Apisto trifasciata

[Guppysnail]

When I was at the Keystone Clash I got to meet @tolstoy21 in person. He gifted me a beautiful trio of juvenile trifasciata. 
 

They are becoming more comfortable with me and not hiding. They know to show up for feeding now. 
 

Yesterday was the first I saw behavior from them more than hunting food and hanging out. 
 

The boy is coming into his colors and one girl is developing a hint of yellow. I decided to start a journal for them so I can track their timeline easily and so folks could see the progression. 
 

The new flirty behavior may be related to the fact that I severely overfed live BBS Water change ensued yesterday afternoon. 🤣

The tank is set up backwards intentionally. This tank is floor level in my busier fishroom. I placed lots of sight blocks along the front so they were not constantly fearful of me walking past. The back is more open for them. I find them all over the place. They are not sure what to make of adult neocaridina yet. However I’ve seen no babies so I assume they figured out those are supposed to be food. I started the tank with a very healthy dose of ostracods and microfauna. It’s fun to watch them hunt. 

 

[TheSwissAquarist]

I’m betting on fry before the end of the month. 😜 Nice species! I saw a couple of them along with some Elizabethae in my LFS and they look great when they’re fired up.

[Guppysnail]

On 10/15/2023 at 10:59 AM, TheSwissAquarist said:

I’m betting on fry before the end of the month. 😜 Nice species! I saw a couple of them along with some Elizabethae in my LFS and they look great when they’re fired up.

Give them a chance to grow up. They are still playing with Tonya trucks and Barbie dolls 🤣

[tolstoy21]

On 10/15/2023 at 9:42 AM, Guppysnail said:

When I was at the Keystone Clash I got to meet @tolstoy21 in person. He gifted me a beautiful trio of juvenile trifasciata. 

So glad you are enjoying them!  Fingers crossed for fry.

One thing I have noticed about these fish is that they really color up splendidly over dark substrate.  I have mine over Caribsea's Peace River substrate, and the blue in the males is somewhat subdued.

However, over a black bottomed tank, their coloration really pops.

Edited October 15, 2023 by tolstoy21

[Guppysnail]

@tolstoy21 I’m so in love with the Caribsea jungle river sand that’s what I put in all the tanks. It’s just to easy for me not to. 
 

These kids are so cute right now. At feeding time they peek out of whatever cave they are. Once they spot the coral feeder they come all the way out. 
 

 

[Dutchaj]

On 10/15/2023 at 7:23 PM, Guppysnail said:

I’m so in love with the Caribsea jungle river sand that’s what I put in all the tanks. It’s just to easy for me not to. 
 

@Guppysnail that’s what’s in this tank?  I use PFS in all my tanks, but I REALLY like the looks of that, definitely got me thinking now!  Very nice!
 

 

 

[Guppysnail]

@Dutchaj the best part is it’s just a hair bigger than any sand I’ve encountered. It’s very easy to vacuum yet fish can still easily dig. so far it has not compacted in any of my tanks. I really like it. Here is a closer look at it in my frog tank and caucatoides tank (photos I had at hand) 

[Dutchaj]

Thanks for sharing, really wishing I had seen this variety sooner!  I keep saying I’m not setting up any more tanks, but if I accidentally get one more that will be going in it for sure!

 

That Apisto looks awesome as well

[tolstoy21]

On 10/15/2023 at 7:23 PM, Guppysnail said:

@tolstoy21 I’m so in love with the Caribsea jungle river sand that’s what I put in all the tanks. It’s just to easy for me not to. 

I have that in a few tanks and like it, but I have to admit, I like Peace River a little bit better because the pebbles are a wee bit bigger and thus easier to gravel vac.  

The one thing jungle river has going for it over peace river is that a 40lb bag of Jungle River is almost the same price as a 20lb bag of Peace River.

Either way they are both very nice.

Edited October 16, 2023 by tolstoy21

[Guppysnail]

I have not seen the first girl in a few days other than her nose poking out of a cave. My fear with the way I have this tank is I won’t be able to see if they have babies since they spend most of the time along the back. So I put sera micron in twice a week just in case. 
 

This is the other girl today. Her belly is big and he is pouring on the charm. 😍

 

 

[anewbie]

I'm mixed on jungle river which i have in three aquariums; it sure looks a *lot* nicer than hth pool filter sand; but it lacks the ultra fine-ness that geo and a few other species deeply appreciate; conversely i moved some of my a. pucallpaensis to a tank with it and they lost a lot of their colour - their kids (who are now breeding) are still on stoney river estes (a very fine black substrate) still have that pop. 

