The little shell dwellers (similis) have been breeding. Just check out the film. Cute little fish I’m sure you’ll agree. What’s amazed me most about them is their ability to shift sand. Just have a look at the size of the pit the little female has made (I’m presuming all by her self).

I’ll leave you with a short post for today, and I promise to write soon with more details to wet your appetite…

the wider catchment of the Rio Itaya about 80 kilometres south of Iquitos during 2010. provisionally called Apistogramma sp. Roterpunkt by local fishermen, the official nomenclature would become Apistogramma cinilabra sp. n., which refers to their ash coloured mouths – “ashy lips”.

New species of fish are being descibed often, but it’s especially exciting when a new discovery is made within my favourite genus! I wonder how long until this fish makes it into the aquarium hobby…

Want to read & see more? Check out the paper:

Apistogramma cinilabra sp. n.: Description of a potentially endangered endemic cichlid species

After several weeks sitting in the garage just waiting to be cared for, I have now moved it into my kitchen (pretty much the only space left at home that can accomodate this size of aquarium).

Over the next few months I’ll be guiding you all through the ins and outs of setting up a discus aquarium. From the maturation period, through the introduction of aquatic life, through to weekly rituals of maintenance. At the moment I’m not even sure of what equipment and methods I’ll be using with the aquarium. So an adventure in fishkeeping for all!

The first steps I have taken are as follows:

• Make sure the aquarium is sitting on a stable base. Remember 1 litre of water weighs 1 kg. This aquarium has a matching metal stand that is designed to hold the weight.
• About 60 kg of sand was washed and then placed inside the aquarium. The depth of the sand is roughly 8 cm. I reckon this should be adequate for all substrate rooting plants. I can always add more later if required.
• I was itching to fill the aquarium with water but due to the lack of cover glass (and a curious cat) I will just have to wait. The cover glass that I ordered was unfortunately the wrong size, so I’ve re-ordered.

Here are a few pictures to wet your appetite:

The cover glass I ordered was unfortunately the wrong size and too thin. I have ordered again …

Close up of the aquariums resting place

The aquarium looks kinda small in my kitchen. It's not!

Filled with a layer of about 8cm fine sand. I might need to add more…

The sand has been washed. I expect it to be a little hazy at first. During the initial set-up process it'll clear.

Busy day today for me. My house is for sale and there is a viewing later on today, so I’ll try and get some footage posted later on this evening …

I have no idea where I will be placing this aquarium, as I’ll be moving house in the next couple of months.
Here are a few stats:
Measurements – Length 150cm, width, 50cm, height 50cm
Volume – 375 litres
I haven’t even decided what I’ll be placing in it. First thoughts are a discus set up. I do love my discus (Symphysodon aequifasciatus)!!

Well, it didn’t take long for me to realise that the six Buenos Aires Tetra (Hemigrammus caudovittatus), that I’ve had for about a week, are way to lively and hungry to have a place in my aquarium. They are lovely little fish, but just not right for my “apistogramma tank”. I found myself having to feed way too much food just to make sure that the Apistogramma Veijita got just a little sustainance. Not only had the biological load on the tank practically doubled in only a week, but I was sure I would never see a nice round pregnant female Apisto this way!

So, another trip back to the aquarium store with a bag of fish! This time with the intention of buying several somewhat calmer, smaller tetras. My eyes brushed past numerous species of tetra; some really nice large Congo Tetra (wrong continent, and too large), some pretty little Glow Tetra (these I have kept before, but personally find them to be rather dull), some beautiful Emporer Tetra (tempting!), some rather small Cardinal Tetra (these are great little fish, but they where too small and possibly a little timid for my apistos), then amongst a tank full of striped barbs I lay my eyes upon some interesting little Tetra. Penguin Tetra (Thayeria boehlkei). There where 9 left in the tank. I took them all.

Besides the new Tetras I took the liberty of asking if they had any shrimps. Great for keeping the amount of algae down. They happened to have several species:

• Red Cherry Shrimp (Neocaridina heteropoda)
• Amano Shrimp (Caridina multidentata)
• Crystal Red Shrimp (Caridina cf. cantonensis sp. “Crystal Red”)

The bright red coloured shrimps sure are attractive little creatures, but maybe too eye-catching for the apistos and potentially rather expensive food. They where also somewhat small. So, I settled on the Amano Shrimps. These I have kept before and what they lack in colour they make up for in cuteness! I bought 5.

This is what my tank looked like while I was introducing the new inhabitants:

Origin: South America: Rio Orinoco basin, in the upper Rio Meta drainage in Colombia.

Class: Actinopterygii (ray-finned fishes) Order: Perciformes Family: Cichlidae (Cichlids) subfamily: Geophaginae.

First European import: 1972, by T. Hongslo.

Description: South America (Columbia and Venezuela): Orinoco River basin, in the upper Meta River basin- There are at least three type localities. Apistogramma macmasteri is a very similar species, but has a less slender body shape, differs in the lateral line, and doesn’t display the blueish lips found in A. viejita.

Care: Apistogramma viejita are a peaceful, easy to keep Apistogramma if it’s requirements are met. They require a densely planted tank with lots of hideouts. Best kept in pairs or a single male with a few females in a large species tank(60-80cm). Peat filtration is necessary, the water should be at least slightly acidic, and soft. Frequent waterchanges are recommended.

