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This is the best video I've ever seen on breeding of any type of fish ,well broken down ,very informative, well documented , 5 stars 🌟 🌟🌟🌟🌟, thank you sir
True. Haven’t seen in a long time such a good video about breeding. People sadly don’t do videos like this anymore. Thank you for it! Greetings - Kilian Zellmer
I watched this and came out with 58 fry yesterday. This guy knows his shit and EVERYTHING he said was EXACTLY how my tank went down. It's like he filmed and narrated my experience. The professor of apistos.
I've been watching Dwarf Cichlid breeding videos here for over a month. Without a doubt, this is the best explained and informative video I've seen yet! Thanks, Lowell.
As someone whose only 3 months and two 3ft tanks into fishkeeping, id like to say thank you. A male double red is one of the first fish i bought solely because he looked like a little hot rod. Since watching him grow from the size of a large grape to now being the size of my thumb with vibrant red and deep black colorations i've had the urge to by a few breeder tanks and a few females and another male to try and breed my own line. This video was exactly what i needed to for that kick of motivation to act.
I'm sooooo glad the RUclips algorithm "gods" sent your video in my direction. Your videos are some of the best I've watched on fishkeeping subjects. Your narration is very well prepared and succinct, your video footage is clear, never shaky, and, sometimes, downright amazing! Lastly, your content is excellent! Your time spent on investigation, preparation, and hard work is obvious. Thank you and, please, keep on making these wonderful gifts to the hobby👍.
Thank you soooooo much for making these kind of videos. You have no idea have much I appreciate the content !! You are great at explaining and great at fish keeping. You rock!!
You make some really great videos dude. These are informative, gets to the point, and it includes your personal experience, which I prefer. So I'll say it's a 10
There was a old local apisto breeder where I am, and he couldn't shut up about everything he knew xD He had been breeding apistos for about 30 years or so (did also breed other fish, like tetras (his favorite was the black neon ^^) and danios), and one thing I remember he mentioned was how important it was to have a low ph and dimly lit tank, preferebly with tinted water. I think he focused on around 4-5.5 ph. Dad told me when I was little he, the fish enthusiast, came to our house to collect water from our well that had a natural ph at 4.1. He was so jealous and said we where drinking gold, haha 😆 I was lucky enough to visit that old enthusiast few years before he passed. He only had one aquarium then, because he had gotten terminal ill. At most he had had ~150 running at the same time! It was his life! But the aquarium he still had was so awesome! 750l, planted (like a jungle! :D), with tinted water, stocked with several pairs of apisto species, a huge school of black neons and some other species of fish that I can't remember. Tech suff - He had two, homemade, wet sumps beside each side of the tank, each with a massive water volume, can't really recall how much, but it was impressive. He had also three floor(? outside?) filters, a few circulation pumps(slow), and several heaters scattered around the tank and in the sumps for an even temperature through the tank. - End thech stuff. He just kept talking and talking about everything he knew. Apparently really happy to have someone that was interested and really listened to what he had to say. It was, apparantly, years since he was on an convention to talk and meet other people in the hobby, and now was just pouring out all he had at me. It was so facinating everything he said! The visit lasted about 2 and a half hour, my dad had long lost interest and just wanted out (he had thought it would be a quick visit lasting max 40 min. ..yeah, no, sorry dad. 😆). But when we ("finally", acording to dad) drove off of there, I had been gifted a full shoppingbag of plants, and a glass tank with wierd measurements, perfect for turning into my own, reasonable sized, wet sump, with detailed instructions on how to make said sump. Before the visit it hadn't crossed my mind to ever have apistos in my aquariums, because I had only community tanks and I've herd that dwarfciklids is agressive toward other thankmates. But when I sat in the car, with a tired and sighing father beside me, on or way home, my mind was trying to figure out how a community tank with a pair of apistos would be possible. Because this man, ofc, had shown me all his apistos. His personal favorites was ones that had lots of red and orange in them. But in one corner of the tank I had seen something blue shine brightly, even in that tinted water. And when I got closer I fell in love. I knew then that someday I would have this fish in one of my aquariums! I usually am terrible at remembering latin names, it's close to impossible for me to remember latin names, everytime I order fish att the local zoostore I have to write them down. But this one time. When I asked the man what this stunning blue fish was called, I immediately put it in my long term memory banks. It was stuck in there as chewing gum in hair. And that fish was Apistogramma trifasciata. Now when I think about it he is the indirect reason I'm in the hobby! It was because of him my dad tried to have a community tank when I was little, and it was because of that memory I got curious about aquariums in my teens. And it was then I asked my dad if he still had that tank, and he had. I got the old 64l all glass aquarium and fixed it up. Read up like crazy and changed the silicon, out on the balcony in the middle of the winter, and added decorative black painted aluminium ledges(don't know what's it's called in english), slowly acquired all the tech and stuff. And when I finally got to start it up..! I was so happy!! Sure I went modest and started with platys, but I loved it! I've had six tanks running at most at the same time and tried all kinds of fish! And it feels I've read almost everything about the hobby, which with certain I have NOT. Far far from. Sorry, was not meant to write THIS much! Was only supposed to give a tip about the ph and lightning.. Got a bit bit carried away.. Ooops.. 😅 TL;DR Tips about low ph and low lightning when breeding apistos. Story about how I met an old enthusiastic apisto breeder that apparently was the indirect reason I got in to the hobby. I love A. trifasciata now. Cheers!
Thank you for a great video! Love your closeup footage, great tips and explaining. We’ve had our very first cacatuoides spawn here and looking forward to seeing our 50 fry to grow up 😊
I've just watched your video on how you bred Apistogramma cacatuoides, and found it to be very interesting and will certainly watch it again, I've never kept Apistos before but do feel that doing some research this can help in producing some successful spawnings but also helps us to understand how to care for them correctly I have just liked and subscribed to your channel and look forward to watching more of your videos on the Apistogramma cichlid Paul from the UK
What a stimulating, well shot project. Experimenting with the cave and seeing the inside was so fascinating. I had a pair of Apistogramma Hongsloi. Beautiful pair, the male chased her around pretty aggressively and I thought she was going to die from stress but something I was doing want jiving with them. Full colors, cave, all that. The male ended up passing sadly and the female seems to be more content, but with much less vibrant colors. I'm going to add a male and female soon as apparently a harem is less stress.