To be honest other than cost i really like stony river estes black substrate as it seems to do very well over long period of time unlike some of the caribsea substrate which have caused me grief due to aneraboic pockets forming and killing my plants.

-

Do be aware that like borelli trifs are polygamous and unlike borelli they are more violent both females iwth frys and males towards other species. Now that i'm using much larger aquariums (4ftx4ft for my pucallpaensis); i'm finding even 29 quite small - i have a pair of d50 in the 29 and they keep telling me it lacks elbow room. I think when my D50 pass (probably 2 to 4 more years); i'll hunt down some wc borelli which are a bit smaller and i've seen some brilliant wc borelli though they are much more rare than the domestic breed.

[Guppysnail]

On 10/22/2023 at 6:49 PM, anewbie said:

I'm mixed on jungle river which i have in three aquariums; it sure looks a *lot* nicer than hth pool filter sand; but it lacks the ultra fine-ness that geo and a few other species deeply appreciate; conversely i moved some of my a. pucallpaensis to a tank with it and they lost a lot of their colour - their kids (who are now breeding) are still on stoney river estes (a very fine black substrate) still have that pop. 

To be honest other than cost i really like stony river estes black substrate as it seems to do very well over long period of time unlike some of the caribsea substrate which have caused me grief due to aneraboic pockets forming and killing my plants.

-

Do be aware that like borelli trifs are polygamous and unlike borelli they are more violent both females iwth frys and males towards other species. Now that i'm using much larger aquariums (4ftx4ft for my pucallpaensis); i'm finding even 29 quite small - i have a pair of d50 in the 29 and they keep telling me it lacks elbow room. I think when my D50 pass (probably 2 to 4 more years); i'll hunt down some wc borelli which are a bit smaller and i've seen some brilliant wc borelli though they are much more rare than the domestic breed.

Thank you. Yes my trifs and borellii are in trios. The info on the more violent was needed. That I did not know. This is first spawn for both trios so I would not have known.  My caucatoides trio dad takes care of the fry when moms are done. 
 

As for the jungle river my Laetacara dorsigera and curviceps easily dig holes all over the place. I do not have it in my GBR tank.  It’s the only Carib sea I’ve enjoyed. 
 

 

[anewbie]

On 10/22/2023 at 6:32 PM, Guppysnail said:

Thank you. Yes my trifs and borellii are in trios. The info on the more violent was needed. That I did not know. This is first spawn for both trios so I would not have known.  My caucatoides trio dad takes care of the fry when moms are done. 
 

As for the jungle river my Laetacara dorsigera and curviceps easily dig holes all over the place. I do not have it in my GBR tank.  It’s the only Carib sea I’ve enjoyed. 
 

 

I've not noticed any digging by any of the fishes - the geo do filter the sand but they are still small (1.5 inch - eventually will get up to 7-8 inches); my biggest problem is the loaches keep wearing away the substrate down to the glass bottom when they surf - need to add another bag in the far corner and a rock to cover the glass. The substrate in the loach tank is estes stony river (similar to bbs); very fine very good for plants. My domestic angels and festum really enjoy the larger aquarium. Previously when they were in the 120 the festum would never come near me (they are wc) but since i put them in the 550 they started behaving like puppies lining up front for food - i speculate because in the larger aquarium they feel safer but that is only speculation for the change in behavior. In the 120 they would go to the back corner whenever i approach and stay there till i left.  When not feeding them they mostly hang over by the over flows (stronger current?) and hornworth (middle). The only sad thing is my loaches have gotten lazy and stay hidden most days now - when i first put them they spent a full week zoom across the tank full length 24/7. I do have one black knight in there - it was actually purchase to help cycle the tank and i thought for sure it died but every now and then it flashes the white tail and i know it is doing fine (been in there for about 8 weeks now).

 

[Guppysnail]

I think the boy and maybe one of the girls has reached sexual maturity or almost. They have doubled in size. The boy and suspected girl were awfully flirty and checking out available apartments today. 
They chose not to sign a lease yet but remained companionable for the rest of the day. 
 

She is inside the cave in the photo. 
 

 

 

[jwcarlson]

Hopefully they spawn for you soon! 🙂

Edited November 16, 2023 by jwcarlson

[Guppysnail]

Apparently we cannot decide on the apartment we wish to live in. 

 

[Guppysnail]

Yesterday morning there was so much activity. Girl 1  still won’t commit to the cave. She goes from coy to coquettish and back again in minutes. 

