I bought two young couples of apistogramma sp on an auction this weekend.

female:

male:

They were sold to me as Apistogramma sp "Vielfleck". Anyone knows if that is correct?

Any other info on them? Open breeder/Cave breeder,... Size of adult fish? Water parameters?

Thank you!!!
Sven

[This message was edited by Vicki on Mon September 01 2003 at 06:54 PM.]

[This message was edited by Svennovitch on Wed February 25 2004 at 02:50 AM.]

 

Very pretty, Sven! Clearly they're quite young fish, I'll bet their coloration and finnage will improve as they grow. My first thought was "borelli" when I saw the picture, the coloration of borelli is quite variable and there are several color morphs. I'd be willing to bet that "veilfleck" is not the scientific name. I'm going to the ACA convention in Cincinnati in a couple of weeks, I'll see what I can find out for you! I'm hoping to pick up some apistos there myself.

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It's entirely possible that's a correct ID. To my knowledge the fish has not been scientifically describe, but it appears to belong to the regani complex. Note that the spelling is indeed "vielfleck," and that borellii have fused rather than sawn dorsal fin membranes. A pretty fish!


(Click for pics)

 

You are very right, 2la, and if I could spell I could have found out a lot more about the "vielfleck" species. Sigh…at any rate, they look like they'll grow up to be beautiful fish if the pictures I saw are any indication.

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Thanks for the replies!

Vicki, if you could ask them, i would really appreciate that!
Apistogramma are the coolest IMO. I hope you will find some really nice ones on the convention.
And you are right, they are quite young (a bit over 1 inch).

2la, i am finding it very pretty fish myself. The picture of the male doesn't really do him justice. A lot more blue in reality.
Can you explain a bit about the regani complex?

Thank you,
Sven

[This message was edited by Svennovitch on Tue July 08 2003 at 02:01 PM.]

 

Apistos are grouped into complexes based on assumed monophylogeny (some may be polyphylogenic) and can be roughly thought of us groups of species with similar morphologic characteristics. Click here for an explanation that I won't attempt to improve upon!


(Click for pics)

 

Well, Sven, I'm afraid I didn't do much good for you at the ACA Convention, I couldn't find out anything more about the vielfleck. The one guy who probably could have told me was the one I forgot to ask--that was Tony Orso, and I was so excited about my OWN fish I never gave it a thought. I sent him an e-mail tonight, however, to thank him for the fish, and I did remember this time, so hopefully I'll hear back from him. He had eight apisto species at the show, and the ones I settled on were the A. hongsloi, and now I'm kicking myself I waited so long to get my first apistos. I never thought they'd color up so fast, and I was stunned at how beautiful they are. This is one of my males, taken two days after I brought him home.

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Beautiful fish Vicki, Amazing!! Why can;t I ever find anything up here in Canada that remotely resembles that amazingly colored fish?

 

Uh Oh, Vicki's gonna get apisto fever! Welcome to the club

Jack

 

Apistogramma sp. are my future project. Once I buy my house, my fish room will have mostly dwarf cichlids South American/African.

Please report back with more description of this fish. The coloration is incredible. Do you have a pair. Make sure you breed them.

 

LOL! Too late, Jack, I've already succumbed. It's not a question of "gonna get." I've already spent HOURS watching these fish--aside from their beauty, their behavior is fascinating! They have different colors for every mood, and it's amazing to watch their color changes.

Jay, the hongsloi are part of the Macmasteri group and are cave spawners, according to what I'm told; males reach 8 cm., females 5 cm., and they are somewhat more tolerant of harder water than some of the other dwarfs, which is one reason why I chose them. Besides which, these guys are tank bred and were raised in fairly hard, alkaline water. I FERVENTLY hope I'll wind up with a pair, these are young fish, still fairly small, and I have two females and two males, which is what Tony Orso suggested I start with, and then get rid of the extra male once a pair forms. HAH! I have a huge picture of myself getting rid of EITHER of these guys, they are equally beautiful, although the one in the picture is definitely the alpha male. Even the little females (about an inch long at present, males are about 1-1/2") are very attractive, with lots of red in their fins and a red splotch behind their gills. The ideal situation would be to get two pairs out of this deal, but I'll have to see what happens. Tony Orso is a NJ guy-in fact, I think he's going to be at the NJAS Show as a speaker, will no doubt be selling fish, too. REALLY nice guy, his wife is as nice as can be also.

http://www.wheelpost.com

 

Vicki,

thanks for thinking of me !!
I hope Tony Orso will know something about them. I still like them very much and i find myself a lot in front of the tank watching the different colors they get.