Always great footage and info Lowell thank you! Very interesting that males can fertilize eggs from outside the cave! I love that you’re into breeding dwarf cichlids I learn a lot from you
Absolute trove of valuable breeding information! Congrats on the success and excited to see more breeding ideas for the future! Would like to see other apistos like macmasteri!
By far the best filmed and most comprehensive breeding guides on RUclips. I'm torn between getting a pair of Kirbensis and these Apistogrammas as the bottom-dwelling centerpiece to my 55 gallon heavily planted community tank. Given your experience in breeding both species can I please ask 1) which are easier to breed 2) which provide better parental care to fry and 3) are kirbensis or Apistogramma males more involved in the parenting process?
Hey Lowell, really enjoy your videos. Keep it up! I remember hearing a theory that inexperienced egg-layer parents will eat less of their eggs/fry if they're given a constant light source at night. Even if its only a dim light at night. The idea being that in nature fish are almost never fully in darkness, and when the lights come on in an aquarium they may not remember that the eggs/fry were theirs and eat them. Like I said, it's only a theory.
That was certainly my experience with breeding rams. I think they can forget. They can also get spooked when they lights come back on and do a lot of damage to the fry as they gather them up in a panic
Very helpful! I finally located a female for my male apisto. He immediately started making displays at her and I was worried he was being aggressive. After watching your video I'm less concerned.
great video, i also have a apisto pair, they show signs of breeding but then nothing. recently i had a outbreak of cammelanus worms and cleared it up with fritz expel, it worked, my tank is clear! but about 2 weeks after treatment, i noticed my male bolivian rams(did not have worms) spine was severely bent out of shape and died a few days later. recently ive noticed that my apisto male (also no worms) also has a slight curve in his spine at the end of his tail and has been swimming in place at the back of the tank. but its been about a month now and he seems back to normal, but still with a slightly curved spine. im assuming this musta been a side affect of the meds, but nothing ever happened to my fragile little tetras(no worms) or my female apisto(did have worms) 🤷♂ anyways love the video, definitely my favorite freshwater fish.
Just found your channel and super impressed. Great informative videos. I have some ortegai apistogramma that am trying to breed but so far the female protects eggs for a couple of days and eventually leaves the cave. I think that the eggs maybe perishing and not hatching.
@@MakeMoreFish ah thanks for the reply. Your videos are fantastic. I should take it more seriously and try to optimise a few more things like removing the corys for less stress and maybe I should remove the male after a spawn. The problem is the tank is that densely planted I’ll need to rip it bits to catch any fish 😩
Yep I got totally photobombed. It was actually a fry I hatched artificially. It slipped out of a breeding box attached to the tank and went right back to its mom.
Incredible videos! I found them just a couple of months ago and I'm only found disappointing there's no video for more dwarf cichlids like Apisto borelli or Cryptoheros, hahaha. A couple of questions, if that's okay: 1. What do you use to film unattended? what's your equipment? 2. How do you calculate the size of the entrance of the cave?
@@MakeMoreFish Oh, sorry, no, that sounded stupid or lazy. What I mean is how do you measure what opening will only let a female? Do you measure your fish or do you try-and-repeat?
@@Calucig I really just eyeball it and then try it out. I have a bunch of caves cut with various openings because no single opening size will be just right for every species at every stage of growth.
Thanks for making these videos. Great presentation. I just finished breeding platinum rice fish and Pseudomugil luminatus. I currently have a couple males and hopefully one female Cacatuoidies.
God bless you and God bless anyone reading this! Hope you have an awesome day! Seek him while you can! Jesus is the way and the only way and he is returning soon! Whenever you think you aren't loved... Remember the ultimate sacrifice was for love! ENDING YOUR LIFE IS NEVER THE ANSWER! For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. John 3:16 KJV The wages of sin is death (hell) but Jesus paid our debt on the cross, for our salvation! We must turn to God and away from our sinful ways, Confess Jesus is Lord and believe with our hearts that he was risen from the dead by God, and we must be baptized in the name of the Father, the Son and The Holy Spirit and live by His word and Commandments! Trust that God will help with the rest! Seek God today before it's too late! Today could be your last day on earth! Have a blessed day! ----❤️❤️❤️❤️
Dios te bendiga y Dios bendiga a Todos los que estan leyendo esto! Deseo que tengan un hermoso dia! Buscad a Dios mientras pueda ser hallado! Jesus es el camino y el unico camino y regresa pronto! Recuerda cuando te sientas que no eres amado... el mayor sacrificio se hizo por amor! EL SUICIDIO NUNCA ES LA RESPUESTA! Porque de tal manera amó Dios al mundo, que ha dado a su Hijo unigénito, para que todo aquel que en él cree, no se pierda, mas tenga vida eterna. S. Juan 3:16 RVR1960 La paga del pecado es muerte (infierno) pero Cristo pagó nuestra deuda en la cruz para nuestra salvacion! Debemos volvernos a Dios y apartarnos de nuestros caminos pecaminosos, confesar que Jesús es el Señor y creer con nuestro corazón que fue resucitado de entre los muertos por Dios, y debemos de ser bautizados en el nombre del Padre, del Hijo y del Espíritu Santo y vivir por Su palabra y mandamientos! Confia que Dios ayudara con el resto! Busca a Dios, antes de que sea muy tarde! Hoy podria ser tu ultimo dia en la tierra! Que tengas un hermoso dia! ---🙌❤️
I had a male and female but the male developed a hole in its head and passed shortly after. He was hyper aggressive towards the female. They look so nice 🤩
How long do you keep all the juveniles in their own tank and what do you do with them after? I currently have 6 1 month old fry I managed to save from my main tank in a 20 gallon with a breeder net and am gonna let them free roam in there soon. I was wondering during how long I could keep them in there before needing to sell or give away for free.
