Apistogramma sp. maulbrüter
The Mouthbrooding Apistogramma
by Rich Grenfell
From Wet Pet Gazette, Norwalk Aquarium Society
Aquarticles
Background and Description
Two pairs of wild adults were the beginning of quite an adventure indeed. I can
honestly say that few fish thus far have intrigued me the way that these guys did.
* A. sp. Maulbrüter was originally imported by Aquarium Glaser in Germany in
2000. They sold it under the name A. sp. Red Face. They published the first short
notice on it under that name in: Glaser, Ulrich (Sr.), 2000, Newsflash, Aqualog-News 34:
8.
Römer then introduced it as A. sp. Brustband (Breast-band): Römer, Uwe, 2000, Apistogramma
sp. "Brustband" - ein neuer verhaltensbiologisch ungewöhnlicher Zwergbuntbarsch
aus Peru!, Aquarium Heute 18(4): 627-628.
Koslowski was the first to report that this was a mouthbrooding species & named it A.
sp. Maulbrüter (Mouthbrooder): Koslowski, Ingo, 2000, Putzerverhalten und Maulbrutpflege
(Apistogramma-Arten), D. Aqu. u. Terr. Z (DATZ), 53(11): 18-21. This latter name seems to
be the one most commonly used everywhere.
Julio Melgar collected my fish in several of the smaller streams that enter the Rio
Ampiyacu, near the town of El Pozo, Peru.
Something unique about this fish is the size of the head. The area between the snout to
the rear edge of the operculum takes up nearly 35% of the fish's standard length. The
large head is believed to help with carrying the larvae, since this species doesn't have a
well developed buccal pouch like most mouthbrooders. Males of this species are quite
beautiful indeed. The neutral coloration differs from the breeding dress quite a bit. This
is a moderately high backed fish and the base color in neutral dress is a milky grey, with
each scale edged a beautiful iridescent blue. There are five dorsal blotches, and a
moderately thick lateral band, which becomes a bit thinner as you work your way to just
behind the eye. This species also displays a defined suborbital stripe. The second, third,
fourth, fifth and sixth ray of the dorsal are elongated and tipped in yellow. The dorsal
comes to a point, which sometimes can extend past the caudal; some of the rays in this
area of the dorsal are elongated as well. The ventral fins are tipped in yellow, and the
anal fin has blue streaking with some speckling close to the body. The caudal is lyerate
with the lower half colored in a rich yellow. The throat, lips and lower cheeks (below the
suborbital stripe) are also covered in a rich yellow. While in breeding dress, the male
takes on a bit of a different look. The blue on the scales is there, but the base color
becomes white, and all of the color is very intense. All of the body markings disappear,
with the exception of the suborbital stripe. The female is marked in generally the same
way, but she will have a lateral spot. Also in females a broad band extends vertically
from the ventral fin up to the lateral band, just in front of the lateral spot on the
flank. This "breast band" is the feature Römer used for his common name for the
species - Brustband (Breast-band). Her coloration will be much more plain, and her body
will be a bit more stout that that of the male. She takes on the same breeding coloration
of most other female Apistogramma.
Housing
At first, both pairs were housed in a 20-gallon high tank. Being that they were wild
and I was introducing them to tap water, I was careful to acclimate them for about two
hours. The substrate was a natural colored standard sized gravel. The tank was furnished
with Java fern, a piece of wood covered with Java moss, some small terra cotta caves, and
a large anubias in the center. A large sponge filter in one corner supplied filtration.
Behavior
Soon after their arrival, it became obvious that I was going to have to separate the
pairs. The largest male chased and bitten the fins of the other three fish, and they in
turn squabbled amongst themselves. Soon, they all had tattered fins and were not eating as
much as I would have liked. One pair was put into my community tank, and the other left to
the 20 high. The pair in the community took on neutral coloration within a few hours. The
pair left alone was a different story. Almost immediately, the male was displaying and
chasing the female around the tank. The male pretty much ruled the tank for time being.
