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Thread: Apistogramma hongsloi "project"

  1. #1
    Homesteader jwcarlson's Avatar
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    Default Apistogramma hongsloi "project"

    For some reason awhile back I got a bee in my bonnet about these little guys. I have never kept them and in fact have never seen them in person because no store I have ever been in carries them.
    I bought three pairs, they're currently shacked up in a 55 together while I worm them. Just some light chasing between the two most dominant males. Need about a week more out of them before I divide the 55 and move one pair to a 29 and see what they do.

    This fella has been putting on a show lately and this one female is looking pretty too. He keeps tail whapping and shaking at her and then zipping into a cave like "look here!" But then she seems to like a few knots/folds in the driftwood.

    Currently trying them in straight tap water, but it's extremely hard here... so we'll see how that goes. Interesting to watch them. Been feeding baby brine shrimp trying to get them fattened up.

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    Last edited by jwcarlson; 01-19-2023 at 10:59 AM.

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    Default Re: Apistogramma hongsloi "project"

    where did you get them, i have been looking for apistos and trying to decide where to get them.

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    Homesteader jwcarlson's Avatar
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    Default Re: Apistogramma hongsloi "project"

    Tristans Tropicals in Wisconsin: https://tristanstropicalfish.com/pro.../apistogramma/ I think he also sells on AquaBid. These hongsloi pairs said they were bred in the US by a hobbyist.
    Well packed and shipped really quick. Of course he's only a two hour drive from me, but the fish went from Wisconsin to Tennessee to three hours away in Iowa then to Illinois before coming back to Iowa.

    I think I bought him out of the hongsloi pairs he had. I'm worming because one was kind of clamped and one had a bit of thread looking poop day 1 and 2. And I think I'm just going to worm any new fish I bring in from now on anyway. Meaning... I don't think the fish I got were problematic, they were lively and went right to work once I plop and dropped them.

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    Moderator Team LizStreithorst's Avatar
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    Default Re: Apistogramma hongsloi "project"

    They are really pretty fish. I want to find out how things progress. I may become a customer of yours ��
    Mama Bear

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    Homesteader jwcarlson's Avatar
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    Default Re: Apistogramma hongsloi "project"

    Quote Originally Posted by LizStreithorst View Post
    They are really pretty fish. I want to find out how things progress. I may become a customer of yours ��
    Liz, my only suggestion would be... don't hold your breath!
    I guess I didn't really describe the project. I'm kind of curious to see how hard and how high of a pH I can get them to spawn and successfully hatch/raise fry in. Even if it's small batches (understanding that they are likely to eat small batches, so might have to separate fry). I've seen some reports of hongsloi spawning in pretty hard water, but like most things in fish keeping one post says "they need pH 5.0 and straight RO/DI" and another person is like "they wouldn't stop spawning for me in 8.0 and 400 ppm hardness"... *shrug*

    At some point I just figure I should give it a shot myself. Going to try them in straight tap for now, but I suspect that will be a hard row to hoe. Going to get my RO unit plumbed up tomorrow I think, so I can start doing a mix at some point once I get them separated and fattened up.

  6. #6
    Moderator Team LizStreithorst's Avatar
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    Default Re: Apistogramma hongsloi "project"

    Good for you. When you discover what you have lear using a scientific method, you can speak with authority. I want to keep following your project.

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    Registered Member solasis's Avatar
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    Default Re: Apistogramma hongsloi "project"

    That is awesome! I am starting an apistogramma project right now as well. I got a trio of apistogramma elizabethae that I am trying to breed. Best of luck to you, these little fish are so interesting to watch.

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    Homesteader jwcarlson's Avatar
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    Default Re: Apistogramma hongsloi "project"

    They're extremely fascinating. I even changed the lighting schedule (a few hours in the AM off for a few hours and then back on in the PM) so that I can see them a bit before work and for longer after work.
    I'm hoping they stay relatively calm. I don't think they're particularly close to breeding yet, so hoping I have some time to get them separated while worming them together. I am enjoying the overall dynamic so far, it will be interesting to see how the pairs behave when they're isolated. They're pretty young still though, I think.

    Good luck with yours, I didn't realize such a large family of these little cichlids existed. Most of my knowledge of available fish is 20 years old before we had YouTube and lots of websites exposing you to all this neat stuff.