I really like breeding fish like you, your video motivates me to keep trying to breed other types of fish, I see you've never bred chana fish, it's being talked about a lot in my country 😍👍can u try it
brilliant video very helpful Covered most things do you move the male at what stage would you take him out Just had my first hatch only a small hatch only 11 have grown to10mm thank you look forward to more videos
ya I forgot to mention that when I did the video. I pulled the male right after they laid eggs. Sometimes it works out to leave the male but it's very inconsistent. I don't think it's worth the risk.
Awesome video! Thank you for filming and the effort you put into this. Im going to try to breed Apistos myself, armed with your advice. Thx again! Instant sub :)
I love how you want to experiment and learn. Have you considered a FatherFish style tank setup? The thought process is with a good web and a natural tank they will spawn better.
Very informative video. Thanks for the work you put into allowing us to learn more about an awesome species. Currently breading GBR and EBR. I see a second tank is needed for survival rates of any kind... lol :D
As far as I know, cacatuoides come from areas can get much higher in pH than we would expect from an apisto. They are probably a good bet for staying healthy in a higher pH. It will in part depend on the water they were born and raised in. As for breeding, I just can't say. At 7.5 I bet you'll be just fine. At 8, I have no idea
If I end up getting apistos, they are probably gonna be sourced from my lfs, (whom I believe breeds them at these parameters) so I think I will be all set. Thanks for the quick reply!
Any chances of success without a cave? My tank is heavily planted with lots of hiding spots - can the apistos breed with no cave? Only had them in a few weeks and bought them as a pretty young pair, though they should be in a breedable age now....
Without a cave they might lay eggs on the underside of some object in the tank like a filter, a broad leaf plant or even on on the tank glass. I have not personally seen spawns outside of a cave that were viable but that is only my experience.
Hey, I love the video! Do you think it is possible to keep Apistogramma Cacatuoides with CPD? Or do you think CPD are too small and end up as a snack once the Apisto grows up?
All personal opinion but I don't think I would recommend it. Apistos like to be warm and CPDs, in my experience, do much better in cooler and even unheated tanks. I think a blend somewhere in the middle could be attempted but wouldn't be ideal for either species long term. Maybe Borellii? I've heard those are comfortable at lower temperatures. Predation wouldn't worry me so much.
My apisto macs have been displaying spawning behavior but I’m afraid I may have the wrong conditions: -no sand substrate -tank mates (ember tetras, pygmy corys, rosy loaches, ottos, bristlenose, Amano shrimp and small siamese algae eaters) -no added added breeding cave The fish are in a relatively heavily planted aquarium and I believe they’ve found a few caves amongst the drift wood and larger foliage As for the female, she is always colored up bright yellow in breeding dress and the male and her constantly show breeding behavior. I honestly think they may have already spawned in the past month as the female went missing for a long time (I even searched the floor for an apisto crisp because I was sure she jumped out!). She finally popped up and I noticed she was hanging out near a substantial crevice between the substrate and a piece of drift wood amongst the steam plants in the rear of the tank. So assuming she spawned unsuccessfully during her “leave of absence”, should I leave everything the same or should I change some things given all the factors I mentioned. Personally my thoughts are to at the very least, add a small cave to better track activity and to see if they truly had spawned or not. But what are your thoughts? I appreciate the time you take to read this comment and I look forward to any responses! Thank you!
Sounds like a good plan. If you try a cave and can confirm that they really are breeding, that might inform a decision to put more time and effort into making sure fry survive. In my opinion the most important thing they would benefit from that they don't have is privacy. As things are I'm betting many if not most fry born in that tank would end up feeding the tankmates
Absolutely excellent, ideal video! Excellent picture, excellent explanation, any garbage disgusting background music sounds! Very informative and enjoyable! 👌💚 If they breed every 10 days, what happens with the extremely young fry?
Every 10 days would be in a situation where the spawns are either failing to hatch or are being removed to hatch elsewhere. While taking care of fry, the adults will take temporarily hold off on spawning.
Sir I need to know how old is a male should be to start breeding Grateful For your efforts and knowledge Keep up the amazing work you do wishing you all the success
@@nordicaquatics I personally do not prefer that approach. There will always be aggression between individuals, it intensifies as soon as any two of them spawn, and whichever fish don't participate in the first spawn would be at great risk for harassment that could lead to their death. It takes two fish to spawn and I have never found a compelling reason to include any more than that.
I believe that fertilization is better when the male is able to physically reach the eggs; however, I almost always remove the male immediately after the spawn to eliminate the risk of egg/fry predation and to reduce stress on the female.
What do you do with all the juveniles when you finished growing them out? Sell to your LFS, eBay, etc? When you get a decent batch of juveniles, what do you do for the few months when you’re growing them out to stop the parents from constantly breeding? I love your videos and your information is invaluable, keep it up 👍
A 29 gallon with 11 Black Widow/Skirt Tetras.. Plenty of plant cover, some tannins. Considering adding a trio Need to do some more research. I have 11 Black Widows. My temp is around 25C with play sand substrate.
Did you remove the male after spawning? I'm curious because I've left the male in but now that the fry are about 1 week old the female often nips at the male to protect the young. He seems mildly stressed over the matter. I haven't noticed him prey on the fry yet.
Yes I did and I forgot to mention that clearly. I almost always remove the males. They might not hurt but they don't really help either so it's just an unnecessary risk to keep them around most of the time. That's been my experience anyway.
Personally I think a good cave is one with an opening large enough for the female and barely large enough for the male with enough room for both fish to fit inside. Specific sizes will depend on species and the size of the fish
great video! If you don't mind me asking, why did you use San Francisco strain brine shrimp, and then, transition to baby brine shrimp? Is there a difference in size I'm assuming?
