[Kitsune_Gem]

I am considering picking up a pair of double red Agassizi. The ones we have in are beautiful, well to me at least.

I was planing on doing a pair of German Blue Rams as my center fish, but now I am considering these double reds.

Any one have any tips on them besides them liking more acidic water?

The tank they would go into would be the 29 gallon bio-cube.

Stocking would consist of them, a smaller schooling fish, either a school of otos, or an albino bristle nose pleco.

Also, they are 13$ a fish, does that seem reasonable, or over priced? I've never dabbled into dwarf cichlids before just the rift lake ones a few years ago before I had to move and down size so I am not sure on the pricing.

Ill post photos of the ones I am looking at soon.

 

[Kitsune_Gem]

 

[james1542]

Since it is a captive bred strain, they should tolerate a pretty wide range of condtions, but yes try to strive for neutral to acidic conditions. 29 gallons is plenty of space for a pair of them. They should work with all your small dither fish, in fact it's best to have some small active fish in the tank-it makes them less shy. They won't hurt the ottos either, but may chase them from a spawning site. Lets see, that price is reasonable, but I only see males in the pictures. Your tank is large enough, you could do a pair of rams and a pair of agasizii.

 

[Kitsune_Gem]

Since it is a captive bred strain, they should tolerate a pretty wide range of condtions, but yes try to strive for neutral to acidic conditions. 29 gallons is plenty of space for a pair of them. They should work with all your small dither fish, in fact it's best to have some small active fish in the tank-it makes them less shy. They won't hurt the ottos either, but may chase them from a spawning site. Lets see, that price is reasonable, but I only see males in the pictures. Your tank is large enough, you could do a pair of rams and a pair of agasizii.

I figured they where all males, as the tag on the tank says Males, but you never know, sometimes a little girl slips in.

The one hiding in the decoration is the one I'm in love with. Hes pretty shinny in person.

I wonder where I could pick up a female.

 

[Kitsune_Gem]

I took the plunge today and brought one of the best looking males home.

 

[james1542]

If your looking for a female, the wet spot in portland should have some, and they ship. You don't need to find a double red line female either.

 

[Kitsune_Gem]

If your looking for a female, the wet spot in portland should have some, and they ship. You don't need to find a double red line female either.

I'd really like to avoid shipping, seeing how between college and work, I fear I wont be home at the time they arrive, and I'll come home to dead fish.

I am wondering if Aqua Forest in SF has some.. Its a bit of a drive, but it would be worth it.

The one I got seems to be settling in well.. Hes terrified still, I am thinking of maybe getting some cherry barbs to throw in there with him..

They are such an underrated fish, I love them so much

 

[james1542]

If the weather is good it's not too big of a deal. In fact I've gotten Agasizii shipped priority several times. But it would be cheapest, and you could know for sure your getting a female, if you get them at a LFS. I always like to reward the LFS for bringing in apistos by buying some. Luckily most pet stores can order in Aggies on occasion, some suppliers list what is agasizi blue, but it really is the dreaded "blue face" hybrid apisto. You might give him a mirror every now and then to give him some excitement (you will see some colors then too). Small, active fish in the tank will make them feel at ease and stop hiding. They are pretty intelligent, and know that those little fish wouldn't be out if there were predators or danger around. If you have a eye dropper or something to feed them with, they will learn food comes out of that pretty fast too. Some of the dwarf rasboras that have come into the hobby recently are excellent tank mates. Tetras are fine too, but many of them hang out down at the bottom, so it's nice to find fish that will occupy the mid to top levels of the tank, especially if you hope to raise fry in the tank some day.

 

[Kitsune_Gem]

If the weather is good it's not too big of a deal. In fact I've gotten Agasizii shipped priority several times. But it would be cheapest, and you could know for sure your getting a female, if you get them at a LFS. I always like to reward the LFS for bringing in apistos by buying some. Luckily most pet stores can order in Aggies on occasion, some suppliers list what is agasizi blue, but it really is the dreaded "blue face" hybrid apisto. You might give him a mirror every now and then to give him some excitement (you will see some colors then too). Small, active fish in the tank will make them feel at ease and stop hiding. They are pretty intelligent, and know that those little fish wouldn't be out if there were predators or danger around. If you have a eye dropper or something to feed them with, they will learn food comes out of that pretty fast too. Some of the dwarf rasboras that have come into the hobby recently are excellent tank mates. Tetras are fine too, but many of them hang out down at the bottom, so it's nice to find fish that will occupy the mid to top levels of the tank, especially if you hope to raise fry in the tank some day.

I can more than likely have my friend order me some. I am thinking about picking up the cherry barbs today while I am out an about. He seems to not care about the food, so I was thinking of getting some frozen blood worms as well.

 

[Aquatic Delight]

i have my pair of double reds with Rummy nose tetras and corys. everyone seems very happy.

 

[james1542]

I can more than likely have my friend order me some. I am thinking about picking up the cherry barbs today while I am out an about. He seems to not care about the food, so I was thinking of getting some frozen blood worms as well.

What temp is your tank at? Try to keep it around 27 C. He should love frozen blood worms and brine shimp, but getting him to eat flakes or pellets shouldn't be a problem.

 

[Kitsune_Gem]

What temp is your tank at? Try to keep it around 27 C. He should love frozen blood worms and brine shimp, but getting him to eat flakes or pellets shouldn't be a problem.

Its normally about 77* F I can bump it up a bit if needed. His tank makes didn't eat today (at the store), until the food sat on the bottom and expanded a bit, then they picked at it. They showed no interst in frozen blood worms either. I picked up some live blood worms just to see what he would do. I get them every once and a while either way for the other fish tanks either way.

