Coffee with Teejay

[Patrick_G]

Pics

 

[TeeJay]

On 5/10/2023 at 3:30 PM, Patrick_G said:

I have these Golden Least Killifish now and I think they’re pretty cool little fish that don’t need lots of space, and seem perfect for a little no tech nano tank. My question is are yours active? I expected them to behave like Endlers or guppies but mine are the opposite, they tend to hang in the water column or just swim around slowly. They’re not skittish at all but they do often find a little dark corner to hide in. 

Mine are pretty active. Especially when I come over to the tank they start going bonkers. But I'm sure that's because they know I have to food lol. Some days they are more active than others 

[Patrick_G]

On 5/10/2023 at 1:39 PM, TeeJay said:

Mine are pretty active. Especially when I come over to the tank they start going bonkers. But I'm sure that's because they know I have to food lol. Some days they are more active than others 

Interesting, I’m thinking I might tinker with their environment a bit, just to see if I can trigger more activity. They’re still fairly young but I’d like to see some breeding this summer. 

[TeeJay]

Momma blue jelly shrimp is ready to pop. The pic is a bit grainy but if you look close you can see the shrimplette eyes in the babies.

[TeeJay]

On 5/10/2023 at 6:01 PM, Patrick_G said:

Interesting, I’m thinking I might tinker with their environment a bit, just to see if I can trigger more activity. They’re still fairly young but I’d like to see some breeding this summer. 

I do keep a ton of floating guppy grass in there tank. So they do like to keep themselves busy swimming all through it 

[Guppysnail]

@Patrick_G I also let floating guppy grass go crazy. Mine never hid. However when I would trim to much they would become less active and visible. As long as there was plenty floating they became fearless. It seemed like they felt safe just knowing they could disappear into the plants if they needed to. 

[Patrick_G]

On 5/11/2023 at 3:33 AM, Guppysnail said:

@Patrick_G I also let floating guppy grass go crazy. Mine never hid. However when I would trim to much they would become less active and visible. As long as there was plenty floating they became fearless. It seemed like they felt safe just knowing they could disappear into the plants if they needed 

Mine will be out for hours and they don’t shy away from my fingers or the feeding dropper, but they’re very slow and at some point they decide it’s time to hang out in a cave for a few hours. I’d compare their behavior to a very low key Betta. 

[Guppysnail]

On 5/11/2023 at 11:27 AM, Patrick_G said:

Mine will be out for hours and they don’t shy away from my fingers or the feeding dropper, but they’re very slow and at some point they decide it’s time to hang out in a cave for a few hours. I’d compare their behavior to a very low key Betta. 

Yeah mine were not hyper like guppies either. They swam gently never seeming in a rush to be anywhere and often retiring to a quiet spot to just rest. 

[Patrick_G]

On 5/11/2023 at 8:28 AM, Guppysnail said:

Yeah mine were not hyper like guppies either. They swam gently never seeming in a rush to be anywhere and often retiring to a quiet spot to just rest. 

Ok, that makes me feel better. 🙂

[TeeJay]

On 5/11/2023 at 11:27 AM, Patrick_G said:

Mine will be out for hours and they don’t shy away from my fingers or the feeding dropper, but they’re very slow and at some point they decide it’s time to hang out in a cave for a few hours. I’d compare their behavior to a very low key Betta. 

Mine can be quite busy at times then just start slowly trolling around the bottom half of the tank. But first thing when lights come on it's go time lol

[TeeJay]

I have noticed my male stays out and about more than the girls do. I think he has realized more that I am the food delivery hooman so he comes to me more that the girls.

It was water change day so I had to do a bit of plant thinning and adjusting the setup a little bit. As well I moved June the mystery snail over to the 29 gallon tank. Now it's just Johnny the mystery and lightning the nerite snail in the tank with them. 

But so far so good everyone is getting along well. Just some playful chasing on occasion but sometimes I even find all 3 of them together hanging out.

Like said before I have 3 caves in different spots of the tank each with there own "yard" if you will. For when and if the time arises that we have apisto fry. This way whatever cave mom may choose she has a safe small area to bring her babies out to so they can eat and stretch there fins.

[Guppysnail]

My girls were the brave ones at first also. And yes once dad associated me with food he is front and center. However he does not stare me down and demand food the way my girls do. 

[TeeJay]

On 5/15/2023 at 4:14 PM, Guppysnail said:

My girls were the brave ones at first also. And yes once dad associated me with food he is front and center. However he does not stare me down and demand food the way my girls do. 

You know how girls can be 😆. She is hangry!!

[TeeJay]

Been a bit of a hectic couple of days in the apisto tank. Yesterday as I was watching them I started noticing a fair amount of aggression from the boy. Kept chasing both girls pretty hard. Sometimes even trying to dive bomb them. So I made a video and sent it to my PIC @Guppysnail and she noticed as well one of the girls was going after the other pretty hard as well. 

So I moved the girl that was getting it from the other 2 into the 29 gallon tank. We figure the other 2 were starting to mate up and didn't want the 3rd wheel hanging around. Within a few minutes of getting her out of there things were much better.  Before that I could literally watch the boy actively try and seek and destroy for lack of better term the other girl. Now he has calmed way down and the pair have more room to call there own. 