For the cave you used that the whole as only big enough for the female; how big was the whole I don't recall you saying. and I really want to make sure I get that part right.
@@MakeMoreFish thanks 🙏🏽 hopefully to see other apisto breeding. I also having hard time to breed other apisto. They show some mating ritual but no breeding. Macmestaria is the most frustrating.
Nothing to do really, just see what happens. In my experience when they lay eggs out in the open they aren't likely to hatch but you never know. It can take a while for them to get comfortable with a cave and if they never accept it you might give them more cave options.
hmm maybe 1/2 - 5/8 inch range? Much larger than I would feed BBS. I can't say exactly what size it becomes safe but I have this general apprehension about feeding daphnia to very young fish. They have a lot more shell than BBS I think and I worry about causing intestinal blockages. Maybe I'm paranoid. I've also used stack sieves with multiple mesh sizes to isolate smaller daphnia. Those I wouldn't worry about as much but it's a lot of work to do that.
@@MakeMoreFish well there is always the tried and true method, leaves, and all the buggers that eat them, currently in the tank there is a health population of copepods, but I think I'll probably just try with dry fry foods. from what I've heard Borellii take forever to mature anyways .
Hey, I have a pair of apistogramma right now, they're still young but the female is around an inch and a 1/4 while the male is around 2 inches. I did a water change to induce breeding so I'm still waiting but for me, it seems like the female is approaching the male and not vice versa. She tilts herself in front of him and the male does tail whip back sometimes, but he just swims away disinterested. This has been going on for a few days, what's the problem?
This was a 10 gallon that happens to have another 15 gallons of water circulating through it just to help maintain water quality. 20 gallon tanks are a great size if you want to spawn and raise the fry in a single tank.
Thanks for watching! Feel free to leave questions in the comments if you have them, and If you enjoyed this video, consider subscribing to see future projects.
This is the best video I've ever seen on breeding of any type of fish ,well broken down ,very informative, well documented , 5 stars 🌟 🌟🌟🌟🌟, thank you sir
@@Mr2pac2000 thank you!
Reccomended video as im hunting my new fish to add, new to hobby, great info and new sub :) 🙂🙂🙂
Sure
Absolutely
Just me? or was this the best, most informative breeding video ever.
….all it was missing was David Attenborough’s voice over!
True. Haven’t seen in a long time such a good video about breeding. People sadly don’t do videos like this anymore. Thank you for it! Greetings - Kilian Zellmer
definitely true love the videos if it's not a fish that I think I will ever own like german blue rams.
Same here, I didnt know about the trend of spawning more males or females depending on the temperature, very insightfull
I watched this and came out with 58 fry yesterday. This guy knows his shit and EVERYTHING he said was EXACTLY how my tank went down. It's like he filmed and narrated my experience. The professor of apistos.
I've been watching Dwarf Cichlid breeding videos here for over a month. Without a doubt, this is the best explained and informative video I've seen yet! Thanks, Lowell.
As someone whose only 3 months and two 3ft tanks into fishkeeping, id like to say thank you.
A male double red is one of the first fish i bought solely because he looked like a little hot rod. Since watching him grow from the size of a large grape to now being the size of my thumb with vibrant red and deep black colorations i've had the urge to by a few breeder tanks and a few females and another male to try and breed my own line.
This video was exactly what i needed to for that kick of motivation to act.
That's what I like to hear! Give it a shot and have fun
I'm sooooo glad the RUclips algorithm "gods" sent your video in my direction.
Your videos are some of the best I've watched on fishkeeping subjects.
Your narration is very well prepared and succinct, your video footage is clear, never shaky, and, sometimes, downright amazing!
Lastly, your content is excellent! Your time spent on investigation, preparation, and hard work is obvious.
Thank you and, please, keep on making these wonderful gifts to the hobby👍.
Thanks so much! Hopefully there are many more to come
Thank you soooooo much for making these kind of videos. You have no idea have much I appreciate the content !! You are great at explaining and great at fish keeping. You rock!!
I'm very glad to hear that, I always hope that they'll be helpful.
these are actual experiments with *almost* proper reports of results which I very much greatly appreciated and adore
You make some really great videos dude. These are informative, gets to the point, and it includes your personal experience, which I prefer. So I'll say it's a 10
There was a old local apisto breeder where I am, and he couldn't shut up about everything he knew xD
He had been breeding apistos for about 30 years or so (did also breed other fish, like tetras (his favorite was the black neon ^^) and danios), and one thing I remember he mentioned was how important it was to have a low ph and dimly lit tank, preferebly with tinted water. I think he focused on around 4-5.5 ph. Dad told me when I was little he, the fish enthusiast, came to our house to collect water from our well that had a natural ph at 4.1. He was so jealous and said we where drinking gold, haha 😆
I was lucky enough to visit that old enthusiast few years before he passed. He only had one aquarium then, because he had gotten terminal ill. At most he had had ~150 running at the same time! It was his life! But the aquarium he still had was so awesome! 750l, planted (like a jungle! :D), with tinted water, stocked with several pairs of apisto species, a huge school of black neons and some other species of fish that I can't remember.
Tech suff - He had two, homemade, wet sumps beside each side of the tank, each with a massive water volume, can't really recall how much, but it was impressive. He had also three floor(? outside?) filters, a few circulation pumps(slow), and several heaters scattered around the tank and in the sumps for an even temperature through the tank.
- End thech stuff.
He just kept talking and talking about everything he knew. Apparently really happy to have someone that was interested and really listened to what he had to say. It was, apparantly, years since he was on an convention to talk and meet other people in the hobby, and now was just pouring out all he had at me. It was so facinating everything he said!
