Rio Ampiacu Apistogramma (purple) Care Info

[Stephen Zawacki]

Hey Guys I have a couple questions, I have a fluval flex 32.5 gallon. I recently had the chance to buy rio ampiacu apistos. I bought 2 confirmed beautiful males and 4 females three confirmed female, one may possibly be a sleeper male but is looking more female than male and even if that’s the case I would have essentially three pairs Worst case. I also have in the tank 11 neon tetra and for the corys I have C125 aspiradora, which I have 11 and got at auction. The tank is beautiful and lots rock work and nooks and crannies and I also have an additional two apistogramma caves in addition in their too. So there are lots of hiding spots. Also the tank is heavily planted too. With Val, crypts, and tiger lily. now I have kept apistos in the past but, I would like to know the care requirements for these guys. The rio ampiacu. Because I cannot find anything online about them so any info on them like full mature color maily and possibly collection point for them Also I want to know the main question are they a natural strain of apistogramma, being rio ampiacu purple and not manipulated in a lab it appears so but want to ask. And anything else here are pictures of the tank where I bought them from also I will have pictures of my tank too.

thanks stephen

[Guppysnail]

@anewbie may have insight. 

[anewbie]

rio ampiacu I believe is a catch location not a species; i think vaguely this was posted on another forum - the guess was that you had two species cockatoo and ortegai and both can be rather violent - i.e, with potentially 3 males and 3 females you will likely end up with 1 male and 1 female or less depending on exact species and m/f combination. Also tetra will likely eat frys if they were to breed. I associate 'purple' with ortegai - lovely fish if that is what you actually own but certainly in both threads there is a lacking of details to identify the exact species. If they are the purple cf ortegai they really deserve better with regards to a breeding setup as they are not overly common and an extremely lovely fish. I'd be less excited if they are a cockatoo species both in terms of behavior and looks. 

 

Also be aware both of these species do not pair - the male and females will never be 'buddies' and there will be periods of non-harmony among them hence the need for a spacious aquarium with lots of hiding locations. Last but least if these are wc and the named species they are going to prefer acidic water that is not too hard. cockatoo are more of a clear or white water species and minerals are less of an issue. I'm less familiar with the various species of ortegai but i vaguely believe they are a blackwater species.

 

Also you do not want to keep either species with cory. The cory wont' respect their territories which will create a lot of stress and it is not uncommon if a breeding female plucks out the eyes of the cory.

Edited February 13 by anewbie