite forms for caves are split coconut
shells.

Chromedome:

Chromedome: As you can see, there’s not really much else in
that tank. However, A. sp. “Rot Punkt” is a rugged species, and the females are
more than capable of handling their men!

Chromedome: Planting really doesn’t help much in the breeding
tanks, but they can be kept in planted tanks. More important is a deep
substrate so that the female can keep the male out when she wants. She
will plug the door with gravel, making the opening small enough that he
can’t get through.

Chromedome: I bred Apistogramma macmasteri where the female was only an
inch and the male was nearly 3, and she kept the opening small. The male
will fertilize the eggs from outside.

Chromedome: Species where the sexes are closer in size, such as
agassizi, this is less important.

Chromedome: My personal feeling is that Apistos are really not very
good community tank fish, as they tend to be easily bullied, even by
medium size Tetras.

Chromedome: In a 10, you are going to be keeping a pair or trio, at
most. However, if you can upgrade to a long 20, for instance, you can
add another female or two to observe the harem behavior.

Chromedome: Water chemistry is another thing that many think is a
problem. However, the most common species, cacatuoides, sp. “Rot Punkt”,
borelli, and the steindachneri types, all will breed readily in
moderately hard water with a pH up to 7.8.

Chromedome: Others, like the Aggies, will live and breed in that
water, but the eggs will not hatch until you get the pH below 6.5 and
the hardness down to about 5-6 DH.

Chromedome: Any questions, jump in at any time.

why_spyder: Chrome - is there a reason for limiting females in a
tank?

Chromedome: Yes, the females are also holding their own territories,
and this is the limiting factor when setting up a harem. They hold a
much smaller territory than the male - often only a few inches around
the spawning area.

why_spyder: Chrome - regarding the females blocking the doorways -
is there a reason the males won’t dig through the barrier to get to
the females?

Chromedome: Generally, they don’t try. Not sure why, but I
suspect the female attacks if they try. She’s in a defensible
position, so can get away with it.

why_spyder: Chrome - do you have a preference of almond vs. oak
leaves? And how would someone determine if the oak leaves they have
around them are okay to use?

Chromedome: It also helps to have two tanks with breeders next to
one another. Males will display at other males more than they do at
females.

Chromedome: Oak is an old trick, if they are dead and dry they
should be fine. Almond leaves got popular with wild Betta breeders, but
I think there are places where they can be collected, also.

Chromedome: Personally, I have never used either. However, I haven’t kept any of the super sensitive species.

Chromedome: Some of the species that come from black water do better
in lower light, as well.

Dogwalker: Are there any tank mates that Apistos do well with? Dwarf
botia, smaller tetras, Colisa lalia, etc.

Chromedome: Personally, I rarely keep Apistos in anything other than
a breeding situation. However, most any small fish is fine with them, so
long as you don’t plan on raising fry in that tank.

Chromedome: They can be fairly aggressive with their own kind, but
generally ignore anything living over their heads.

why_spyder: Why are deep tanks like 29’s not as ideal as
10s/15s?

Chromedome: I feel that the deep water is not conducive to their
comfort. As stated at the start, they live in very shallow, very warm
backwaters. Also, the deeper the water, the bigger the predators.

why_spyder: Is there a lot of line bred species in this group?

Chromedome: Cacatuoides has been heavily line bred. Again, not to my
personal taste, but they are getting folks interested in Apistos.

tchill93x: Could you define line bred please...

Chromedome: Line breeding is breeding to enhance specific
characteristics. The Double Red, Triple Red, etc. have been bred to
increase the red and black markings in the unpaired fins. Some wild
lines of cacatuoides still have these, but not with the intensity of the
aquarium produced lines.

why_spyder: So, are these considered polygamous breeders?

Chromedome: Most Apistos are considered polygamous, and I have seen
one Cac male with three females guarding fry at the same time, all in a
15 gallon tank.

why_spyder: How deep do you recommend the substrate to be in an
Apisto tank

Chromedome: I’d say anywhere from an inch and a half to two
inches, depending again on the size of the fish.

Dogwalker: How long do Apistos live (kept properly of course)?

