# appistogramma hongsloi



## reny777 (Apr 4, 2018)

so it’s my first time getting these dwarf fish I have one male and a female the female is bright yellow and always stays in the log hiding spot and sometimes goes in a hole she’s made underneath the hiding place and chases out any other fish that come there the male just swims around anywhere he likes do u think she has eggs there how long does it take for the eggs to hatch if she has any it’s been a few days she’s been like that she only leaves there to eat should I do a 30 percent waterchangw if there are eggs in the tank or should I not disturb the water not really sure what I should be doing if I should do anything at this point


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## rhennessey (Jul 25, 2014)

it sounds like she has eggs in there if she's guarding it. Normally 2-3 days for Apistos to hatch and she will bring them out a couple of days later.


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## reny777 (Apr 4, 2018)

rhennessey said:


> it sounds like she has eggs in there if she's guarding it. Normally 2-3 days for Apistos to hatch and she will bring them out a couple of days later.


How do I feed them if there in that hole under the decor should I wait until she brings them out


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## rhennessey (Jul 25, 2014)

you don't need to worry about feeding them till she brings them out...she will lead them around the tank and chase everything else away. To feed them you will need baby brine shrimp live or frozen. 
Good luck


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## Lutefisk (Jun 29, 2014)

Microworms might work well too, with the added bonus that they sink. Suuuper easy to culture, and if you put a dash of vinegar and salt in the oatmeal, one culture will go for a couple months before you need to re-culture.

There's a soap-making store in Langley (right by Fish Addicts... Wooot!) that has a bunch of different sizes of clear pipettes that are good for target feeding live/frozen food. I think it's called Voyageur Soap Company or something.


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## reny777 (Apr 4, 2018)

rhennessey said:


> you don't need to worry about feeding them till she brings them out...she will lead them around the tank and chase everything else away. To feed them you will need baby brine shrimp live or frozen.
> Good luck





Lutefisk said:


> Microworms might work well too, with the added bonus that they sink. Suuuper easy to culture, and if you put a dash of vinegar and salt in the oatmeal, one culture will go for a couple months before you need to re-culture.
> 
> There's a soap-making store in Langley (right by Fish Addicts... Wooot!) that has a bunch of different sizes of clear pipettes that are good for target feeding live/frozen food. I think it's called Voyageur Soap Company or something.


This has nothing to do with breeding but I have a thick white film on top of the water do either of you know what that is ? Is it a protein from the plants and how do I get rid of it is it bad for my fish I have gotten the water tested and all was okay but I've also had quite a few fish die since i started the tank I had four tetras at first two died then we got five more tetras and 8 more tetras all died but five our ghost knife died not long after we got the appistogrammas I don't know if that filmmy water has anything to do with the deaths or not and now the male appisto is looking too good not eating staying at one corner and lost all his colour


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## Lutefisk (Jun 29, 2014)

The film on top of the water is from dissolved organics (likely including proteins) that are fueling a bacterial biofilm. You may be overfeeding your fish. I've also had a lot of biofilm develop on the water surface if I started dosing Excel in a tank after not doing so for a while (likely a result of microbial/algal die-off from the glutaraldehyde). The high levels of dissolved organics that fuel the film are bad (solved by more water changes and less feeding). The film itself is bad when it cuts off gas exchange with the air, causing dissolved oxygen to drop in the tank.

How big is your tank? That sounds like an unusual amount of fish deaths. If you have another cycled tank to rescue the male to, that would be a good idea. The female may harass him to death if she thinks he's a threat to her brood territory. If you have no other tanks, add as many sight breaks as possible, and get some sections of floating pipe he can hide in.


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## reny777 (Apr 4, 2018)

Lutefisk said:


> The film on top of the water is from dissolved organics (likely including proteins) that are fueling a bacterial biofilm. You may be overfeeding your fish. I've also had a lot of biofilm develop on the water surface if I started dosing Excel in a tank after not doing so for a while (likely a result of microbial/algal die-off from the glutaraldehyde). The high levels of dissolved organics that fuel the film are bad (solved by more water changes and less feeding). The film itself is bad when it cuts off gas exchange with the air, causing dissolved oxygen to drop in the tank.
> 
> How big is your tank? That sounds like an unusual amount of fish deaths. If you have another cycled tank to rescue the male to, that would be a good idea. The female may harass him to death if she thinks he's a threat to her brood territory. If you have no other tanks, add as many sight breaks as possible, and get some sections of floating pipe he can hide in.


I have a 55 gallon but all the fish tend to stay where the heater is and rarely go to the other side of the tank because of the water flow


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## reny777 (Apr 4, 2018)

reny777 said:


> Lutefisk said:
> 
> 
> > The film on top of the water is from dissolved organics (likely including proteins) that are fueling a bacterial biofilm. You may be overfeeding your fish. I've also had a lot of biofilm develop on the water surface if I started dosing Excel in a tank after not doing so for a while (likely a result of microbial/algal die-off from the glutaraldehyde). The high levels of dissolved organics that fuel the film are bad (solved by more water changes and less feeding). The film itself is bad when it cuts off gas exchange with the air, causing dissolved oxygen to drop in the tank.
> ...


I feed them three times a day


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## Lutefisk (Jun 29, 2014)

Yikes! You may not even need to feed every day, much less three times a day. If you're feeding that often, make sure that you're putting such a small amount of food in each time that it's pretty much all eaten before it hits the substrate. 

One thing I forgot to mention about the film: if you want to skim it off as a temporary fix, you can drag a paper towel across the surface of the water, then throw it out, gunk and all. It might take a few tries to settle on a good technique. Increasing surface agitation or adding a protein skimmer (usually marketed for saltwater aquariums) would also reduce film even without reducing organic inputs to the tank. 

If fish are avoiding part of your tank because of flow, you might want to either put some kind of hardscape in that will calm the flow a bit, or baffle the outflow so that more of the tank is habitable. That should help with your apisto aggression problems. I'm not sure what you're using to filter, but they sell (or you can make) spray bars for canister outflows. I have one tank with a hang-on-back filter that I have a cherry tomato box under the outflow to tone it down a bit for my shrimp and fry. 


What temperature is your tank set at? It's possible that some of your fish are below their optimal water temperature, and stay near the warmest bit of the tank to aid in digestion etc.


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## rhennessey (Jul 25, 2014)

Yikes, 3x per day not good my friend. 1 per day is enough and you can take a day off per week A general rule is that the food should be gone in 2 minutes i.e.) don't feed to much and the film is probably protein based biofilm (no good) and you should be doing lots o water changes if you feed that much. I'd do a 75% change now (be careful with Ph) and reduce feeding now.


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