F1 Apistogramma Agassizi GrowOut thread

[jmf3460]

On Friday 10/2/2015, I acquired 5 juvenile apistogramma agassizi. Their wildcaught parents originally came from Mark at discus origins and Pat, a moderator on this forum, was able to successfully raise a batch of fry leaving me the lucky receiver of five 1" unsexed fish. I will use this thread to track their growout. Currently they house a standard 10 gallon tank. The tank has a light layer of sand, some manzanita wood, several magnolia leaves and one potted cryptocoryne. The water is kept at 80 degrees, changed at 50%-60% daily and stained with rooibos tea. Ph is around 7.4 and is 100% well water. I do not check parameters very often I just know what all my other tanks are so I am guessing between 7.0 and 7.4. My water is relatively soft, around 3gh. I am feeding a mixture of ground up FDBW (their favorite so far) frozen bbs, frozen Cyclops, and earthworm flake food. I am feeding between 3 and 5 times a day depending on my work schedule.

So far I am quite taken with these little fish. They have nice personalities, very similar so far to dwarf acara species such as nannacara anomala or laetacara dorsigera. Maybe slightly more aggressive than german rams or bolivian rams. They constantly flare and playfully chase eachother in their tank. Claming their own little territories under the leaves and heater. They enjoy sifting through the sand and eating the bacteria growing on the magnolia leaves and manzanita wood. They do not show much color yet, but the stress bars they display are lovely. Some pictures of their home and after a couple days in their new tank.

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[rickztahone]

awesome little group and tank. Following along this journey :)

[jmf3460]

a quick video from day 2.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NctoJrHOu3c

[Second Hand Pat]

Those little guys are already jousting with each other. Thanks for allowing us to follow along as these guys mature Jacklyn.
Pat

[jmf3460]

Those little guys are already jousting with each other. Thanks for allowing us to follow along as these guys mature Jacklyn.
Pat

jousting indeed Pat, tis a medieval tank ;)

tonight a 7 gallon (70%) water change and FDBW feeding. Bellies are full, I worried about them going all day without food while I was at work, but once before and twice after work will be fine I think a bbs feeding before bed then lights out.

[jmf3460]

one week update. fish are doing well, I am very proud of their fat little bellies. prettymuch all they want to eat is FDBW at this point. I still feed Cyclops once daily but all other daily feedings are ground up FDBW. I did try some blood worms, I cut them up into smaller chunks, but they did not go after them very hard. they still do not take flake food very eagerly. all fish doing great and hopefully growing. I am starting to see a tiny bit of blue-green coloration around the head. I did a huge 90% water change last night and took some pictures before adding back tannins.

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a video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDZM349HvrQ&feature=youtu.be

[jmf3460]

two weeks have passed since ive had these little guys. they are really starting to show a lot of growth and some coloration. I have only one female I am starting to think and four males. they eat primarily FDBW still, it is their favorite it seems and they can go after some pretty big ground up chunks now. I have one alfa who is the biggest, he is docile but when it comes to food, he gets most of the big chunks and leaves the littler pieces to the others. he is a fatty and therefore, my favorite. I also like my smallest one, the supposed female, when she eats her little belly gets so disproportional its so funny. some pics
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a video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTgWg_IRnBo&feature=youtu.be

[Second Hand Pat]

They look great Jacklyn and hope you have more then one female. According to Ryan and Mark the gender of the spawn is based on ph and/or temp. Mark indicated that the cooler the temp the more females and warmer will yield more males. A good temp for a mix is 78-80. The temp for this spawn was 78 so hoping for a nice mix.
Pat

[jmf3460]

They look great Jacklyn and hope you have more then one female. According to Ryan and Mark the gender of the spawn is based on ph and/or temp. Mark indicated that the cooler the temp the more females and warmer will yield more males. A good temp for a mix is 78-80. The temp for this spawn was 78 so hoping for a nice mix.
Pat

that is interesting pat, I had no idea temperature made a difference. The two DOAs were probably females knowing my lucking making the mix 3 and 4. i have 2 that stare at me in the front of the tank when i am watching them. They are an inquisitive little fish and i really enjoy their personalities so far.

[jmf3460]

UPDATE: Apisto juvies have been with me for a little over 7 weeks now. I did lose one so my grow out batch is down to 4. The 5th one developed what I would describe as a neurological disorder and the back half of his body wouldn't work, he was a bottom scooter most of the time so he was culled. The remaining 4 are doing great, eating a lot and now have a group of 20 teeny tiny nano rasboras sharing the tank with them. The anubias branch was added so the rasboras would have some place to hide from the apistos in case they decided to eat them but so far all 20 are surviving. Tank still at 80.5 degrees, ph at 7.6 daily water changes of 50%. Apistos and rasboras eat a mix of flake and FDBW, oddly the apistos do not like frozen bloodworms.
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a short video, this was towards the end of feeding

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgBtI8w5lxk&feature=youtu.be

[CrazyAngels]

Jacklyn, congrats on such a nice setup for them. I love the anubias addition to the tank. that is one nice broadleaf rhizome you have there.

