That was fun

[Wizzard~Of~Ozz]

Spent 1.5hrs trying to get 5 Clown Loaches out of my tank, (7:00 - 8:25).. raced to the fish store with 3 minutes to spare.

Paid 20$ for 6,Sold the 5 for 40$, but I have to go back tomorrow to pick up some different fish..

The reason for getting the clowns out of the tank (and that was a major chore) was that they were eating all the baby Kribs.

My question, How are Apisto's? are they generally all well behaved? Will they eat any babies? (I'm mainly concerned about night time since the parents are very good at protecting the babies when they can see them)..

I'm not too concerned about turf wars since the tank is 120Gal and is planted.

 

[rich311k]

Apistios are semi aggressive but less aggressive than your kribs. Your kribs may give them a hard time. I can assure they will eat baby fish if they can.

 

[Jchillin]

I agree with Rich (which is not uncommon). Despite the size of the tank, it is woefully hard to keep curious predatory fish away from babies.

 

[Wizzard~Of~Ozz]

Went to the store and was lookin around, decided to try a couple, worst case I bring them back in (30 Day policy).. The Kribs are chasing the Apisto Agassizi Double reds.. But I'm not sure if that just has to do with the single surviving baby that I just found when I got home (breeding behaviour)... I'll wait it out, Still not sure if they are a male and female yet, tho they don't fight when they get close to each other and they do look slightly different (one is lacking blue specks, has a more "red" hue to it and has yellow in it's dorsal fin.)

The other 2, we couldn't identify.. Now that they are in the tank, they are a ram of some sort, looks just like a GBR except no distinct markings, no black spikes and they are a light tan colour.. I'll have to keep trying to ID them, any ideas on Rams other then Bolivian and German? (They have little to no blue or yellow in them, but identical shape.. They were unmarked in the tank)

 

[Jchillin]

Sounds like you have a strain of pale gold rams. Not entirely uncommon, sorta like the albino variety. I'll need a pic of one to confirm.

 

[Wizzard~Of~Ozz]

That should have enough detail.

 

[aquariumnoob]

looks kinda like this picture which says bolivian ram:

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=1082&N=3

 

[Jchillin]

That should have enough detail.

Indeed it does. It does appear to have more Bolivian traits but to tell the truth, I've never seen one so pale. It may be the pic but do the stripes look green as they do in the pic?

 

[Wizzard~Of~Ozz]

They actually look brown, There is a slight hint of green tho, Almost olive. I'll have to get another picture after they've settled in.

As predicted the Kribs are not too happy about the new "guests". Hopefully they'll have calmed down a bit by tomorrow and these fish will start to get their colouration. The kribs seem to be actively hunting them, not just passively attacking them. (Must be the fish store smell)..

The agassizzi double reds seem to be drawing fire as well. I don't see this aggression towards any other fish, with 2 exceptions (and not as extreme), the clown loaches used to draw fire from about 18" away, the SAE also draws attacks from 12".. I find the behaviour of these fish to be most interesting, but the kribs are behaving like 8 sq feet is their territory when it comes to these new fish. I'm certain this will get a bit better once the baby is out of the care of the parents.. (and by next time they breed the new fish should be accepted, hopefully)..

 

[hsherman1986]

how big are the two fish in question?

 

[Wizzard~Of~Ozz]

They are ~1" long with the tail.

 

[hsherman1986]

they could very well be baby bolivians then...

 

[Lonewolfblue]

The pic above doesn't look like a Bolivian to me. The body pattern and the shape isn't quite the same. I've raised Bolivians from eggs, and none looked like the one in the pic. I'll help try to ID it as well, will see if I can find something.

Edit:
I found something that could be close. There was no name for it on the page, was just other pics of Apistos with it. Here it is.... Does it kind of resemble this and just more pale?

Apistogramma spec. "Rotpunkt"

 

[Wizzard~Of~Ozz]

If it helps, the only difference between the 2 (Male/Female I assume) is on the Male, there are 3 lateral "dots" (down the length of the body) and a single spike just before the dorsal fin starts. I'll try to get a pic of the Male tomorrow.

The closest thing we could find in the store (a tropical fish encyclopedia) was an Apisto Cruzi. Tho I may have the genders backwards.

Another possibility is A. eunotus. The other one has more distinct markings (figures I couldn't get a good pic of it)

A quote from a page I found

"
I personally feel that Eunotus, Cruzi and many other Apistos under the
Regani group can be easily crossed... it directly implies that we will
have an infinite number of fish that look close to them but carry some
differences... it will make the identification work difficult..."

 

[Lonewolfblue]

That should have enough detail.

Here's my Bolivians at about 1". Also a GBR as well.... Patterns don't quite match...

 

[Wizzard~Of~Ozz]

I know it's obstructed, but it shows the dots that the one has on it's side. There are 3 dots laterally.

 

[Wizzard~Of~Ozz]

Found them.

Laetacara dorsigera

a Dwarf Cichlid. (and apparently they are jeuv. right now)..

"peaceful 'dwarf smiling acara' from Argentina"

That explains why they always look happy.

 

[verucaproduce]

Yep. That is what they look like to me. They are very peaceful and good natured. hehe

Here is one guarding his worms.

 

[Wizzard~Of~Ozz]

Cool, so now I have to ask. Do they seem to shift colours based on shade or direct light?

The one in the top picture looks that way in direct light, but when it's in the shade it develops a very dark top to it.. Have you noticed this before?

I think I'll find Dwarf Cichlids to be interesting.

 

[verucaproduce]

They definitely change colors depending on light/mood. When I first got mine through the mail, I took them out of the box and they looked almost completely white. Very soon after, they developed very dark stripes (maybe it was just the contrast between how pale they were and the 'stress stripes' showing).

Also, it may be my imagination but it seems like the more bloodworms that I feed, the more colorful they have become. I don't know if you can see in the pic, but they have blue under their eyes, reddish along their top fins, and their tails are spotted with a yellowish gold.

They always look a little bit different to me. Kinda like mood fish. LOL