Apistogramma Panduro Or Are They

[§tudz]

hey all,

Its been a long while since ive been on the forums, and in that time I've had a lot of problems with my tanks and Im down to only 13 fish in 4 different tanks now.
But needless to say it hasnt destroyed my thirst for keeping fish, and I have purchased some new cichlids.

They were labeled up as Apistogramma panduros, which I think the tank bred specimens are, but Im not sure about the wild ones. I think the wild pair could be A. nijsseni but I dont know, reference on the net arent that great and none of the books I own contain either species.

They have been in their tanks now for about 3 days, and the tank bred are out and about and seem happy, the wild are a little skitish and it took AGES to get these pics of them.

I have also order some new plants for their tanks, and eventually I will be turning them into sand substrate planted tanks.

Here are some pics anyway, and help will be great:

Tank bred


female


male

Wild


female


male

 

[Wills]

They look good to me, Im not sure on how to tell the difference on the two but I believe one is bigger than the other when adult. I think its the panduro that get bigger but I could be wrong.

Just a thought on making the wilds a little less skitish, make sure you have lots of dithers - when I say dithers I dont mean like in agressive tanks for the cichlids to take out their aggression but just a large shoal above them will tell them it is safe to come out and it will duplicate their wild environment. If you do a bit of research you should be able to find out which tetras they live with in the wild

 

[§tudz]

Thanks for the msg, im not sure i have room for dithers in their tank as it is a 5gallon setup

I do plan to get some nice plants etc which they were fine with in the shop so hoping that will work

 

[Wills]

Krikey! Are both pairs in the 5g? IMO 5g is a bit small for a pair of apistos even the small ones. You need 10gs minimum IMO

 

[§tudz]

no they are in thier own tanks, they will be migrated to large tanks later on. only had them a few days.

not going to dump them into any of my communtiy tanks straight from a shop lol

 

[Wills]

ah I see phew, good on you for QT

 

[§tudz]

lol my record lately with the loss of nearly all my fish says nothing for the experience I have just have to put a hold on buying much more until I buy a house and can get the fish house setup now

looking for a nice 10x3x2 hopefully and turn my 120gallon into an amazing planted community biotope

 

[fluvial]

The orange trim to their tails suggest all are A. Njsseni to me.
As they grow the male will become a lovely blue colour and the femaale a striking yellow with
black splodges that can fade away when their stressed.
My F matured v quickly and used to terorize the M for a long time.
He has finally grown out and realised that he can be boss - there's been alot of displaying behaviour
and she sits in her cave alot of the time - heres hoping

 

[§tudz]

thanks for the info, I read that the females only turn yellow when ready to breed at most other times they are a grey to pale yellow colour?

 

[§tudz]

Well some bad news. I have lost the male tank bred. Literally lost it. It's not in the tank.
I was away for two days and he was fine before I left.

This is a sad day.

 

[fluvial]

My female stays a bright yellow colour almost all the time - very occasionally she loses
it if stressed, like after water changes if its upset her for some reason.
More often she'll lose the black markings that will grey out - but generally the
bright yellow colour is constant.

The male has turned from a drab brown(ish) colour to a vibrant blue with orange and yellow trim.
He has become much more confident, and they really are a lovely fish to have.

Hope you find the lost one OK - can't believe that its gone walk-a-bout !

 

[§tudz]

I doubt I will find the male. As it was in a 5gal tank. With bogwood and a filter. Nothing else.
And I took the wood and filter out. And still no male