Especially since a first couple has spawned already

and i only have them for about three to four weeks. Haven't seen the female a lot since sunday, not even for feeding.
The male shows his nicest colours and keeps all intruders at a far distance. Very nice to see

. I will try to make some decent pictures this weekend.

I really like the species you have, Vicki !! We should try to keep a library with all different pictures of Apistos! With all the color strains going around for different species it would make life a lot easier trying to identify all these interesting fishes.

I have bought the Mergus Cichlid atlas. I recommend this book if you are into Apisto species (in fact all South American dwarf cichlids).

Sven

 

I have found this picture very interesting to get insights in the big apisto family (www.apistogramma.net , a German site):

Sven

[This message was edited by Svennovitch on Wed February 25 2004 at 02:51 AM.]

 

quote:

Originally posted by Vicki:
Tony Orso is a NJ guy-in fact, I think he's going to be at the NJAS Show as a speaker, will no doubt be selling fish, too.

Wow. I didn't know that. I might have to catch him at the show. I will be there on friday/sat/sun putting stuff together with other members.

Are you coming ?

 

Jay, I would LOVE to come, but I kind of shot my wad--money and vacation wise--at the ACA. I know it will be a great show, and I may try to make it next year--it would be nice to see my old stomping grounds again!

Sven, I think that's a good idea about an apisto library, I know several of us have apistos and some good pix as well. I'll start a new sticky topic for apisto pictures, I think that would be helpful for anyone interested. You know, I bought mine on faith and based on the pictures I had seen--when they were in the tank at the show, they were just little grey fish with a hint of yellow on a couple of them, but Tony impressed me, and they looked nice and healthy, no frays or chunks missing. It would be nice for people to be able to see ahead of time what the potential is for these wonderful little fish.

http://www.wheelpost.com

 

quote:

Originally posted by Vicki:
Jay, I would LOVE to come, but I kind of shot my wad--money and vacation wise--at the ACA. I know it will be a great show, and I may try to make it next year--it would be nice to see my old stomping grounds again!

What do you mean by old stomping grounds ? Are you from Jersey ?

This is the only 50th anniversary of NJAS club. There will be no 50th next year

 

Yes, didn't I ever tell you that? Born and raised in Belleville, just north of Newark. Headed out west after I got married.

Heck, can't you have a 51st anniversary celebration? There will still be a show next year, right?

http://www.wheelpost.com

 

almost a month has passed now.
This is how they are looking at the moment:
Two pictures of the male:

And the female

Sven

[This message was edited by Svennovitch on Wed February 25 2004 at 02:52 AM.]

 

Sven, you have BABIES!!! Congratulations! Wow, the female is gorgeous, the male too; they are such pretty little fish! Gosh, I sure hope I can do that well with mine in a month's time!

http://www.wheelpost.com

 

Yep, i have babies

It is so exciting! I guess this apisto is a very small species. I just thought they were young, but obviously they are adults. I had two pairs. The second female spawned yesterday with the same male but the male has returned now to the first female and helps her guarding the breeding place. The second male gets chased all around, need to find a new home for him...

Sven

[This message was edited by Svennovitch on Tue August 05 2003 at 04:37 AM.]

 

Ok, dumb question time.... what sort of water do these fish require. I perked up at the mention of hard and alkaline. I've got one big empty 59G tank and one small 10G fishless planted tank that could be put to use for the right fish.

 

dwarf cichlids are deceiving. i have had quite a few breed at only half size, esp rams and 'CACATUOIDES' (hehe). i guess they don't live long, so they breed at a very young age, yet contnue to grow. don't be surprised if they continue to grow out sven.

rick

 

anonapersona, there is no such thing as a dumb question

Most of the apistos need acid and soft (sometimes very soft) water. But mine are kept in pH = 6.8, KH=6, GH=10 (with CO2-injection). If they can breed in such hard water, i guess they would be able to do it in slightly alkaline water as well (pH=7.5).
The hongslois that Vicki has is another species that seems to do quite well in harder and alkaline waters. The more available species like borellii, cacatuoides,... will do well in these conditions too. Especially the ones that have been kept and bred in such conditions for several generations.

So set up a tank for these interesting fish, they are so rewarding

Good hunting,
Sven

 

aspen,

i just knew you could do it

The male is about 5cm and the female 4cm. You could be right if they still add another cm or so. We'll see...

Sven

 

Oh, Sven, you just made me SO happy! I just figured you had them in the usual soft, acid water! That's almost exactly the water my guys are in, and I've been thinking I'd have to soften it up considerably in order to get viable fry, even though the fish themselves are clearly thriving in the conditions they're in. Maybe I'll give them a little time and see if they can pop out some little ones in the water they have now.

http://www.wheelpost.com