One of those things you have to learn. Yes I guess you could maybe pull off a trio in a 10 gallon if you had 3 that have very chill personalities. Mike are not that lol especially the boy. But all 3 are doing well now with no permanent damage.

The smaller of the 2 girls now gets to love her life in the 29 gallon.

As well my boss is giving me a 10 gal tank that he no longer wants. So I figure I'll get it here in the next couple of days and get it ready for the boy apisto to have a vacation home when and if they have babies. Hey can have a vacation home while mom raises the kids. 😆

As well I want to send a thanks to @tolstoy21 for helping in this matter.

[anewbie]

On 5/17/2023 at 7:20 PM, TeeJay said:

Been a bit of a hectic couple of days in the apisto tank. Yesterday as I was watching them I started noticing a fair amount of aggression from the boy. Kept chasing both girls pretty hard. Sometimes even trying to dive bomb them. So I made a video and sent it to my PIC @Guppysnail and she noticed as well one of the girls was going after the other pretty hard as well. 

So I moved the girl that was getting it from the other 2 into the 29 gallon tank. We figure the other 2 were starting to mate up and didn't want the 3rd wheel hanging around. Within a few minutes of getting her out of there things were much better.  Before that I could literally watch the boy actively try and seek and destroy for lack of better term the other girl. Now he has calmed way down and the pair have more room to call there own. 

One of those things you have to learn. Yes I guess you could maybe pull off a trio in a 10 gallon if you had 3 that have very chill personalities. Mike are not that lol especially the boy. But all 3 are doing well now with no permanent damage.

The smaller of the 2 girls now gets to love her life in the 29 gallon.

As well my boss is giving me a 10 gal tank that he no longer wants. So I figure I'll get it here in the next couple of days and get it ready for the boy apisto to have a vacation home when and if they have babies. Hey can have a vacation home while mom raises the kids. 😆

As well I want to send a thanks to @tolstoy21 for helping in this matter.

This isn't strictly correct. Borelli are not pair forming. Each female will establish a territory independent of the other once they are ready to breed - the male could care less about them other than breeding but if you have a younger female that is not of suitable breeding age the male might try to drive it out of the territory; conversely the female that is ready to breed will not want any bottom dwellers in her area - and definitely not another young borelli. As i mentioned before the aquarium you are using is generally consider a bit risky for 2 of this species much less 3; and while the plan to remove the male is a good one you might find timing extremely critical. Certainly once the female lay eggs there might be a window where she is close to the eggs and dont' notice the male but if she does she will attack him and he will need to quickly find a place to hide. The exact level of aggression is highly dependent on individual fishes so what actually happens in your case is hard to predict and some do have short term success in a 15. The problem here is the female can kill the male (or another female) very very quickly if they hit it in the right spot. These sort of attacks are not going to be fin attacks or lip locking. She will target major organs - how they know where to find them - i have no clue - i guess it is one of the thing the fish lord taught them when he created them. Fin damage and lip locking are more territorial dance or what i call bickering - and i find males more likely to bicker than females.

[tolstoy21]

On 5/18/2023 at 8:02 PM, anewbie said:

This isn't strictly correct. Borelli are not pair forming. Each female will establish a territory independent of the other once they are ready to breed - the male could care less about them other than breeding but if you have a younger female that is not of suitable breeding age the male might try to drive it out of the territory; conversely the female that is ready to breed will not want any bottom dwellers in her area - and definitely not another young borelli. As i mentioned before the aquarium you are using is generally consider a bit risky for 2 of this species much less 3; and while the plan to remove the male is a good one you might find timing extremely critical. Certainly once the female lay eggs there might be a window where she is close to the eggs and dont' notice the male but if she does she will attack him and he will need to quickly find a place to hide. The exact level of aggression is highly dependent on individual fishes so what actually happens in your case is hard to predict and some do have short term success in a 15. The problem here is the female can kill the male (or another female) very very quickly if they hit it in the right spot. These sort of attacks are not going to be fin attacks or lip locking. She will target major organs - how they know where to find them - i have no clue - i guess it is one of the thing the fish lord taught them when he created them. Fin damage and lip locking are more territorial dance or what i call bickering - and i find males more likely to bicker than females.

This is pretty accurate with my experience as well. I find that apistos will either co-parent well, or one of them winds up a floater. Some species might naturally be better at co-parenting than others, but I don't yet have enough years/experience in breeding fish to address that.

Edited May 19, 2023 by tolstoy21

[anewbie]

On 5/18/2023 at 9:16 PM, tolstoy21 said:

This is pretty accurate with my experience as well. I find that apistos will either co-parent well, or one of them winds up a floater. Some species might naturally be better at co-parenting than others, but I don't yet have enough years/experience in breeding fish to address that.

This is species specific - it isn't a matter of 'skill' it is nature of the fish; nijjensi complex will mostly co-parent (pair forming); mac and hongsloi is a bit grey; agassiz, cockatoo, borelli, trif - only the mom parents - in a sufficiently large aquarium with multiple males/females you will see the male forming large territories with several females wondering into them for the sole purpose of breeding.

