by Fredrik.Ljungberg/saab.se
Date: Fri, 19 Dec 1997
To: apisto/majordomo.pobox.com
> 1. Someone previously made mention of females turning into males in
> Crenicara punctulata.
> I have what I believe to be a true pair (" male " has long flowing
> dorsal, caudal, anal, and pelvic fins
> all of which are clear; " female " has shorter fins all around and her
> pelvic and anal fins are a deep
> red), but both fish started out looking exactly like my " female "
> does. I was wondering if someone
> could elaborate on this " sex change ". Also, has anyone had any luck
> breeding this neat fish?
>
> 2. The other day I came across a fish labelled Apisto. sp. Rio Mamore.
> They were wild caught and had
> had " diamond " shaped tails as well as extended 3rd-5th rays in their
> dorsal fins simialar to my
> A. cacatuoides. Does anyone know about this fish and its
> living/breeding requirements?
>
> Thanks in advance to anyone who can shed some light on either or both of
> these fish.
>
> Andy Samaroo
> samaroo-at-aracnet.net
>
Hi Andy
1. C. puntulatum is known for the sex change. Ohm in 1980 made the first
controlled observations of this. All fish are from the beginning female
and at a certain stage the dominant female in a pair or a group turns
into a male. I've read somewhere that it doesn't always work but both
times I have had the species I bought what looked like females and ended
up with both sexes.
As for keeping and breeding they are both hard and easy. I kept them in
slightly acidic and soft water (my tap water) and they did fine. However,
they can be extremely shy so appropriate company is important. I've tried
Laetacara-species (curviceps, dorsigera and thayeri), Ap. macmasteri and
Ap. agassizii which worked fine. The tricky part seem to be their strong
reactions to changes in environment/water chemistry. I lost 3 this spring
very suddenly for no apparent reason other than changing tank mates and
some water. Go figure. It's an open spawner, preferring strong, horisontal
leaves. Fry big enough to take BBS. I removed the fry from the parents
because they seemed insecure, not quite able to cope with the parenting.
2. Ap. sp. "Rio Mamore" is a trifasciata-like species. In Maylands book
it is considered to be the 'infamous' Ap. trifasciata maciliensis and
I've heard that from others as well. Anyone has more detailed info?
Keeping and spawning is as for Ap. trifasciata.
Hope this helps.
//Fredrik
--
Fredrik.Ljungberg-at-saab.se
Saab Ab
Flutter and Loads Department
voice +46 13 18 54 60, fax +46 13 18 33 63
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by "Ed Pon" <edpon/hotmail.com>
Date: Sat, 26 Sep 1998
To: apisto/majordomo.pobox.com
Lee wrote:
>All of the fish we collected looked like females, then eventually,
after
>several months, one started to change into a male. The males are very
>nicely coloured and the females retain the red ventrals and anal fins
>til they begin to change into males. I think, that if the first male is
>left in the aquarium, the other females will not change sex, but I'm
not
>sure.
>
I think I read it in Linke and Staeck--At least one of the crenicichla
species
has been show to do sex reversal. In other words, if you buy two, one
may turn
a male while the other stays a female. Several marine fish, including
clown
fish are known to do this.
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by "Ed Pon" <edpon/hotmail.com>
Date: Sat, 26 Sep 1998
To: apisto/majordomo.pobox.com
I wrote earlier:
>>I think I read it in Linke and Staeck--At least one of the crenicichla
>>species
>>has been show to do sex reversal. In other words, if you buy two, one
>>may turn
>>a male while the other stays a female. Several marine fish,
including
>>clown
>>fish are known to do this.
I just pulled out my Linke and Staeck and found that I made a mistake.
I meant to say crenicara--not crenicichla. I found the section in the
book and it refers to crenicara punctulatum.
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by "Newman, L" <Lee_Newman/bc.sympatico.ca>
Date: Fri, 25 Sep 1998
To: apisto/majordomo.pobox.com
Gareth Casey wrote:
>
> I have some questions about theses fish if anybody could please answer
> them. They came into my LFS mis-IDed as D.Maculata and now that I know
> what they are I am still considering purchasing some of them. Any and
> all info would be greatly appreciated.
> TIA
> Gareth Casey
Gareth,
I had the opportunity to collect some Crenicara punctulatum in Peru in
'93. We caught them in very shallow water near the river bank at night
(during the day they were nowhere to be seen). Probably staying out of
the deep water at night to avoid being eaten.
They adjusted well to aquaria, but always remained a little shy.
However, with suitable dither fish, they were constantly active, looking
for food and interacting with each other. At no time did I observe
aggression towards other fish or any damage as a result of intraspecific
aggression. I'd call them very peaceful cichlids. A small group should
not need more than 55 gallon aquarium. They are not what I would call a
dwarf cichlid (although they seem to find themselves in the books of
dwarf cichlids, probably on the basis of their non-aggressive
behaviour), my males grew to about 5" and the females to at least 4".
They accepted all the standard foods (flakes, pellets and frozen stuff)
and did well in aquaria with water conditions similar to those found in
their natural habitat; a pH of around 6.5 and carbonate hardness less
than 5 German degrees. I generally kept them in planted aquaria (they
ignore plants and seem to like the security they afford) with a fine
sand bottom (they appear to like to look for food under things they can
lift or push over with their mouths). I used plants that did not require
intense light and used peat in a box filter to lightly stain the water.
All of the fish we collected looked like females, then eventually, after
several months, one started to change into a male. The males are very
nicely coloured and the females retain the red ventrals and anal fins
til they begin to change into males. I think, that if the first male is
left in the aquarium, the other females will not change sex, but I'm not
sure.
They are interesting fish and rarely spawned, I'd give'em a try. I
wanted to collect them in Peru this past August, but we did not find
any.
Good luck, if you get them!
Lee Newman
Vancouver
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The Krib
Apistogramma/Dwarf Cichlids
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