Temperature: 23 – 30 °C

Feeding: Live and frozen food.

Size: Up to 6cm. Females being slightly smaller

pH: 5.5-6.5. dGH below 5

Breeding: This fish is best bred in pairs, as opposed to other Apistos. In soft peat filtered water the fish will spawn, raising the temperature in combination with frequent small waterchanges may induce spawning. Around 40 eggs are laid by the pair, which are guarded by the female. The fry are easy to raise, and can immediately be fed artemia nauplii. The fry grow very slow, and mature after a year. The male / female ratio can be as bad as 1:10/20!

Sexual dimorphism: In juveniles the difference is hard to see. The females show some color as well, although in fully grown fish the males are much more colorful. Besides that the males have an extended dorsal fin.

Prices: The pair I purchased cost 360 SEK (about 40 €)

Additional information: Three color forms of Apistogramma viejita are known. Color form 1 is from Puerto Gaitan, Colombia, 2 from Rio Muco and Rio Guarrojo, Colombia, and the third from tributaries to the Rio Manacacias between Santa Rita and Bengale, also Colombia. The fish have also been described from Venezuela.

And here’s some eye candy:

At first it looked like there was one good sized large male and a little female. On close inspection I could see that the male fish had som kind of disfigured mouth. It was a fully grown fish so it obviously had no problem eating. But was this a genetic problem? Would potential offspring possibly have the same disfiguration? Questions I had no answers to. Suddenly, to my excitement another 2 male fish appeared from under a piece of wood. After carefully inspecting them, I could see that they appeared normal. A little ragged on some fins – most likely the big male that had caused these small injuries. There was only one thing to do. Buy a pair!

Of course I knew myself that I couldn’t keep this newly aquired pair with my existing dwarf cichlids; my Nannacara male and three females. So it was time to say goodbye to them and give them a new home. I took them to another aquarium store in town and exchanged them for 6 tetras that they called Norwegian flag tetras (Hemigrammus caudovittatus). The proper english name is Buenos Aires Tetra. An attractive little tetra that I’m sure will suffice as dither* fish.

So now I finally own a pair of Apistogramma Viejita! And they are really nice looking! Thoughts of getting these fish breeding and raising their fry brings a smile to my face. With a little luck I can maybe sell young fish back to the aquarium store I bought them from. I heard from the woman that sold them to me, that the owner was a bit of a dwarf cichlid fanatic. Am I beginning to convince YOU that keeping dwarf cichlids is fun and rewarding?

Check out the film for a quick peek at the happy couple, and watch this space for more images and films in the near future …

* The term dither fish refers to an arbitrary group of aquarium fish used by cichlid keeping aquarists to reduce innate timidity in some species of cichlids (Barlow, 1967). The technique relies on the ability of cichlids in an aquarium to use the behaviour of other fish species as a measure of environmental security (Loiselle, 1979). Good dither fish are typically schooling species such as Danio spp., barbs and some tetra species. (This explanation was taken från Wikipedia. Read the whole page here)

Unfortunately there was no luck there. Well actually, it’s not really a case of luck. Like most cichlids, the Nannacara become good parents to their young. It just takes a while for some species to fully embrace their maternal/paternal roles.

I reckon a 20% water change will be enough to trigger breeding again. And I’m pretty sure that next time around there will be some mini Nannacara swimming around…

1A nice shiny aquarium at home looks jolly spiffing.
Just imagine the woooohhs, ahhhhs and gasps of adoration when first time visitors to your home see your beautiful aquarium adorning a wall in your living room. An extra wow factor comes from owning a marine aquarium with lush looking corals, and vibrantly coloured clownfish playing in the arms of an anemone.

2It’s relaxing watching fish go about their lives.
After the stress of the day, what better way to relax than to keep up with the antics of your little scaly friends. Sit yourself in front of your aquarium and let your worries float away. Watch as the life in your aquarium swims, eats and poops, all in perfect harmony. If your extra lucky, you’ll witness breeding habits and other super interesting aquatic behaviour!

3You can learn plenty of interesting things from fishkeeping.
Whilst your aquarium may have been aquired purely for asthetical reasons, you will inevitably end up learning loads of interesting facts about water chemistry, biology, and fish ecology along the way. Don’t let this distract you too much. Your aquarium still looks stunning!

4A sense of achievment.
Be it a simple goldfish bowl, a little guppy aquarium, or a 500 liter planted fishtank, there is always a sense of pride and achievment to be gained from a well-kept aquarium. Just step back and admire your accomplishment.

5Ah, finally a pet that doesn’t leave hair and other unwanted things on the rug!
Sure – hamster, rabbits and cats & dogs are cute, but they often leave unwanted items in their wake. When was the last time your fish jumped out of your aquarium and left a mess on the floor? Aquariums are compact, efficient and contained.

6Your not alone.
Fishkeeping is very popular. There are plenty aquarium stores, plenty of forums, web sites and blogs. Aquarium clubs can most likely be found in your town or city. Your not alone! There are millions of people out there that share the same interest and if there’s one thing a fishkeeper enjoys, it’s discussing their fishkeeping with other like-minded individuals.