Chromedome: They are probably some of the shortest lived cichlids, I
think. Best reports are 4-5 years.

why_spyder: What kind of diet do these require?

Chromedome: They are foragers in the wild, eating whatever small
animals then can find. In aquaria, most are not picky, and learn quickly
to eat flakes or frozen foods.

Chromedome: Meaty type foods are what they prefer, but we tend to
overfeed them in the aquarium. In the wild, most of these species will
never grow to more than an inch and a half, but in aquaria the same
species will have males that reach 3 inches.

why_spyder: Wow, quite a difference in size.

Chromedome: Generally, you also want to keep them fairly warm, upper
70s to low 80s. However, some species have been observed in the wild at
water temperatures below 65 - caring for fry!

Chromedome: Is there anything I haven’t mentioned? Oh, yeah,
parental care.

Chromedome: Mama guards the kids, Dad is the territorial defense -
except against the other females. I’ve heard of females within a
harem stealing each other’s fry to care for them.

RustyNut: empty nest syndrome?

why_spyder: How hard are Apistos to come by, generally
speaking (I know it’ll vary with location).

Chromedome: Males really can’t be trusted in a small tank with
the fry, so I usually remove him if I have just a pair set up, such as
in a 10. I’ve even bred some very young pairs in 5 gallon tanks,
but don’t recommend it.

Chromedome: Apistos are very easy to get these days. I can think of
at least 3 mail order Internet operations that will get you most of the
species in the hobby.

Chromedome: Finding them in the store is not so easy. Nor will they
be cheap, if the species is identified.

Dogwalker: Much trouble with ‘trade name’ confusion?

Chromedome: When I started out, you could get mixed
Apistos; in almost every pet shop. Of course, most of those were
actually Nannacara anomala.

Chromedome: They really don’t have that many with trade names.

Chromedome: However, the many species complexes, and the numerous
species that may or may not be described, make identification tricky if
you don’t trust the source.

Chromedome: I would check out www.apistogramma.com for identification,
Mike Wise usually hangs there and can identify them almost from egg on
up.

why_spyder: Is there a lot of ‘bad strains’ out there - or have hobbyists worked hard to keep them on the up-n-up?

Chromedome: There are some questionable agassizi strains coming from
Europe. Bred for color, I suspect from different populations.

Chromedome: But they are very pretty.

Chromedome: Most of the hobbyists keeping Apistos tend to keep
pretty clean lines.

Chromedome: ApistoDave, David Soares, is pretty reasonable, but he
lives in the far NW, so shipping can cost.

Chromedome: You are not generally going to get them at the five for
a buck that "mixed Apistos" used to go for, so I would really
want to be breeding them before putting them in a community set up.

RustyNut: What would you recommend to a first timer

RustyNut: setup wise

Chromedome: Well, there are many Apistos that are easy to breed and
fairly pretty. Cacatouides are obviously good breeders, but they are a
larger species, so I wouldn’t try less than a 15 gallon tank.

Chromedome: Female Cockatoos will breed in a cave, under a log, on a
plant, anywhere they can hide the eggs.

Dogwalker: Do they prefer no current?

Dogwalker: (little current) (ie: shallow pool vs stream)

Chromedome: Current is bad in an Apisto tank. The holes most come
from are pretty much dead areas, pools left during the dry season.

Chromedome: I doubt very much that they breed during high water
seasons.

tjudy: Any temperature or pH-dependent sex ratio problems when breeding?

Chromedome: There was a study on this, and the Apistos used for the
test were all temperature dependent, rather than pH.

Chromedome: For sex, that is.

Chromedome: I used to have that report almost memorized, but....
old age sucks.

Dogwalker: Let me guess - warmer = more males?

Dogwalker: (usually the case with these things)

tjudy: Memory is the second thing to go.... I forget what the first is.

Chromedome: I seem to remember it went that way, yes. Ted, do you
remember?

Chromedome: I assume you’ve seen that study.

Chromedome: Not as many photo links as I normally use, but I really
didn’t get to prepare this as I usually do.

tjudy: Yes.. warmer equals males for some species

Chromedome: Well, I made sure I included a plug for Ted’s
website, www.apistogramma.com