Breeding Apistogramma agassizii

[Dirk Bellstedt]

Happy New Year everyone,

Whilst many of you may be on holiday, we have decided to rather do a bit of consolidation and have stayed at home. This has given me more time for my fishes which has been quite welcome.

In recent months we have seen a lot of dwarf Cichlids getting into the country but obviously the prices of imported fishes of necessity are much more expensive. I am hoping that we can get them to breed and then to get them established in SA.

My choice of dwarfs has been Apistogramma agassizii of which I have got two pairs each from two different suppliers. I have now got them to breed quite nicely and have got two spawns from two pairs each. The oldest fry are now about 3 months old and almost ready to go but two of the spawns have just become free swimming and the fry are now starting to eat freshly hatched bs.

Here are some pics of the so-called red gold strain which has a red tail and finnage and a yellow belly, a very attractive variety in my opinion.

Female with tiny fry, just visible at the bottom of the filter



Male with his nice long fins, about 8 cm long (not the best pic I have taken, apologies...)



Youngsters that are almost ready to go. One can already identify the males and the females very nicely.



Those of you who might be interested in obtaining some from me should please drop me a PM.

Kind regards,

Dirk

[shihr]

just a Q, are these fish suitable in a comunity tank?

[Dirk Bellstedt]

Hi Shir,

Yes they definitely are. They can be kept with tetras and all sorts of smaller fishes. They cannot be kept with larger cichlids, but they are compatible with Angels. They need some caves made of pots for breeding and like plants and wood in the tank. They also cannot compete with larger catfish such as plecos and larger ancistrus, but do fine with corys and this such like.

Hope this gives you an idea.

Kind regards,

Dirk

[shihr]

wow..sounds so nice.. now if only i didn hav so much fish in my tank.... hehe.. thanks for the idea though:)

[Slagter]

Hey Prof...

Oe week has passed since purchasing the A. agassizi from you... I thought you'd be pleased to see this...

[Dirk Bellstedt]

Hi Sean,

Very nice indeed! Hope they manage to raise them, but then they are youngsters and might have a bit of learning to do. However, I am very glad to hear that my fishes are successful at breeding in the hands of others.

Many thanks and kind regards,

Dirk

[Togra]

Hi Prof/Dirk,

Are they compatible with Discus? I was thinking they would look rather splended with Discus...

Sorry , not experienced in Discus hence my asking : - )

[Dirk Bellstedt]

Hi Togra,

These dwarf cichlids are really interesting fishes and can be kept in a smaller aquarium and then their breeding behaviour and beautiful colours is what makes them special.

However, there are two aspects which do not make them suitable for keeping with discus.

They require lower temperatures than discus, discus require 29-30C, these dwarfs require 25-26C. Although this does not sound like a big difference, you cannot keep discus are lower temps, and if you keep these dwarfs at higher temps, you dramatically shorten their lifespan.

The second problem is that dwarfs do best in a heavily planted shallower tank and such a tank does not work well with discus, in my experience.

A smaller planted tank with a pair of dwarfs and some tetras or other dither fishes would make very special display in their own right.

For those of you that may be interested, I have pairs of these fishes available for sale again at the moment. Contact me by PM if you may be interested.

Kind regards,

Dirk

[Togra]

Hi Dirk,

Thanks for that : - ).

How do we go about purchasing them? and what is the cost?

[unfadinia]

Ive got 3 Convict Cichlid would it be easyer to get a few more to increase the chance of them breeding?

[tyronegenade]

If your convicts are not breeding by the end of the month then you are probably lacking a male or female!

[shihr]

yep, thats the idea:) get more to incr the chances and once they paired off u can remove the others if u want

[Dirk Bellstedt]

Please note that I have some pairs of these beauts for sale again. Drop me a PM if you are interested. I am based in Cape Town, but I may be able to bring some fishes with me to Johannesburg on 21 July as I need to fly up for business on that day.

Kind regards,

Dirk