Jump to content

Apistopolooza (Hongsloi and Abacaxis)


jwcarlson
 Share

Recommended Posts

Well, I do believe the hongsloi pair might have spawned today.  The male is just cruising around like a dope eating BBS and the female is no where to be seen.  I caught her tail poking out of her cave.  Either yesterday or the day before I added another cave and rearranged the others.  And turned the lights down.  Not sure if any of that had anything to do with it.  But she went into a cave this morning which seems to be a pretty rare thing unless she's going to spawn.  She was in it for over 20 minutes while I was watching for her before I caught her tail.  

Guess I'll skip water change tomorrow. 🤫

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

Been away from the forum 'forever'.  Life in my apisto world (aka The Hydra Farm) continues as it has since January.  No fry to report, the Hongsloi pair still occasionally acts like they have spawned, but nothing has come of it.  I have thought about pulling the male and introducing one of the other four males, but I'm not sure if that's a good idea.  To be honest, they've discouraged me quite a lot so I'm just kind of letting them ride and probably won't rock the boat much.

image.jpeg.29ff53a5d98a6b9e02c7ea0fdb039559.jpeg

image.jpeg.d61a61c7cce4fa2052b132ad05c4703e.jpeg

 

The Abacaxis are a bit flirty and maturing/coloring up.  The female is looking more and more yellow (on and off).  The male is showing more color more often as well.  He's a good looking fella.

 

20230629_055518.jpg.ab1fc3ba367b0cefe36f3f34db40c88e.jpg

20230629_171416.jpg.bdf8311dd00101d8c62f7de8de63328c.jpg

20230629_171401.jpg.133d8c098252aed4115be39baad5dd99.jpg

Thanks for looking! 😄

  • Like 2
  • Love 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 6/30/2023 at 4:16 AM, anewbie said:

What is the tds of your water - vaguely my memory is that hongsloi require tds around 80 for eggs to hatch.

It's been below 80 and typically around 60.  Though I haven't checked it recently.  It was below 80 for at least a couple spawns.  I am going to cut some small terracotta pots and giving them some bigger cave options.  I am not sure they have great options in that regard.  And I can hopefully situate them in a way that I can maybe monitor what's going on. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 months later...

Happy to report that spixi snails decimated the hydra and combined with taking an extended break of feeding BBS, there's barely any to speak of.  Spixi's laid eggs and I ended up with about a dozen babies.  Unfortunately about half of them died when I tried to relocate them (what the heck?).  The others are growing nicely.  Hopefully they mature OK and give me another egg cluster.

I've ramped back up the BBS and am feeding them that twice a day about 4-5 days a week.  The Hongsloi pair cohabitated OK, but the male did get a bit more aggressive when the female was taking what I assume was a diet induced break from flirting.  They seem to be back on good terms both displaying for each other seemingly constantly.  She's got a beautiful rosy belly and is wearing her bright yellow best all the time.  I'm going to start mixing in some Rapashy into my feeding routine for them.  They eat pellets and BBS and flake, but I feel like I'm missing something meaty.  They also eat freeze dried tubifex, but I'm not positive if that could be a bloat issue if fed frequently.  Also replaced all apisto caves except one for the Hongsloi.  The male just flat-out doesn't fit.  Not sure if that's a big deal breaker or not, but now that he's grown up it's not even just a "tight squeeze".  I gave them a 4" terracotta pot with a bigger hole chipped out of it.  He'll go in there with her.  The smaller cave is mainly for her to have a place where she can 100% escape him, which is how she seems to use it, seeming to favor the bigger cave when enticing him.  I might end up rotating the big side of the pot to the glass so that I can maybe see what's going on in there.  They haven't spawned for awhile that I am aware of and if the next one isn't successful, I think I'm going to swap males.  Though I have no idea what the problem really is since I can't really see what's going on.

The Abacaxis get the same diet.  Today marks the first I've seen the female get pretty darn flirty with the male and is starting to get the faintest of yellowish to her body.  Hopefully that means they're happy with each other.  I've been ramping up water changes again as well.

TDS was below 60 when I last checked.  I should drop my pH probe in and see if it's dropped down naturally at all.

I've got a dozen pencilfish in QT right now that will probably end up split evenly between the two pairs' tanks.  The Abacaxis are actually pretty tolerant of me now, though they're still more spooky than the Hongsloi.  The Hongsloi remind me a bit of very small oscars.  They're out and about all the time and they beg for food too.  Because I got so many males with my three pairs (5 males), I've ended up with a trio in a 55 and they get along very well, almost always swimming together.  Never really any violence, though without a female to fight over that's probably a big help.  I've got another single male in a 40 breeder with tetras and corys and he is a total gentleman.  I was watching the sterbai eat a big pile of tubifex worms this evening and he was even nice enough to wait for a opening in the cory pile instead of pounding his way in there. 😄  

Forgot to add a pic of the male trying to get into the "apisto cave".  

20230923_165951.jpg.00d541e5cb678104548847d29d5dfa45.jpg

Edited by jwcarlson
  • Like 3
  • Love 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I’m glad all is well with your Apisto. I do not think it matters if the male fits in the cave at least for some types. 
 

My male caucatoides has not fit in the caves in a long time. Both my girls are still popping out babies every month or so. 
 

It’s actually very comical to watch. Whenever the girls go in dad becomes a peeping Tom. 

B83415FA-25A8-4B54-8328-56D8B5AF313D.jpeg

AF1B41FC-43B4-4DA0-AD02-9A8CEAF52B2D.jpeg

  • Like 2
  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 10/30/2023 at 3:04 AM, jwcarlson said:

Everybody's apistos making babies except mine. *kicks rocks* 🤣

Abacaxis female was trying hard to get her male into a cave with her this morning.  Hopefully they're getting serious! 