The visit lasted about 2 and a half hour, my dad had long lost interest and just wanted out (he had thought it would be a quick visit lasting max 40 min. ..yeah, no, sorry dad. 😆). But when we ("finally", acording to dad) drove off of there, I had been gifted a full shoppingbag of plants, and a glass tank with wierd measurements, perfect for turning into my own, reasonable sized, wet sump, with detailed instructions on how to make said sump.
Before the visit it hadn't crossed my mind to ever have apistos in my aquariums, because I had only community tanks and I've herd that dwarfciklids is agressive toward other thankmates. But when I sat in the car, with a tired and sighing father beside me, on or way home, my mind was trying to figure out how a community tank with a pair of apistos would be possible. Because this man, ofc, had shown me all his apistos. His personal favorites was ones that had lots of red and orange in them. But in one corner of the tank I had seen something blue shine brightly, even in that tinted water. And when I got closer I fell in love. I knew then that someday I would have this fish in one of my aquariums! I usually am terrible at remembering latin names, it's close to impossible for me to remember latin names, everytime I order fish att the local zoostore I have to write them down. But this one time. When I asked the man what this stunning blue fish was called, I immediately put it in my long term memory banks. It was stuck in there as chewing gum in hair. And that fish was Apistogramma trifasciata.
Now when I think about it he is the indirect reason I'm in the hobby! It was because of him my dad tried to have a community tank when I was little, and it was because of that memory I got curious about aquariums in my teens. And it was then I asked my dad if he still had that tank, and he had. I got the old 64l all glass aquarium and fixed it up. Read up like crazy and changed the silicon, out on the balcony in the middle of the winter, and added decorative black painted aluminium ledges(don't know what's it's called in english), slowly acquired all the tech and stuff. And when I finally got to start it up..! I was so happy!! Sure I went modest and started with platys, but I loved it! I've had six tanks running at most at the same time and tried all kinds of fish! And it feels I've read almost everything about the hobby, which with certain I have NOT. Far far from.
Sorry, was not meant to write THIS much! Was only supposed to give a tip about the ph and lightning.. Got a bit bit carried away.. Ooops.. 😅
TL;DR
Tips about low ph and low lightning when breeding apistos.
Story about how I met an old enthusiastic apisto breeder that apparently was the indirect reason I got in to the hobby.
I love A. trifasciata now.
Cheers!
This is a great story, I want to be that old guy some day. I also would kill to have a consistent source of low pH water..
Thank you for a great video! Love your closeup footage, great tips and explaining. We’ve had our very first cacatuoides spawn here and looking forward to seeing our 50 fry to grow up 😊
I've just watched your video on how you bred Apistogramma cacatuoides, and found it to be very interesting and will certainly watch it again, I've never kept Apistos before but do feel that doing some research this can help in producing some successful spawnings but also helps us to understand how to care for them correctly I have just liked and subscribed to your channel and look forward to watching more of your videos on the Apistogramma cichlid Paul from the UK
What a stimulating, well shot project. Experimenting with the cave and seeing the inside was so fascinating. I had a pair of Apistogramma Hongsloi. Beautiful pair, the male chased her around pretty aggressively and I thought she was going to die from stress but something I was doing want jiving with them. Full colors, cave, all that. The male ended up passing sadly and the female seems to be more content, but with much less vibrant colors. I'm going to add a male and female soon as apparently a harem is less stress.
Best breeding guide video I've ever seen. Thanks so much
That was an AWESOME video by someone who obviously loves what you're doing. Well done and thank you!
This has to be the best Apistogramma spawn video of ALL TIME! Amazing thanks
this is just most detailled proffesional video you can enjoy and learn in fish breeding ! thanks a lot for sharing us this great effort . well done
I love how they park around the base of the plant.
INCREDIBLE video! Just got 2 pairs and I will be following everything 💪💪💪
One of the most informative Apistogramma breeding videos I've seen. Just what I've been looking for!
Always great footage and info Lowell thank you! Very interesting that males can fertilize eggs from outside the cave! I love that you’re into breeding dwarf cichlids I learn a lot from you
Super insightful video, thank you for helping me on the breeding journey!
What an amazing story and how well it's been articulated ..... lot to learn❤❤❤❤❤❤
amazing video ! I found the juveniles huddled around the rock hilarious!
Very helpful for all enthusiasts of Apistos ! Thank you 🙏🏼
Absolute trove of valuable breeding information! Congrats on the success and excited to see more breeding ideas for the future! Would like to see other apistos like macmasteri!
Macmasteri is on the list!
By far the best filmed and most comprehensive breeding guides on RUclips. I'm torn between getting a pair of Kirbensis and these Apistogrammas as the bottom-dwelling centerpiece to my 55 gallon heavily planted community tank. Given your experience in breeding both species can I please ask 1) which are easier to breed 2) which provide better parental care to fry and 3) are kirbensis or Apistogramma males more involved in the parenting process?
1) Kribensis 2) Kribensis 3) Kribensis. But if you ask me, Apistos are a much better use of time and tank space if you're interested in breeding.
Thank you so much for your reply. May I ask why Apistos are a better use of time & tank space for breeding?@@MakeMoreFish
Hey Lowell, really enjoy your videos. Keep it up! I remember hearing a theory that inexperienced egg-layer parents will eat less of their eggs/fry if they're given a constant light source at night. Even if its only a dim light at night. The idea being that in nature fish are almost never fully in darkness, and when the lights come on in an aquarium they may not remember that the eggs/fry were theirs and eat them. Like I said, it's only a theory.
That was certainly my experience with breeding rams. I think they can forget. They can also get spooked when they lights come back on and do a lot of damage to the fry as they gather them up in a panic
The best apisto breeding video. Very comprehensive guide to inexperience breeder. Thanks 🙏 again. Shall save this video and share. 👍🏽👍🏽👍🏽👍🏽👍🏽👍🏽👍🏽
Very helpful! I finally located a female for my male apisto. He immediately started making displays at her and I was worried he was being aggressive. After watching your video I'm less concerned.
the best information about Cacatuoides.
