Our Apistos

[apistoluvers]

We bought these two beauties about 4 months ago from a shop outside Edinburgh, as title says, sold as "Yellow Sunburst", although they are both Yellow, We assume the male is an "Orange Flash" and the female possibly a "Sunburst", but maybe not, have seen photos that look just like Her, named as double reds, Any info or opinion would be greatly appreciated. So about a month ago We had a batch of about 50 free-swimming fry, a month later We have 15 left from that batch, measuring about half an inch, HOWEVER, This randy little pair have done it again, this brood is of about 60-70, Mom's doing the same things She did with the first lot, HOWEVER She's chasing the older babies pretty violently away, We have seen one of the older babies eat one of the tiny fry, so We have decided to get a small tank and move the 15, month-olders into it, We would like to know, how many times would an obviously happy and content mating pair actually mate?, We have two four foot tanks and I would say they are both ABSOLUTELY FULL, hence the reason We are going to get a wee tank to attempt to grow some of these fry out. I'll put up a pic of Mom and Dad here, as I said they are both beautiful specimens. Cheers Scott P.S. What would Our options be say in a month's time for moving on the largest of the babies?, would shops BUY them from Us? I mean We're not looking to make a fortune here, but is that "normal" practice?, We don't mind giving some away either, so We'll keep You posted, if You're interested. NOTE: We're in Glasgow!

Sorry about the poor photos, just trying to figure out how to get good shots, these were the best of a bad lot, lol

 

[Colin_T]

All female Apistogramma cacatuoides will turn yellow when breeding. And most females will be a dull yellow under normal conditions. The bottom pic of the male does look like a red/ orange flash variety. It is still an A. cacatuoides, just a man made colour form. There is no way of telling the different colour forms in females as they all resemble each other.

Under good conditions the parents will breed continuously at monthly intervals. Previous generations of fry should be removed when the female lays more eggs to prevent them eating the new fry and to prevent them interfering with the brood care.

If you breed the fish in slightly alkaline water (PH between 7.0 & 7.6) you will get more male young. The shops prefer males because they are more colourful. The fry should be fed on newly hatched brineshrimp as soon as they start swimming.

 

[apistoluvers]

Cheers Colin, We're just back from petshop, the month old fry now have their Own 10 gallon to themselves with mature water and filter(from their previous home, the big tank), We'll hopefully have them "In" tomorrow. Our water has a 6.8 ph reading , but as far as We can tell(bearing in mind the age and size), We have probably a dozen females and 3 males. Either way, We would be looking to keep a female or two and get rid of the rest, whether We get anything from the petshop Who gets them, or not, I would just like that they go away to people Who will be happy to have them ( even if I give them to petshop and the buyer pays the £15/a pair We paid, lol) That's LIFE

 

[Truck]

aww they are beautiful. some shops will take them but it is rare that they do the only other option is to sell them or give them away

 

[chesterscot]

they dont sell ish like that in chester lol
scot

 

[Colin_T]

I wouldn't give them to your LFS but I would trade them in or sell them to the shop. If the fish are good quality then most petshops will buy them from you. They will either give you cash or credit, usually credit. If you take cash it is a lot less than the amount offered for credit. Then you can use the credit to buy plants, food or another tank. Most shops will have a customer credit book and you can leave your credit to accumulate over months before buying something big and expensive