The female spent most of her time hiding in the Java moss, or one of the caves. The male
was then kept in a breeder net in the same tank. Soon, the female began to regard the tank
as her own, and the male was released. The pair was then able to share the tank without
further problems
Water
Being wild fish, I was certain that my tapwater would not suffice, if I wanted to breed
them. I did not have access to RO water, so I began to collect rainwater. In the meantime,
I conditioned them in my tapwater, and slowly changed them to pure rain water with water
changes. The pH of my tapwater was 6.9, with a general hardness of 7 degrees. The pH of
the rainwater was 5.6, and the general hardness was undetectable. The temperature was set
at 80 degrees.
Maintainance and Feeding
Water changes were done at 50% once per week, and the rainwater I was using was checked
frequently to maintain the correct parameters. The gravel was carefully vacuumed to be
certain that any uneaten food was removed. The fish were fed twice daily, with my usual
rotating menu. This consisted of live blackworms (only twice per week), frozen bloodworms,
chopped krill shrimp, frozen brine shrimp, and a homemade paste food. I should add that it
took quite a while for them to accept the paste food. I first gave them items that I was
pretty sure they would accept. These were live brine shrimp and live blackworms.
Breeding
A. Spawning
Within a few weeks of beginning water changes with rainwater, the female began to court
the male. She took on an off-yellow hue that was quite intense at times. She would swim up
parallel to the male and shake her head, and body, and flap her tail at him. The male
showed no interest at all and just chased her back into the plants. In my experience, it
is the male that seems to be problematic in terms of obtaining a spawn. The female did
everything she could, but he just showed no interest at all. After a few weeks of this, I
suspected that I had a spawn. The female was bright yellow and guarding an area behind the
Java moss and under the driftwood. This time it was the other way around in terms of
dominance, and the female beat the tar out of the male! It got so bad I had to take him
out.
I waited for the fry to appear, but to no avail. I was sure that she had fry because I
saw her carrying, and I also saw her spit them out at feeding time. After about ten days,
I still saw no free-swimming fry and assumed that something went wrong. This same scenario
happened five times. Frustrated, I began to seek advice. I was advised that these fish
came from areas with sandy bottoms. Also, digging in the sand was part of the spawning
ritual.
So I set up a 20-gallon long tank as described above, but with a sand substrate rather
than gravel. I filled this tank with pure rainwater as well. Almost immediately, the
female set herself to excavating. She chose a terra-cotta cave with no bottom on it.
Within the first hour in the new tank she had dug down to the bottom glass, and piled the
sand to the side of the cave entrance. She also exposed the roots of several nearby
plants. The next day, the sand pile had been moved to the front of the cave entrance with
just enough room at the top for her to enter on her side. I was sure she had eggs, because
she was bright yellow, and she was beating the male up again. I removed the male and began
the wait for fry. While the eggs were incubating she kept busy digging up more sand from
the plant roots, and she also dug several pits nearby. She was constantly on the move!
After about three days, she emerged with a mouthful of fry.
I thought that they were true mouth-brooders at first, but this turn of events proved
to me that this species is a delayed mouth-brooder, mouth-brooding the fry rather than the
eggs. Unlike the cichlids from the lakes of Africa, the mouth-brooding process is only a
few days, and the female does not starve during this period. She spits the fry into
depressions in the substrate eats her fill, and then returns to pick up the fry again.
B. Brood-care
My female turned out to be a very good mother. When the fry first started to swim, she
herded them around the tank immediately. Always on the look out for danger, and just a
good mother in general. When spooked, she does pick the fry up to protect them. The fry
are able to take new hatched brine shrimp right away, and they grow quite rapidly in the
first four or five weeks of life. They were fed twice daily, and I took to changing the
water twice per week at 50% of the tank volume. At this point water changes were done with
tap water. Slowly at first until I was certain that the fish were used to it. Within six
weeks, they were taking chopped bloodworms, and fresh chopped shrimp. After nine weeks,
they were of saleable size, and were sold off /given away to various people.
Conclusion
The sand substrate is key with this species. I had no luck at all until this was
provided. Once they are in an environment that they find acceptable, breeding this fish is
moderately easy in my opinion. The thing I found most intriguing was their behavior - the
mouth brooding of course, but the excavation was quite entertaining. The role reversal in
terms of dominance I have seen before, but the female of this species is especially nasty
about it! They are quite beautiful and were (at the time) one of my favorite fish room
occupants.
* Importation, introduction and collection data provided by Mike Wise.
* Parts of the description data also provided by Mike Wise
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