Congratulation, you did very well
great video, i also have a apisto pair, they show signs of breeding but then nothing. recently i had a outbreak of cammelanus worms and cleared it up with fritz expel, it worked, my tank is clear! but about 2 weeks after treatment, i noticed my male bolivian rams(did not have worms) spine was severely bent out of shape and died a few days later. recently ive noticed that my apisto male (also no worms) also has a slight curve in his spine at the end of his tail and has been swimming in place at the back of the tank. but its been about a month now and he seems back to normal, but still with a slightly curved spine. im assuming this musta been a side affect of the meds, but nothing ever happened to my fragile little tetras(no worms) or my female apisto(did have worms) 🤷♂
anyways love the video, definitely my favorite freshwater fish.
Wow what a thorough and detailed video. Thank you
Just found your channel and super impressed. Great informative videos. I have some ortegai apistogramma that am trying to breed but so far the female protects eggs for a couple of days and eventually leaves the cave. I think that the eggs maybe perishing and not hatching.
Sure sounds like that's the case. It's tough, there's only so many things you can optimize for them. I hope you get a successful spawn!
@@MakeMoreFish ah thanks for the reply. Your videos are fantastic. I should take it more seriously and try to optimise a few more things like removing the corys for less stress and maybe I should remove the male after a spawn. The problem is the tank is that densely planted I’ll need to rip it bits to catch any fish 😩
Excellent video in every way. Thanks for making it!
Just bought a pair of apistos to breed and this is so helpful thank you!!
Good luck! Make many babies
There's a free swimming fry at ~12:27, located beneath the female. Survivor from a previous clutch?
Yep I got totally photobombed. It was actually a fry I hatched artificially. It slipped out of a breeding box attached to the tank and went right back to its mom.
Incredible videos! I found them just a couple of months ago and I'm only found disappointing there's no video for more dwarf cichlids like Apisto borelli or Cryptoheros, hahaha. A couple of questions, if that's okay:
1. What do you use to film unattended? what's your equipment?
2. How do you calculate the size of the entrance of the cave?
A cheap webcam streaming to OBS on my desktop computer. As for measurement, I forget. A tape measure? A ruler? I carve out the openings with a Dremel.
@@MakeMoreFish Oh, sorry, no, that sounded stupid or lazy. What I mean is how do you measure what opening will only let a female? Do you measure your fish or do you try-and-repeat?
@@Calucig I really just eyeball it and then try it out. I have a bunch of caves cut with various openings because no single opening size will be just right for every species at every stage of growth.
Great video just picked up a male and female oct 2nd and today they laid eggs
Thanks for making these videos. Great presentation. I just finished breeding platinum rice fish and Pseudomugil luminatus. I currently have a couple males and hopefully one female Cacatuoidies.
I hope so too!
God bless you and God bless anyone reading this! Hope you have an awesome day! Seek him while you can! Jesus is the way and the only way and he is returning soon! Whenever you think you aren't loved... Remember the ultimate sacrifice was for love! ENDING YOUR LIFE IS NEVER THE ANSWER!
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
John 3:16 KJV
The wages of sin is death (hell) but Jesus paid our debt on the cross, for our salvation! We must turn to God and away from our sinful ways, Confess Jesus is Lord and believe with our hearts that he was risen from the dead by God, and we must be baptized in the name of the Father, the Son and The Holy Spirit and live by His word and Commandments! Trust that God will help with the rest!
Seek God today before it's too late! Today could be your last day on earth!
Have a blessed day!
----❤️❤️❤️❤️
Dios te bendiga y Dios bendiga a Todos los que estan leyendo esto! Deseo que tengan un hermoso dia! Buscad a Dios mientras pueda ser hallado! Jesus es el camino y el unico camino y regresa pronto! Recuerda cuando te sientas que no eres amado... el mayor sacrificio se hizo por amor! EL SUICIDIO NUNCA ES LA RESPUESTA!
Porque de tal manera amó Dios al mundo, que ha dado a su Hijo unigénito, para que todo aquel que en él cree, no se pierda, mas tenga vida eterna.
S. Juan 3:16 RVR1960
La paga del pecado es muerte (infierno) pero Cristo pagó nuestra deuda en la cruz para nuestra salvacion! Debemos volvernos a Dios y apartarnos de nuestros caminos pecaminosos, confesar que Jesús es el Señor y creer con nuestro corazón que fue resucitado de entre los muertos por Dios, y debemos de ser bautizados en el nombre del Padre, del Hijo y del Espíritu Santo y vivir por Su palabra y mandamientos! Confia que Dios ayudara con el resto!
Busca a Dios, antes de que sea muy tarde! Hoy podria ser tu ultimo dia en la tierra!
Que tengas un hermoso dia!
---🙌❤️
One of the best and detailed breeding! One question, do you remove the male once eggs are hatched?
Yes, almost always
Impressive video & advice. Thank you for sharing your experience Sir.
Great job. 👏👏👏👏
Really impressive video I enjoyed watching 💪💪
Great job! Very informative and the camera work is amazing 👏
One of the best video on apistograma cactuoides breeding.. thank you for sharing.. what camera do you use for your vlog?
Thanks! Mostly a smartphone and a cheap webcam
Very interesting. Thanks for the info. I have been trying to breed the apistogramma fire reds.
this man breeds EVERYTHING
Great informational video. Enjoyed watching 👍
I had a male and female but the male developed a hole in its head and passed shortly after. He was hyper aggressive towards the female. They look so nice 🤩
Just found the channel. Great stuff man keep it up!
How long do you keep all the juveniles in their own tank and what do you do with them after? I currently have 6 1 month old fry I managed to save from my main tank in a 20 gallon with a breeder net and am gonna let them free roam in there soon. I was wondering during how long I could keep them in there before needing to sell or give away for free.
this is great video, especially that cave cam
Wow! Two thumbs up on this video! Keep up the great work.
Thank you SO much- awesome video!!