Everything happens when lights are out so I apologize for the glare. 
 

While watching the boy get frustrated I spotted the other girl rise from under the moss log where she lives. Haven’t seen her in a few days. Was hoping she was on eggs. 
 

No luck but she rose with an impressive egg belly. She hovered about until the boy noticed her. The boy went straight to her and he lost all interest in girl 1 who was showing yellow. 
 

Though girl 2 had an egg belly she showed no yellow. After 10 minutes of the boy starting to show interest she began getting yellow. I managed to get pictures of her before and right as she started turning yellow. 
 

Before

 

just getting color. 

[Guppysnail]

We are still waiting.  He is in love with every cave. Neither girl wants to be in any cave. 🙄

They are much bolder now and have no fear of me anymore. Even my constant walking in front of the tank no longer bothers them. 
 

I had the tank set so the scape blocked the lower sight from the front and sides. I decided to move it all inland a bit and spread the center barrier.  Hopefully they will find a nook they like. They still cannot see under the barrier but there are more fish size alcoves.  I have seen no aggression if the girls towards each other …yet. 
 

He is really growing into his looks. If the light hits him right I can see small touches of red starting. 

 

[jwcarlson]

Beautiful!  What are you feeding them, @Guppysnail?  My female apistos don't seem to put on weight like yours.

Edited December 1, 2023 by jwcarlson

[Guppysnail]

On 12/1/2023 at 2:13 PM, jwcarlson said:

Beautiful!  What are you feeding them, @Guppysnail?  My female apistos don't seem to put on weight like yours.

Grindle worms, white worms, a little live bbs, moina and daphnia magna here and there but I’m LAZY so not often.  Kens high protein tropical  green granules (they just upgraded from .2 mm to .5 mm) Kens growth granules #00 

The tank is seeded with ostracods and copepods which I feed a tiny bit of sera micron to 1x a week and they have a thriving neocaridina population to snack on shrimplettes. 

[Guppysnail]

Well it’s not a great day. I woke to find the girl that lives on the left murdered. She is the one that he has been trying for months to spawn with but will not go in a cave or pick a spot. 
I suspect him since the other girl was smaller. 
As soon as I found her it was obviously an assault.  Him and the other girl were in a cave on the other side together. 
😟

[Guppysnail]

This boy has all the ladies man skills of a bull in a china shop. 
 

I have 3 videos just prior to these where they paused and I thought they were just hanging out. Then I realized they were staring at me and the camera 🤣

She is flirting like no one’s business with a big old egg belly. He just….needs some How to treat women on dates courses. 😬

I guess it’s not quite as weird as my borellii boy who keeps fertilizing the mid water column instead of going over to the cave to fertilize 🤪

 

 

[Guppysnail]

So the divider went in. I woke up the other day to my last girl missing bites from her tail and one pectoral.  
 

He is madder than a box of hornets but oh well.  She is happy. She is so personable she reminds me of my rams.  Always comes to see me and eats from my coral feeder.

The two girls were a bit behind him on development.  So though the one looked like a bit of egg belly starting I think it was just her eating a healthy dose of worms.  
 

Lesson learned

Allow girls to mature separately from boys. I wonder if it’s part of natures design so the boys chase the female siblings out of the territory because they develop slower so unrelated females who are ready come in to keep them from becoming to inbred 🤷‍♀️

 

[Guppysnail]

Just an update. The little girls tail is healing wonderfully. She has become a water puppy. She always stays right up front. She eats her worms from a coral feeder and her baby brine shrimp. 🥰

[Guppysnail]

Crazy exciting news. 
 

Yesterday for the first time my little girl started snooping at the divider a bit. She is completely healed and put on size and weight. She showed some interest in the male on the other side throughout the day but nothing consistent. 
 

This morning she did not leave the divider for a grindle worm breakfast. My girl does not miss breakfast and grindles are her favorite.  So I watched and she did the tell tale head twitch.  So I removed the divider prepared to intervene if he again bullied her.  She gracefully swam directly to his cave and went in. 

Typical of him he was a bull in a china shop.  She did not miss a beat and swam to the center and danced for him then slowly coaxed him to her side and into her cave.  

He is still hanging about and occasionally going in. As soon as he loses interest in her cave if she does not emerge the rest of the day I will be putting the divider back to give her the best chance of raising her babies.  I would rather let nature just do it’s thing but I do not trust him at all. Especially with no other female to distract him since he killed the other girl.  

photo  of him seeming pleased with himself for getting the job done