PGH Jeremy Posted June 2 Share Posted June 2 Hey everyone. I went to my LFS today looking to get a shoal of 10 or so cardinal tetras and a pair of blue rams, for my month-old 30 gallon, only to discover that their cardinals tank was in quarantine and they were down to one blue ram. So I had to choose between going home empty handed (nope!), getting gold rams, or pick from 3 Apistogramma species. I ended up getting a pair of A. hongsloi which I’m pretty excited about. I’d be interested in anyone’s experiences with these. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NOLANANO Posted June 2 Share Posted June 2 (edited) I’ve never had hongsloi but from the pics they are really pretty fish. I currently have 6 borelli and I love them. I’m not sure how aggressive hongsloi are but you may need to get more female if he chases her incessantly. When I had a trifaciata I needed multiple females cuz that boy was a predator. Edited June 2 by NOLANANO 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mynameisnobody Posted June 2 Share Posted June 2 I also had a pair of trifasciata and he tore that poor girl up, so I had to intervene. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PGH Jeremy Posted June 5 Author Share Posted June 5 On 6/2/2024 at 12:02 AM, mynameisnobody said: I also had a pair of trifasciata and he tore that poor girl up, so I had to intervene. Thanks for the cautionary note. So far, everything is peaceful. The male A. hongsloi often tries to display for the female when their paths cross, but she’s ignoring him completely. He does not chase after her. Hopefully things remain peaceful - they aren’t even fully grown yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PGH Jeremy Posted June 21 Author Share Posted June 21 I thought I’d post an update. About a week and a half ago, my male A. hongsloi died. I was away on a trip and my wife said he seemed fine the day before. Coincidentally, I was having a green “hair” algae breakout. So I went and bought 4 Otocinclus and a couple Amano shrimp. I noticed the female A. honsloi was mildly protecting and spending time in a large driftwood crevis that I couldn’t see in. The morning after adding my Otos, 2 were dead near her lair. I thought she might be responsible but she really wasn’t very aggressive during the day. Today, I saw her in the opposite back corner acting protective and realized there is a swarm of free-swimming fry there. So I’m wondering if she could have killed the male A. hongsloi and 2 otos. The remaining 2 otos are fine after almost a week. Certainly the first 2 months of my aquarium have been eventful. She chases the otos and my 4 harlequin rasboras away, but not too far or aggressively. I’m open to any advice on care of the fry. I’ve been giving some finely ground (mortar & pestle) Hikari micro wafers using a syringe to deliver a “cloud” near the fry. I tried to post a video clip but it seems that isn’t possible here. Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daggaz Posted June 21 Share Posted June 21 Can you breed sibling fish, or is that how all the mutant goldfish were created? Sucks about the male.. I really like the way these fish look, I had considered briefly to get one for my community tank but the aggression and size factor ruled that out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PGH Jeremy Posted June 21 Author Share Posted June 21 On 6/21/2024 at 2:37 PM, daggaz said: Can you breed sibling fish, or is that how all the mutant goldfish were created? Sucks about the male.. I really like the way these fish look, I had considered briefly to get one for my community tank but the aggression and size factor ruled that out. I’m no expert on fish breeding. I’m sure inbreeding would be an issue eventually. Yeah I was bummed about the male. I read different things on apisto aggression and thought I might be able to handle a pair with some tetras/rasboras in my 30g. The female Apisto barely cares about the harlequin rasboras because they are up in the water column. If she killed the otos, it’s because they are down on the bottom where she and the fry are. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daggaz Posted June 21 Share Posted June 21 (edited) Well that's interesting. What size tank did you have? Edit : 30 gallons. Hmm. Maybe it's doable I've got 50.. Edited June 21 by daggaz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mynameisnobody Posted June 21 Share Posted June 21 If you bought fish from a breeder, the chances of inbreeding are high, for livebearers it’s almost definitive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jwcarlson Posted June 21 Share Posted June 21 The bright colored one is certainly a male. The other looks like it might be a sleeper male. I've owned six Hongsloi (three pairs) and a pair of Abacaxis and of those 8 fish only one has been a female. And it can take MONTHS for it to finally come to a head. That said, I've successfully kept 2-3 Hongsloi males together and they became best buds. And a male Hongsloi with a male Abacaxis and they got along just fine. My suspicion is that it becomes an issue when there's a female in the mix OR if they don't have enough room to get away from each other enough. The Hongsloi I have had have all been pretty well mannered, though. Good community fish except with big snails and very pretty. When paired, there was occasional issues, but never massive violence. Usually light fin damage or over pursuit causing some stress. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PGH Jeremy Posted June 21 Author Share Posted June 21 On 6/21/2024 at 3:40 PM, jwcarlson said: The bright colored one is certainly a male. The other looks like it might be a sleeper male. I've owned six Hongsloi (three pairs) and a pair of Abacaxis and of those 8 fish only one has been a female. And it can take MONTHS for it to finally come to a head. That said, I've successfully kept 2-3 Hongsloi males together and they became best buds. And a male Hongsloi with a male Abacaxis and they got along just fine. My suspicion is that it becomes an issue when there's a female in the mix OR if they don't have enough room to get away from each other enough. The Hongsloi I have had have all been pretty well mannered, though. Good community fish except with big snails and very pretty. When paired, there was occasional issues, but never massive violence. Usually light fin damage or over pursuit causing some stress. The larger/brighter one is the one that died. The one that is left is the one that is guarding the fry, so it must be a female since the eggs had to come from one of them. I’m not sure it was a good idea to have a M/F pair in a 30 g with some other fish, but I think for now things might be okay. With a little luck, I’ll have some young A. hongsloi to sell in a bit. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jwcarlson Posted June 21 Share Posted June 21 I missed the eggs and fry part haha Did she ever yellow up? She's got a lot of blue spangling, should be pretty babies! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PGH Jeremy Posted June 21 Author Share Posted June 21 On 6/21/2024 at 4:49 PM, jwcarlson said: I missed the eggs and fry part haha Did she ever yellow up? She's got a lot of blue spangling, should be pretty babies! Yes. Here she is now. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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