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    Default Re: Apistogramma hongsloi "project"

    thank you

  10. #10
    Homesteader jwcarlson's Avatar
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    Default Re: Apistogramma hongsloi "project"

    These two are kind of accelerating my timeline, unfortunately. Last levamisole treatment is Wednesday, I suppose I'll just treat them separately... it's not that big of a deal. Thankfully the 55 seems big enough that they can keep away from each other and the driftwood divides the tank in thirds with two huts per third. I might toss their tank together and move them over tomorrow. Female guarding her hut pretty hard (and real mad at my daughter and me for watching). Male is keeping everyone else away from the hut. Really fun to watch! Earlier today she was in the cave and he was sitting across the entrance, which was a pretty marked change in behavior. Up until then I'd only seen them flirt elsewhere in the tank and them going in caves had been solo.

    So quarantining them collectively might have been a fool's errand. I guess I should work on getting the 29 cleaned up and filled tonight.

    (no audio if you're wondering where the sound went)
    Last edited by jwcarlson; 01-22-2023 at 07:31 PM.

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    Registered Member pastry's Avatar
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    Default Re: Apistogramma hongsloi "project"

    I LOVE apistos. Discus are my #1, but mbuna & apistos are tied for my #2 faves
    -Elliot

  12. #12
    Homesteader jwcarlson's Avatar
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    Default Re: Apistogramma hongsloi "project"

    Well... Issue one of "will they lay eggs in super hard water with pH of 8.2?" is a resounding yes. She's got eggs plastered to the top of her cave and is guarding. Won't be doing anything like moving anyone yet. The male is courting another female now. Though she doesn't appear ready.
    Very cool.

  13. #13
    Homesteader jwcarlson's Avatar
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    Default Re: Apistogramma hongsloi "project"

    Quote Originally Posted by pastry View Post
    I LOVE apistos. Discus are my #1, but mbuna & apistos are tied for my #2 faves
    I've only ever kept yellow labs (which are Malawi, I think). For some reason African cichlids haven't really appealed to me that much. Though I do think they're interesting to see. I've always thought those overstocked displays to be very curated. I guess that's not dissimilar to any other fish keeping for the most part. Just not something I want to deal with.

    Here's the proud egg layer. I'm chalking this one up to beginner's luck. Not expecting much to come of the eggs, though they looked pink when I was peaking in this morning. I also don't want to spotlight her and make her flip out. Not to mention the massive carbonate hardness in the water being a problem. Was going to start cutting some RO to see if the pH and hardness might be keeping them from laying. But like often happens... fish have their own ideas!

    20230122_170334.jpg

  14. #14
    Homesteader jwcarlson's Avatar
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    Default Re: Apistogramma hongsloi "project"

    Little lady dumped all her eggs out on the front porch after a couple of days. Which was expected.

    20230124_054327.jpg

    Mister was a bit distracted by the other ladies in the tank... no clue if he did his job or not. But kind of thinking that he must have at least tried, maybe when I saw him across the front of the cave that morning.
    In any event, it doesn't much matter because I'm sure our straight tap water is way way way too hard. Though I think it's encouraging that they at least spawned in it.

    So I was able to get my last worming in with them as a community.

    So my daughter and I set up a 29 for the spawning pair. He was a little gentlemen and swam into their spawning cave so I could just reach in, thumb the hole, and plop him in the new tank tonight. The lady was a bit tougher to catch, but got her without too much stress. Then divided the remaining two pairs. Will be interesting to see how those two pairs behave in the coming days now that the "boss" is out and they're separated.

    The divided 55, thankfully the plants are starting to grow and have vacuumed out a lot of the frass doing the changes for levamisole.
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    The 29:
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    Was excited to find this driftwood, which has two very nice perfectly sized "caves". Will be interesting to see if she picks the wood or the terracotta caves next.

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    I haven't gotten my RO unit set up, but maybe this weekend. Then I'll start cutting RO into the 29 and see where I need to get to to get them to spawn. I have a lot to learn about RO and all that.
    Last edited by jwcarlson; 01-26-2023 at 11:08 PM.

  15. #15
    Homesteader jwcarlson's Avatar
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    Default Re: Apistogramma hongsloi "project"

    Pair #2... really hoping she's a she.

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    Pair #3's male (and his female behind him), he's colored up a lot since I got the pairs divided. Hopefully he continues to do so.

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    Water changes with RO tonight to get TDS down. I'm in uncharted territory for me as I've never done anything like that with my water. TDS might still be a bit high. Got the RO going again and might do a bit more changing tomorrow to get them down a bit more. Ran out of RO on the bigger tank, which was expected.

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