[Guppysnail]

On 5/19/2023 at 1:44 AM, anewbie said:

cockatoo, borelli, trif - only the mom parents - in a sufficiently large aquarium with multiple males/females you will see the male forming large territories with several females wondering into them for the sole purpose of breeding.

I actually just had this conversation with @Torrey on the phone last week. 
 

I noticed my caucatoides dad does not really try for the fry. After the initial mating of both girls he changed behavior from pestering the girls to patrolling the tank perimeter. I witnessed him shooing the one girl away from another and inserting himself between them. 
When I need to do something in the tank he will chase me away from the girls going back and forth in the tank wherever I or my tools are.  He also inserts himself between me and the girl I’m closest to. 
I had not heard of this before and I was wondering if in the wild they did indeed set up territories with multiple females. 
 

 

[tolstoy21]

On 5/19/2023 at 1:44 AM, anewbie said:

This is species specific - it isn't a matter of 'skill' it is nature of the fish; nijjensi complex will mostly co-parent (pair forming); mac and hongsloi is a bit grey; agassiz, cockatoo, borelli, trif - only the mom parents - in a sufficiently large aquarium with multiple males/females you will see the male forming large territories with several females wondering into them for the sole purpose of breeding.

@anewbie Thanks for the info! 

Even though I have been breeding apistogramma for a few years now, I'm still lacking this kind of knowledge, though I am just starting to try to educate myself on the topic. Mostly, my reading has been focused around the content on TomC's site. Do you have any recommendations on good sites, books or publications on the topic?

I did suspect that parenting is species-specific trait, but, like I said, not enough experience or knowledge at this point in my journey to speak with confidence on the topic.

I think I get tagged a lot as an 'apisto expert' on this site. Admittedly, I'm far from that. I've done a good job breeding them thus far, but it all still feels new and there is much for me to learn and experience still.

Edited May 19, 2023 by tolstoy21

[TeeJay]

Going to get the extra 10 gallon tank setup tomorrow. Just got my co op nano sponge filters today and the midnight pearl gravel will be delivered in the morning. As well I have some mopani wood that has been soaking ready to go in as well.

I want to have this tank setup and ready that way if I do get some spawning going on from the apistos I have a tank that I can put the male into while mom raises up the babies. Then one they are a couple of weeks old they can go that not that tank and I can move the male back over. 

The tank has a basic lid with the LEDs built into it. That will work for now until I can get a glass top with my preferred light. As well I plan to add a penguin pro 125 to this tank along with the sponge filters. If the flow turns out to be a bit to strong I'll get a baffle for the filter to dampen the flow. A new tank setup day is always exciting.

 

[TeeJay]

So got the tank setup this morning. it's just a rough start for now but it's up.i used my face midnight pearl gravel. I just couldn't do the black and white colored gravel that came with the tank. 

The built in led lights that are in the hood are driving me nuts but it will be ok for now until I can upgrade to the usual glass canopy and light.until then I should still be able to grow anubias and guppy grass. I double stacked the nano sponge filters in the corner. I like the nanos better than the small sponge filters. I figure with the 2 nanos I should still have just as much if not more surface area for bb. 

I set it up on a couple of inch thick by 1.5 wide plywood strips so it could set evenly across the main shelf bars. I would have done a full sheet but I don't have a way to cut it down from the size piece it would come in. And when you don't have a car to get these types of things you have use what you have on hand.  

[TeeJay]

Wrangled up a few plants out of other tanks to at least get a bit of color and life into the tank. A couple of anubias one small sad java fern a bit of guppy grass and hornwort. Added a little easy green and some extra potassium. As well as a pinch of flake to help feed the cycle.

[TeeJay]

Just ordered the hob for the new tank. Decided to go with the aguatop Forza for 15-25 gallon tanks. I've never owned an aquatop before so I figured I should own at least 1 in my lifetime. 

So other than getting a few crypts for the new tank I should be pretty well set.

I want to do my best to run that hood with the built in leds for as long as I can to see how well it will do for growing plants. I guess really the main complaint is needing to shift and move the whole lid over to get into the tank for anything other than feeding. 

The adventure for this tank should stay within this journal since the plan is for it to be used as a grow out/vacation home for the apistos.

The second girl that I took out of the main tank is doing well. She was just out and about with the killis enjoying some dinner.

I sat and watched the pair in there own tank for a good hour this morning and I'm still not seeing the kind of aggression that I was when all 3 were together. Hopefully it stays that way.

Oh an I forgot to mention if I don't like the new filter I blame @Guppysnail 😆

Edited May 21, 2023 by TeeJay

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 5/21/2023 at 1:01 PM, TeeJay said:

So got the tank setup this morning

Where is the fishy at?

Did you change the gravel out? The first photo it looks white.

Pretty sure the tank brand is Aquaculture. They have hoods like that with little bulbs that snap in.

Edited May 22, 2023 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea

[TeeJay]

On 5/21/2023 at 9:41 PM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

Where is the fishy at?

No fish in there yet. This is preparing for the future if I have apisto babies in the not to distant future. Or for any other fry that may come along