[Second Hand Pat]

Jacklyn, love the tank and the apisto's are getting big. Sorry to hear about the one which had issues. Did it have issues when you first received it?
Pat

[jmf3460]

Jacklyn, love the tank and the apisto's are getting big. Sorry to hear about the one which had issues. Did it have issues when you first received it?
Pat

Pat im not too sure, I noticed one swimming a little weird shortly after getting them, this went on for a while but he ate well and seemed fine otherwise then its like the front half of his body grew and the back half didn't. soon he started to look distorted as if the back half of his body was just paralyzed or something and once he started scooting along the bottom I just culled him.

[Second Hand Pat]

Jacklyn, your description makes me wonder if the fish was pinched in the bag during shipping. I am really not liking these breather bags. Might be time to look into oxygen.
Pat

[jmf3460]

either way pat no problems, im happy with the 4 I got.

[Second Hand Pat]

either way pat no problems, im happy with the 4 I got.

I just want you to get a pair out of the four. Anyone showing any gender differences?
Pat

[jmf3460]

yes I have one that I am 90% sure is a male pat his coloring is coming out already, and one smaller one that I am 90% sure is a female. The other two look more like males but I am not too sure about them.

[Second Hand Pat]

What are you seeing for the gender differences Jacklyn?
Pat

[jmf3460]

hmm well size is the main thing, there are two that are distinctively larger than the other two. Also the coloration on the gill plate and face area. the two larger ones have more of the blue/green sheen all over their faces and bodies and their tails are more colored also. They also have a blue/purple area near their eyes that I see on the two larger ones, its beautiful! The two smaller look more tan/yellowish and their colors are more muted.

[Second Hand Pat]

Seeing the same in Elliot's group Jacklyn.
Pat

[jmf3460]

small update here: I have had these guys 3 months now and I have moved them out of quarantine and into a planted 20L. Only three fish made it out of qt, all three I had thought were female but now that they are in a planted tank I do not know. they are roughly 1.5" long and are housed in a densely planted 20L with 12 lemon tetras, one ancistrus and lots of amano shrimp. The tank is mainly cryptocoryne, anubias and dwarf sag. Some pictures and a video tomorrow

the tank
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the apistos
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amanos
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measuring
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[Second Hand Pat]

Beautiful tank Jacklyn. That fish in the last picture almost looks like a male based on the gill plate color.
Pat

[rickztahone]

Very nice Jacklyn :)

[jmf3460]

a short video, I tried to film the apistos since this is what my thread is about but my add kicked in and I ended up filming the amano just as much. :)


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VZN89EL5fI&feature=youtu.be

[pastry]

Seeing the same in Elliot's group Jacklyn.
Pat

Elliot's group? Pat, you never hooked me up, woman! But I still love the hell out of you

[Second Hand Pat]

Elliot's group? Pat, you never hooked me up, woman! But I still love the hell out of you

Let me catch you on the next spawn. The weather will be warmer then if that is ok Elliot. :)
Pat

[pastry]

Let me catch you on the next spawn. The weather will be warmer then if that is ok Elliot. :)
Pat

Absolutely Pat!

[Second Hand Pat]

Absolutely Pat!

:thumbsup:

[jmf3460]

Small Update: The apisto juvies have been in their 20L planted tank for 10 days now and I can say that they are doing great. They love the planted tank, always swimming in and out of leaves and stems. They love to stay in the shadows of the anubias and crypt leaves making it hard to take their picture. They also swim close to the bottom through the dwarf sag which I find really entertaining to watch. I can see an obvious growth in just the 10 days since putting them in the tank. They continue to eat FDBW grounds, and love the earthworm flake from yourfishstuff.com. Ive even seen them pecking at the moltings of the amano shrimp. Now that winter has set in in the south, I was worried about the temperature in the tank dropping to 74 some nights but each time it has done that the apistos seem fine and not phased at all. Normally the tank stays around 78 but when the air temperature in my basement drops to the 40s and 30s, the little heater cannot keep up and the water temperature drops to 74 and 72 I saw one morning. I do think I have at least one male, some pictures below: please do not judge the fatness of my lemon tetras, they are very old, and very well fed.

suspected male because of the markings around his eye
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[jmf3460]

6-14-2016 update: these apistos continue to grow and do well, they are really hard to photograph, they like to stay in the shadows underneath leaves and sticks. I may have a pair, I am starting to see some either fighting behavior or flirting behavior between two. but who knows. they are happy in this little 20L
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I will try to get a video tonight when the sun goes down the apistos seem to come out better.

[jmf3460]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGn0sqdLL4c