Apisogramma Viejita

[TheOscarman1981]

hi all it been over ten years since I've kept dwarf cichlids a week ago I swapped a breeding pair of angles for a male and female apistogramma viejita with a mate as there offspring of his apistogrammas. The problem I have is the female is looking very thin and only accepting frozen foods and not eating much of them either and will not eat the cichlid granules that my mate was feeding them I've tryed Flake and some other cichlid foods but it no avail and I'm getting worried for her.

Other than that she is acting normal interacting with male she even started to dig out a gravel pit in the coconut the thing is I don't want her to starve to death.

There in a jewel Rio 125 with guppies.

 

[Akasha72]

firstly apisto's are not a fish I've kept but a dwarf cichlid is a dwarf cichlid. I wouldn't worry too much about her only wanting to eat frozen food, this type of fish thrives on a high protein diet - especially if she's in breeding mode. The main thing at the moment is she's eating. If she's a new aquasition it could be that she's stressed but it could also be that she has internal worms so watch for signs of that.
 
I feel I need to point out the differences though between the requirements of guppies and SA dwarf cichlids. Guppies need hard water where the apisto's really need it incredibly soft. Is it possible that your water parameters are to blame for the apisto's troubles?
 
We can probably give you better advice if you can tell us what the parameters are, especially regarding pH and hardness? 

 

[TheOscarman1981]

I do live in a hard water area and a ph of 7.5 that said I thought that I would be good as the person I got the dwarfs from has exactly the same parameters as he lives on the same street as me and I asked him if he changed the water chemistry in any way and he told me that he just added water conditioners for the chlorine but nothing else I did test his water and it was same as mine and he also keeps his with guppies as the apisto keep them from over populating his tank. Other wise I would not have got dwarfs as were I used to live and keep apisto's was soft water and a lower ph.

He has had his apisto's for 3 to 4 years and breed them many times.

 

[Akasha72]

okay ... if they've lived fine in the same water, whilst not the ideal, I think we can rule out water differences being the cause.
 
I would just keep an eye on her. Keep trying to temp her with other foods. Add some peas to the tank to see if she will eat them. If there's something in her guts it might help pass it through.
 
Try not to get into the routine of giving in and giving her something frozen just because that's all she'll eat. It's a slippery path. Whilst they need a high protein diet they don't need it daily

 

[TheOscarman1981]

That was my concern I know they can not just have frozen foods, the other thing is she is just seems to preoccupied in mating with the male but male is not interested at moment and just chases her away was wondering if separating them for a while till I can get her eating properly and fattened up as I've got a tank I can move the male to for a while or would I be better moving the female as I could move the male to a 55 gallon or move the female to my quarantine tank which is a 15 gallon any advice would be nice thank

 

[Akasha72]

to be honest I wouldn't. If these two are a pair you may well stress them even more by splitting them up. I lost my female curviceps 3 weeks ago and her mate is still pining. He's lost all colour and just hides in my plants - at least he's stopped looking for her now though, that was heartbreaking.
 
How long have you had them?

 

[TheOscarman1981]

Sorry to hear that I've had them for a week they were not a pair they come from one of his rearing tanks with 10 to 15 others. The female is around 1 1/2 to 2 inch long and male is slightly smaller so he is probably from a later spawning we'll definitely form a later spawning.

 

[Akasha72]

a week is early days. She's probably feeling stressed and that's enough put anyone off their food. I think if you seperate them you could stress her more and that could be catastrophic. If they are getting along okay - he's not beating her up or anything - I'd leave them together, let them bond and see what comes of it. Another tip to reduce stress is to provide enough hiding spaces and keep lighting down a bit. You could also try staining the water with some of that Roibois tea as that's a good stress reliever apparently
 
See if anyone else wants to chip in anything more - perhaps there's something I've missed or not thought of 

 

[TheOscarman1981]

Thanks I'll give it a try, he only chases her when she follows him displaying to him then he will chases her round tank a little she usually dives in coconut shell then he leaves her alone. Thanks for advice

 

[Akasha72]

no problem. I've had my dwarf cichlids a while now (I had the laetacara cuviceps pair and I had a breeding pair of bolivian rams too) and I've seen most of the issues that come with them. A lot of the dwarves can be quite shy and that may be what you are seeing with the apisto's. Apisto's are on my 'want list' but I fancy a pair of hongsloi's

 

[TheOscarman1981]

A pic of the two as you can see male doing great with nice plump belly but female is really thin
I've had them in past they lovely fish over 10 years ago I used to breed dwarf cichlids and other cichlids I was in to that type of thing then and I used to get the fish young get them to successfully breed and rear a few spawns then move on to a different fish so have breed quite a lot of the medium size cichlids back then the internet was not that advanced I nice to be able to get other people's views on things and not have to struggle through as much.

 

[Akasha72]

hmm ... she does look a bit 'off colour' ... her dorsal looks a bit clamped too but that could just be the photo. 
 
I don't know what to suggest, I hate to suggest meds unnecessarily but maybe a general tonic might be in order. I'm hoping someone else might come along and offer some advice 
 
Have you checked all the other parameter's ... ammonia, nitrite, nitrate? Some of the SA cichlids can be sensitive to high nitrates

 

[TheOscarman1981]

Yep that one of the first things I did and everything at zero except the nitrates 30 ppm I'm due to do weekly water change tomorrow think it might help if I do today in stead.
And it is just photo fins usual out and erected

 

[Akasha72]

ahh right. Well nitrates of 30 is fine ... when it gets upwards of 60 then you'll see troubles. I'm glad the fins arn't clamped and it's just the photo. I think so long as the water parameters are all good and she is eating something maybe best to just assume she's a bit stressed rather than ill - stress causes colours to fade.
 
Plod on with her, keep a close eye on her and keep lighting to a minimum for a few days to help reduce stress. Consider adding some of that roubois tea as darkening the water might help and it's got anti-bacterial properties naturally so that might help. That said, you might not like the blackwater effect .. it's not for everyone

 

[TheOscarman1981]

I'll do that and I don't mind black water was considering doing one my self just got to make room will they sell that tea at Asda.