Thanks! Your name sounds very familiar, are you part of the sac aquarium society?
This was so interesting, cool video and well researched
Brilliant video! My only wish is that you added water parameters.
I really like breeding fish like you, your video motivates me to keep trying to breed other types of fish, I see you've never bred chana fish, it's being talked about a lot in my country 😍👍can u try it
I'm pretty sure they're illegal for me
brilliant video very helpful Covered most things do you move the male at what stage would you take him out Just had my first hatch only a small hatch only 11 have grown to10mm thank you look forward to more videos
ya I forgot to mention that when I did the video. I pulled the male right after they laid eggs. Sometimes it works out to leave the male but it's very inconsistent. I don't think it's worth the risk.
Awesome video! Thank you for filming and the effort you put into this.
Im going to try to breed Apistos myself, armed with your advice. Thx again! Instant sub :)
this is pure science, love it!
What an excellent video
Thanks! Hope all's well over there.
I love how you want to experiment and learn. Have you considered a FatherFish style tank setup? The thought process is with a good web and a natural tank they will spawn better.
Not really. I enjoy maintaining tanks with low ecological complexity. If I were setting up displays, I would probably approach it differently.
@@MakeMoreFish ok that makes sense. Thanks for the awesome videos
Cool! We’re doing this next. Thanks for the vid!
Very informative video. Thanks for the work you put into allowing us to learn more about an awesome species. Currently breading GBR and EBR. I see a second tank is needed for survival rates of any kind... lol :D
ya, additional tanks really help
will this work with other species like apistogramma agassizii?
I don't know but I hope so. I intend to try.
Can I breed/keep these guys at 7.5-8.0 pH? If not, are there any other apistos that can handle these parameters?
As far as I know, cacatuoides come from areas can get much higher in pH than we would expect from an apisto. They are probably a good bet for staying healthy in a higher pH. It will in part depend on the water they were born and raised in. As for breeding, I just can't say. At 7.5 I bet you'll be just fine. At 8, I have no idea
If I end up getting apistos, they are probably gonna be sourced from my lfs, (whom I believe breeds them at these parameters) so I think I will be all set. Thanks for the quick reply!
Any chances of success without a cave? My tank is heavily planted with lots of hiding spots - can the apistos breed with no cave? Only had them in a few weeks and bought them as a pretty young pair, though they should be in a breedable age now....
Without a cave they might lay eggs on the underside of some object in the tank like a filter, a broad leaf plant or even on on the tank glass. I have not personally seen spawns outside of a cave that were viable but that is only my experience.
Great video. Appreciate your work.
Did you remove the male after the eggs hatched?
Yes I did, I forgot to mention that. Safer to remove the male I think
Top tier quality videos man
Amazing videos am super excited I have some wrigglers that hatched from there eggs about 24 hours ago. At what stage do you start feeding fry
As soon as they start free swimming I give them some food
Very nice explanation :D
Shoort and to the point
Thank you for making this video
This will help me alot :)
Hey, I love the video! Do you think it is possible to keep Apistogramma Cacatuoides with CPD? Or do you think CPD are too small and end up as a snack once the Apisto grows up?
All personal opinion but I don't think I would recommend it. Apistos like to be warm and CPDs, in my experience, do much better in cooler and even unheated tanks. I think a blend somewhere in the middle could be attempted but wouldn't be ideal for either species long term. Maybe Borellii? I've heard those are comfortable at lower temperatures. Predation wouldn't worry me so much.
My apisto macs have been displaying spawning behavior but I’m afraid I may have the wrong conditions:
-no sand substrate
-tank mates (ember tetras, pygmy corys, rosy loaches, ottos, bristlenose, Amano shrimp and small siamese algae eaters)
-no added added breeding cave
The fish are in a relatively heavily planted aquarium and I believe they’ve found a few caves amongst the drift wood and larger foliage As for the female, she is always colored up bright yellow in breeding dress and the male and her constantly show breeding behavior. I honestly think they may have already spawned in the past month as the female went missing for a long time (I even searched the floor for an apisto crisp because I was sure she jumped out!). She finally popped up and I noticed she was hanging out near a substantial crevice between the substrate and a piece of drift wood amongst the steam plants in the rear of the tank. So assuming she spawned unsuccessfully during her “leave of absence”, should I leave everything the same or should I change some things given all the factors I mentioned.
Personally my thoughts are to at the very least, add a small cave to better track activity and to see if they truly had spawned or not. But what are your thoughts? I appreciate the time you take to read this comment and I look forward to any responses! Thank you!
Sounds like a good plan. If you try a cave and can confirm that they really are breeding, that might inform a decision to put more time and effort into making sure fry survive. In my opinion the most important thing they would benefit from that they don't have is privacy. As things are I'm betting many if not most fry born in that tank would end up feeding the tankmates
what fry powder do you use
Sera micron in this instance
@@MakeMoreFish can you condition apistos just solely on bbs?
@@Tronex333 In my opinion, yes. BBS is a great conditioning food for small fish
Fascinating, thanks for the insights
Very well presented. Good job
thanks for the very informative video. I hope you can do other species like harlequin rasbora or gouramis in the future.
I hope so too. There's many species I'd like to work with in the future
Absolutely excellent, ideal video! Excellent picture, excellent explanation, any garbage disgusting background music sounds! Very informative and enjoyable! 👌💚
If they breed every 10 days, what happens with the extremely young fry?
Every 10 days would be in a situation where the spawns are either failing to hatch or are being removed to hatch elsewhere. While taking care of fry, the adults will take temporarily hold off on spawning.
Sir I need to know how old is a male should be to start breeding
Grateful For your efforts and knowledge
Keep up the amazing work you do wishing you all the success
Surprisingly young. 3-4 months I would say.
Super well done video! Thanks for sharing!
Thank you very nice video. I don't clearly understand if the cave with only female entrance has higher fry rate?
I think so. But I remove the male after the spawn.
