Apistogramma!

[BettaJesseBetta]

My male does this all day I don't know if he's bored of everyone or what but he does it and shakes his head it's cool to watch he is really chill at feeding time he waits for everyone to get a few of the bloodworms then bam grabs the biggest wad of them and takes off everyone else swims away scared

 

[severum mama]

I doubt you'll know today whether it's going to be a problem.

I've kept Bolivians, GBR, 15 or so species of Apistos, and several other dwarf cichlids... I don't think I would attempt 4 pairs in a 55, but I hope that works out.

Apisto cacatuoides are one of the easiest species of Apistogramma to keep. They're hardy and adaptable... I would not bother messing with pH in this tank. Much different than the more delicate species.

 

[BettaJesseBetta]

I have a question are apistos the hiding type? I got my 2 pair of apistos about 4 days ago and all are rarely seen out in the swim area they come out to eat for about five minutes then the go back to their cave or behind plants or under driftwood and also everyone have really colored up but this guy his fins are all colored but the bar on the body is really light everyone else's bar are really dark here is a pic of him compared to his gf

 

[severum mama]

Your female is starting to show breeding colors. That doesn't mean she's going to spawn right away, but don't be too surprised if it happens pretty soon. The yellow and black will intensify until she looks like a bright yellow fish with black striping. Your male looks totally normal to me for cacatuoides. Males don't turn yellow.

Hopefully, if they spawn, they'll leave your other fish alone. They aren't terribly aggressive, but you have kind of a lot going on in the bottom of that tank. Good luck!

 

[britsmith9211]

Beautiful!

 

[BettaJesseBetta]

Your female is starting to show breeding colors. That doesn't mean she's going to spawn right away, but don't be too surprised if it happens pretty soon. The yellow and black will intensify until she looks like a bright yellow fish with black striping. Your male looks totally normal to me for cacatuoides. Males don't turn yellow.

Hopefully, if they spawn, they'll leave your other fish alone. They aren't terribly aggressive, but you have kind of a lot going on in the bottom of that tank. Good luck!

Breeding?! Do you think she is big enough to breed? This a side by side and the gunk I cleaned up during the last water change sorry she has been hiding a bit so I couldn't take a more recent pic but here they are side by side for size comparison

 

[BettaJesseBetta]

Beautiful!

Thank you

 

[severum mama]

I've had female apistos start breeding at just over an inch. Lol. Wouldn't surprise me a bit!

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[BettaJesseBetta]

I've had female apistos start breeding at just over an inch. Lol. Wouldn't surprise me a bit!

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Ok I will watch them closely then he has been chasing and doing some head twitching in their section of the tank so maybe that's why they've been hiding

 

[newbie_dave]

The same thing happened to me didn't see mine for a few days and didn't know what was going on and it turned out they were breeding but Cory's got there eggs but mine are really small about an inch

 

[schoeplein]

Dang. I gotta get my hands on a pair of those!

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[Brookster123]

Who me???

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[newbie_dave]

Who me???

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I like this lol

 

[BettaJesseBetta]

Dang. I gotta get my hands on a pair of those!

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What kinda fish is that on your profile pic?

 

[severum mama]

Mandarin dragonet

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[Brookster123]

Mandarin dragonet

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Ahhhh must resist urge to go sw... why must you put these thoughts on my head

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[schoeplein]

They're an amazing fish. Like water based hummingbirds. Super hard to feed since 90% of the time they won't eat packaged foods - they eat primarily these microworms that live in live rock and you have to find a consistent source of them since they'll eat all of them in your tank before they can reproduce. I had a source, but I was lucky and got one that ate frozen and dried blood worms. One of the few fish that could be in virtually any tank, too - predators left it alone.

Rams and apistos really remind me of em - hovering and hanging out on the ground. Very similar looking mouths, too.

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[BettaJesseBetta]

RIP Rockstar :/
He caught a case of bloat 8/ I found out that daily feeding with frozen/freeze dried blood worms will do that so I switched to hikuri frozen brine shrimp and spirulina luckily I'm going out of town where they actually sell apistos


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[Brookster123]

Bummer man, yah I only feed bw's once maybe twice a week with lots of ruffage in between and a fast on Sunday to clear them out..

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[Iamtechno13]

I never feed them Blood worms as I don't even want to risk it. I've found PE Mysis shrimp work very well for me along with PE Cyclops in the rotation with my other foods for breeding.