Care Sheet - Apistogramma

Apistogramma

Family: Cichlidae

Names: the most common apisto you will find are apistogramma cacatuoides (Cockatoo cichlids), apistogramma agassizii, apistogramma borellii, apistogramma viejita and apistogramma nijsseni. Some of the rarer once that you don’t find that much but still pop up every now and again are apistogramma macmasteri, apistogramma trifasciata, apistogramma baenschi and apistogramma hongsloi

Origin: South America,

Maximum size: in most apisto the females get to about 1 - 2” max but the males get bigger and get to about 2 - 3” max
Tank size: the min tank size for a pair is 10g but they do best in trios which need a 20g tank. Two males can’t be kept together in a tank under 40g because each male needs 20g min with lots of hiding spots

Tank setup: the tank should have lots of caves and wood for them to hide in and spawn in the caves. They also do well in heavily planted tanks
Tank compatibility: they do well with other dwarf and not to aggressive cichlids as long as the tank is big enough to house them. They do well with peaceful that aren’t to small to fit in their mouth. Tetras normally do well as dithers because the apisto will chase them but are to slow to catch and damage them. They can also be kept with other non aggressive bottom dwellers like catfish as long as the tank is big enough for them to have their own territories (20g+).
Ph: most of the common apisto found aren’t too bothered about ph unless your breeding them. The common once will be fine between 5.5 - 8 as long as they are acclimatized to it but if you want them to breed below 7 is best but you might get away with 7.5. Most of the rarer apisto need to be under 7 between 5 – 7 but about 5 – 6 is best if you want to breed them. Because they like a lot of wood caves the ph isn’t too hard to lower because the wood will do that naturally
Feeding: they will do fine on flake with some live, dried and frozen foods mine also like algae wafers and de shelled peas as treats. If you’re trying to breed them your best to condition them on frozen and live foods.

Sexing: sexing is very easy in most apisto the male will be larger and a lot more colorful than the smaller and duller females.

Breeding: there needs to be lots of caves and they need to feed them up live and frozen foods are best. When they are ready to breed both of them will color up a lot and the female will get eggy. They can normally be tempted into spawning by doing a big water change with water slightly colder than the tank water. Then when court ship starts the male and female will swim along next to each other with all their fins displayed out and will shake their bodies and fins then the female will turn on her side in front of the male and they should both swim into the chosen cave where the female will lay her eggs and the male will fertilize them. They are not always good parent on their first go and will normally end up eating the eggs or fry the first few times but after a few goes they become really good parents and will guard the babies with there life. The female will then stay in the cave and guard the eggs while the male will swim round and guard his territory and cave chasing of any other fish that get to close. Once the eggs hatch they will stay close to the mum and won’t leave the cave without her and they will shoot back into the cave if anything gets to close. The eggs should hatch after 2-3 days and they will only eat there yolk sacs for 4-5 days and should be feed on newly hatched brine shrimp, micro worms and/or vinegar eels.


Care Sheet kindly written by Kizno