Dwarf Cichlids!

[Sloory]

G'day after having my blue rams for a few weeks now i am so please with them :rolleyes: .

This made me decide to research other species of dwarf cichlid as i have never really looked into them.
BOY HAVE I BEEN MISSING OUT!! :ohmy: I love them! they all have great colours and shapes! reading more about these i've decided that i'm going to base most of my fish keeping around these fish!
The reason is they love a fully planted tank. I love a fully planted tank!
They look awsome against a back drop of plants and so they are the perect fish for me!

I am starting with the apistogramma biteaniata.
This is what they look like.....

http://img142.imageshack.us/img142/3748/apistogrammabitaeniataff3.th.jpg (http://img142.imageshack.us/my.php?image=apistogrammabitaeniataff3.jpg)

I have set my planted 3ft (that i had the cory's in) up for them with a cave at each end and am ordering 2 pairs from this store Slippery little suckers (http://www.slipperylittlesuckers.com/).
They specialize in apistogrammas and other rare imports. they do there own imports and have an awsome sote in malasia that even has a lounge to sit and talk fish, a coffee room and internet to chat on fish forums! i learned this from HERE. (http://www.fishforum.com.au/viewtopic.php?t=360)

I'll post a pic of the tank in the showcase forum.

[mac_man_luke]

They are a nice fish, how much are they worth?

[Sloory]

They are a nice fish, how much are they worth?[/b]


These guys are F1 german bred so they are gunna be $30 each.

[mac_man_luke]

ok not bad - would have expected more

very nice looking!

[wombat1100]

now thats a good looking fish, how do dwarf cichlids go when mixing the different species? i thought rams and the like were very aggresive? is that right Daz?

[Sloory]

I won't be mixing species.

I was told that different apisto genus's will interbreed so i'll have them in seperate tanks.
As for the rams, they also have their own tank.

[Sloory]

Well i finally got my A.Bitaeniata's

Trust me to have fish fly in on the day that all melbourne flights are delayed by fog!!

I rang Australian Air Express to make sure of what time they'd be in and they said yep there is some fish coming in at 4:30pm.
So i go there from Mulgrave and get there to hear that they weren't mine and mine aren't due for another TWO HRS :angry: !

Anyways i went home back to my brother inlaws in mulgrave and returned later.
I finally got my fish in the tank by about 9.30pm :wink: .

All is good now, the fish seem healthy and quite happy with they're new jungle home :) .

I'll try and get some pics posted in the showcase forum asap.

[silkieboy]

Ahh good to hear that their loving the jungle :). Must've given ya quite a shock when the first fish arrival wasn't urs hehe. Looking forward to seeing these beautiful peaceful fish.
Btw thanks for that link to the forum showing that malaysian shop... sheesh its nice lol.

[joz]

Alays had a soft spot for the dwarfs,good luck with them breeding.
Let us all know when the Rams do their thing,I'd be interested in some youngens. :)

[Sloory]

Alays had a soft spot for the dwarfs,good luck with them breeding.
Let us all know when the Rams do their thing,I'd be interested in some youngens. :)[/b]


Lol these rams...... I added another german breed female on sunday, now both female are fully coloured and are trying to lure the male but he's so dumb! he doesn't know whats going on!
tomorrow i'm going to add another german breed male and hopfully he will show the other guy hows its done! :biggrin:

[subnormal]

has anyone noticed with the rams that they turn on there side abit, kind of shake then shoot forward or is mine just weird?

[Sloory]

has anyone noticed with the rams that they turn on there side abit, kind of shake then shoot forward or is mine just weird?[/b]


lol, well my females have been doing that in front of the dumb male! it must be suppost to be sexy :biggrin: lol. Maybe my males gay cause it doesn't work for him :p .

Hopefully the male i bought today will change his mind!

[subnormal]

Strange maybe my males gay because he's doing the dance!

[alisterpate]

I'm interested in getting my hands on some apistos. Does anyone know anywhere good to get hold of them in Melbourne? Or, indeed, have some to sell (again, in Melbourne?)

I've got a tank all cycled... and no apistos to put in them.

Any thoughts?