Have you tried a spawning trigger? The presence of another male in the tank could incite them to spawn. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 10/30/2023 at 5:36 AM, TheSwissAquarist said:

Have you tried a spawning trigger? The presence of another male in the tank could incite them to spawn. 

I have not, they're in very different water.  But I could drop another male in a breeder box up in the corner and see what happens. 

Hongsloi this AM.  I took all the small caves out awhile back and the next morning she had nipped fins.  They're looking better now as she has one good spot to hide. 

20231030_060515.jpg.0fa4d0f0e79af2ad3e7fe79ce694d4a5.jpg

 

Abacaxis female this morning (and her male watching from between leaves).  She has never looked this good and I am not sure she's not prettier than the male, at least right now. 

20231030_060612.jpg.e49b20842ae8c1843f20526d3bc9736b.jpg

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 10/30/2023 at 6:36 AM, TheSwissAquarist said:

Have you tried a spawning trigger?

@jwcarlson as a spawning trigger for all my fish here is my method and why. 
 

I seed tanks with ostracods and copepods. I also add powder fry food like sera micron 2x a week to feed the microfauna and so food for new hatches is present. 
 

Why?

I watched either a Discovery or National Geographic thing years ago. They were studying why a certain type of fish population was decreasing and no longer spawning appropriately. Nothing was found that would be affecting the health of the fish. 
What they found was humans were doing things that was harming a certain type of microfauna the new hatched babies predominantly fed on. The fish would only spawn when the appropriate amount of food was present to support new hatch fry. That microfauna was found to boom at a coinciding time that that fish normally would spawn. So they noted that microfauna population was the spawning trigger. 
It works for me across the board. Once I started doing that I no longer had issues getting any fish to spawn (knock on wood)

In my mind this accounts at least in part for why when I adopt fish from folks who can’t get them to spawn, they spawn inside a week or two for me. 

  • Like 1
  • Love 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 10/30/2023 at 7:36 AM, Guppysnail said:

@jwcarlson as a spawning trigger for all my fish here is my method and why. 
 

I seed tanks with ostracods and copepods. I also add powder fry food like sera micron 2x a week to feed the microfauna and so food for new hatches is present. 

How do you seed tanks?  Simply fry powder in order to encourage their populations?  Or something else?

When you feed the powder fry food, how much are you talking about adding?  

 

Thanks!

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 10/30/2023 at 11:43 AM, jwcarlson said:

How do you seed tanks?  Simply fry powder in order to encourage their populations?  Or something else?

When you feed the powder fry food, how much are you talking about adding?  

 

Thanks!

I moisten a toothpick and roll dry on a paper towel the stick it in a third of the way up. You get way to much sticking if you don’t roll dry. And way too little if you don’t moisten. I’ll do this with sera and first bites alternating usually. 
 

Copepods always magically show up in my snail tanks. So I suck those out and dump them in. But you can buy them online just make sure they are clean cultures or they could be dipped from a stream or an unhealthy tank containing illness or parasites. Carolina biologic carries clean cultures. 


Seed shrimp (ostracods) I use this guy on eBay His cultures are fantastic. Last I looked he may actually have a combo pack for sale. 
 

 

552D2258-A1AA-49C0-A823-D91A2B0BD76E.jpeg

  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Very interesting.  I VERY rarely see any of these type of things in my tanks.  I'm sure something like that is around, but I just don't see them.  And I am observant, I feel.  Like I'll see planaria when there's a number of them there and detritus worms from time to time.  And these things are easier to see than some of that stuff.  I think I'll get a culture and see what I can do.  The adults don't bother these little things?  

Any other management techniques?  I don't suck up what mulm/debris I can when I do water changes.  Should I leave some level do you think?  

Edited by jwcarlson
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I vac my tanks. My microfauna is so heavily entrenched it’s not funny. Most of this stuff is invisible in the substrate. That’s why it’s perfect food for new hatch fry. 
 

I see mine in my yuck bucket. If I need more I use a white bucket and let the yuck settle. I shine a light on it for a second and gobs of tiny seed shrimp and copepods are bustling about. 
 

Yes the adults will munch away. But that’s good for conditioning to breed. Unlimited access to natural foods helps them realize they do not need to conserve energy. If they feel they are limited in food they don’t breed because that means sharing their limited resources with more fish.
 

Here is my thread where I cultivated the seed shrimp so I had enough for many tanks to seed heavy enough the adults would not wipe out populations before they thrived. When I added them to my tanks I squirted them under moss held down by a plant weight on the ground.  I did not vacuum that area for a month. Once I started seeing the critters in my yuck bucket I knew they took hold. 
 

Here is the video instruction I used to cultivate them. 
 

Ok I can’t find the video I used but here is one. I put in a small stick, a handful of dirty gravel. I scooped with a cup (avoid planaria tanks they will eat your seed shrimp) You want the yuck and need the beneficial bacteria. 
 

These guys are the best at breaking down excess in substrate. If you want to do it easier put moss on the floor in the tank and block it off so adults can’t eat them all and squirt using a turkey baster underneath. 

 

 

Also live grindle and white worms. The grindle live 2 days in my tanks white worms up to 10 days. I use white worms in hospital tanks because they live 10 days in salt water so do not foul the tank. 

  • Like 3
  • Love 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I might have my own cultures living in my CPD tank, I do not vac the substrate (Fluval Stratum) in there at all.  I know most of this stuff exists normally, but trying to gauge what I might be doing to not have them thriving.  I also don't really use gravel, most everything is sand which might not offer great environment?

Mulm and debris just kind of hangs out on top for the most part.  

 

Thanks for the advice!

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...