@@MakeMoreFish Some people are saying that there should be 2-3 female for one male .Is it better setup for breeding?
@@nordicaquatics I personally do not prefer that approach. There will always be aggression between individuals, it intensifies as soon as any two of them spawn, and whichever fish don't participate in the first spawn would be at great risk for harassment that could lead to their death. It takes two fish to spawn and I have never found a compelling reason to include any more than that.
I believe that fertilization is better when the male is able to physically reach the eggs; however, I almost always remove the male immediately after the spawn to eliminate the risk of egg/fry predation and to reduce stress on the female.
@@MakeMoreFish ty for the info . I am also trying only one couple approach
Do you think you could raise the fry with the parents to the point where you could sell them?
I think you could. Just depends on the temperament of the parents
What do you do with all the juveniles when you finished growing them out? Sell to your LFS, eBay, etc?
When you get a decent batch of juveniles, what do you do for the few months when you’re growing them out to stop the parents from constantly breeding?
I love your videos and your information is invaluable, keep it up 👍
The fish I raise go to a LFS. If I want to avoid breeding I usually just separate males from females or take them early to the LFS to be sold.
I have 6 appistos in my one tank 2 pairs I believe and w other females and I have yet to see any eggs or fry of the short. I have no idea what's wrong
A 29 gallon with 11 Black Widow/Skirt Tetras.. Plenty of plant cover, some tannins. Considering adding a trio Need to do some more research. I have 11 Black Widows. My temp is around 25C with play sand substrate.
sounds like it could work to me
Did you remove the male after spawning? I'm curious because I've left the male in but now that the fry are about 1 week old the female often nips at the male to protect the young. He seems mildly stressed over the matter. I haven't noticed him prey on the fry yet.
Yes I did and I forgot to mention that clearly. I almost always remove the males. They might not hurt but they don't really help either so it's just an unnecessary risk to keep them around most of the time. That's been my experience anyway.
hi good info and help me alot to learn......what the best size artificial cave for breeding apisto?...
Personally I think a good cave is one with an opening large enough for the female and barely large enough for the male with enough room for both fish to fit inside. Specific sizes will depend on species and the size of the fish
@@MakeMoreFish ok thanks you...appreciate...😘😘
great video thanks for all the information
great video! If you don't mind me asking, why did you use San Francisco strain brine shrimp, and then, transition to baby brine shrimp? Is there a difference in size I'm assuming?
That's exactly right, the San Francisco strain are quite a bit smaller. I like being able to feed bbs as soon as possible so I find them useful
Great video, really informative.
Did you have to remove the mail from the tank
I usually do
@@MakeMoreFish ty
Do you instantly remove the male after the eggs have been laid and fertilized or can he stay in the tank with the mum and fry
It depends on the temperament of individual fish but in general I usually remove the males right after, ya. I think it's safer.
For the cave you used that the whole as only big enough for the female; how big was the whole I don't recall you saying. and I really want to make sure I get that part right.
large enough only for the female would be something like 1/2-5/8 inch / 13 - 16 mm in my experience
thank you
@@MakeMoreFish
What type of sand are you using? And where can I find it?
It's ADA la Plata sand but I've switched to carib sea lately
Lowell , have you try other apisto like , macmesteria, fire red, elizabathe, borelli. They are harder than caca red or orange.
I'm working with several apisto species right now and yes, there are differences from cacatuoides that might make them more difficult
@@MakeMoreFish thanks 🙏🏽 hopefully to see other apisto breeding. I also having hard time to breed other apisto. They show some mating ritual but no breeding. Macmestaria is the most frustrating.
My apisto mama laid eggs in a tight cluster on an anacharis instead of the cave. Please help! What would you do?
Nothing to do really, just see what happens. In my experience when they lay eggs out in the open they aren't likely to hatch but you never know. It can take a while for them to get comfortable with a cave and if they never accept it you might give them more cave options.
I have Apistogramma Viejita a pair. They’ve spawn two time, but the eggs is not hatch. Cause of temperature or poor water quality?
The first thing I would look at is water parameters especially hardness and pH. Softer and more acidic water seems to promote egg viability
My question is do two triple reds produce triple red fry?
In my experience, yes.
@@MakeMoreFishI ordered 3 pairs from wet spot in Oregon and 1 pair spawned today for me.
Question, when would you say they got big enough to eat moina, I’m trying to breed my A.borellii and lack bbs
hmm maybe 1/2 - 5/8 inch range? Much larger than I would feed BBS. I can't say exactly what size it becomes safe but I have this general apprehension about feeding daphnia to very young fish. They have a lot more shell than BBS I think and I worry about causing intestinal blockages. Maybe I'm paranoid. I've also used stack sieves with multiple mesh sizes to isolate smaller daphnia. Those I wouldn't worry about as much but it's a lot of work to do that.
@@MakeMoreFish well there is always the tried and true method, leaves, and all the buggers that eat them, currently in the tank there is a health population of copepods, but I think I'll probably just try with dry fry foods. from what I've heard Borellii take forever to mature anyways .
Hey, I have a pair of apistogramma right now, they're still young but the female is around an inch and a 1/4 while the male is around 2 inches. I did a water change to induce breeding so I'm still waiting but for me, it seems like the female is approaching the male and not vice versa. She tilts herself in front of him and the male does tail whip back sometimes, but he just swims away disinterested. This has been going on for a few days, what's the problem?
I don't think there's a problem, I would just give them time.
How are you able to keep so many in your tank? Doesn’t that cause problems? Or is it only temporary to find a match for the male?
If you mean problems with aggression, I actually find it safer to keep 30 cichlids in a tank than 3. Especially if they have cohabitated since birth.
@@MakeMoreFish I’ve heard this before and it completely makes sense. How big was the tank in this video?
This was a 10 gallon that happens to have another 15 gallons of water circulating through it just to help maintain water quality. 20 gallon tanks are a great size if you want to spawn and raise the fry in a single tank.