I added in a rather large amazon sword today, so hopefully that helps him feel more at home, though, I had some difficulty planting it. I had not noticed how shallow my substrate is compared to my other tanks.. So I either need to pick up another bag of it or figure out if I can just place black gravel over the top.

This tank is going to be a heavily planted tank, so I figure another bag of the plant substrate is better, but getting my hands on it is another story. We haven't had it in an a while, so I am hoping we get it in tomorrow.
You can't beat 10 $ for 20 pounds, plus with the sale its like 7$ for 20 pounds, plus my discount. I may end up just hitting up the shop next door and getting the better stuff. It's a bit more, but it looks nicer, and is a bit better for the plants.

 

[Kitsune_Gem]

Alright! He ate the live blood worms.. Now to ween him off of that, on to frozen, then the new life spectrum pellets!

 

[DBlauj]

Trank bred strains are pretty hardy as far as apistos go. They can tolerate harder and higher ph levels and some including Agassizii will even breed in hard and high ph level water. Congrats on the beautiful male and I wouldn't be suprised is you catch the Apisto bug. I was going the same route with wanting rams until I came across some orange flash cacatuoides. It was over after that lol. He may be picky with his food but tank bred strains should take frozen and pellets sooner or later. Mine took about 3 days for frozen and about a week and a half for pellets. Good luck.

 

[Kitsune_Gem]

Trank bred strains are pretty hardy as far as apistos go. They can tolerate harder and higher ph levels and some including Agassizii will even breed in hard and high ph level water. Congrats on the beautiful male and I wouldn't be suprised is you catch the Apisto bug. I was going the same route with wanting rams until I came across some orange flash cacatuoides. It was over after that lol. He may be picky with his food but tank bred strains should take frozen and pellets sooner or later. Mine took about 3 days for frozen and about a week and a half for pellets. Good luck.

We haven't had much luck with the ones in store, we lose about 1 out of every 5 for some reason, but they come in looking so so. Hes enjoying his new plant : D I still haven't made a decision on what to get to go in with him. I really want Cherry Barbs, and may pick up a few tomorrow before I head home. But then again, I also love the Orange Von Rio Flame tetras.

Either way for sure tomorrow I need to pick up more substrate.. My large plants hardly staying in place.

I am also going to upgrade the lights to the finnex ray lighting, meaning I have to cut into the hood more to fit it. Fun stuff. I don't want to go topless on this tank, as its a bit close to my small animal cages, and sometimes if they get really worked up over a special treat, they run around causing bedding to fly out of the cage, I don't want that falling into my tank!

 

[DBlauj]

Sucks to hear that they are dropping that way. Hopefully yours does better than those in the fs. Plants are always a plus also.

 

[Kitsune_Gem]

Sucks to hear that they are dropping that way. Hopefully yours does better than those in the fs. Plants are always a plus also.

We have only lost like 3 out of 20? Id say that's pretty good. The first losses I don't count as they where put into a tank with fish that tried to eat them. Other wise, its just been the three, two from one shipment, another from another one.

They never colored up like the others and always stayed on the bottom, so I am sure it was shipping stress related and not something else.

 

[james1542]

77F should be fine. Get him fat and sassy with those live foods and then the small size NLS pellets should work good (or the flake works too). I'd go with tetras over barbs, just like to avoid pangea tank whenever at all possible. You could get real crazy, and try to find tetras from the rivers that Aggies inhabit in the wild. But get him some friends to feel safer, and get him a cave of some kind to hide in, even if it's just an old coffee mug-for now. He's probably too concerned with his safety to eat well.

 

[Kitsune_Gem]

77F should be fine. Get him fat and sassy with those live foods and then the small size NLS pellets should work good (or the flake works too). I'd go with tetras over barbs, just like to avoid pangea tank whenever at all possible. You could get real crazy, and try to find tetras from the rivers that Aggies inhabit in the wild. But get him some friends to feel safer, and get him a cave of some kind to hide in, even if it's just an old coffee mug-for now. He's probably too concerned with his safety to eat well.

The way the drift wood sits, its propped up on a rock, creating a mini cave he sleeps in at night. Last night he was up and about exploring the tank, like "oooo whats this?" It was rather cute.
This morning hes down by the plant hiding in it.

I wouldn't mind doing tetras, if I could find something with the similar color of the cherry barbs, that where easy to get my hands on.

I don't want to deal with shipping, as between work, and school, I will more than likely not be home with the shipment arrives, and there is no one else home to deal with it.

I'd love to get some Ruby Tetras, but the only place that I know carry's them locally is Aqua Forest in Japan Town in SF, and that's a bit of a drive for me.

Cardinals, I'd love too, but they are about 5$ a fish around here, and all the shops that get them in have had rotten luck with getting them in alive from the seller.

Neons, I already have in the other tank, I dont want to do two tanks of them.

I may pick up some Orange Von Rio Flames to see how they do.

 

[Kitsune_Gem]

....My fish is a pansy.. Hes scared of his own shadow!
Hes going to end up being one spoiled rotten fish.

Due to me missing a part of the tank, (the little flow valve thing that controls where you point the water to) the blood worms don't always make it down to where he hangs out, so I have to take the feeding tongs and offer it to him that way, then he pigs out..

My plan for getting cherry barbs did not go over like I wanted. I'll have to either pick some up from the other store tomorrow, or wait a week or so to get them from where I normally do.

So until then hes King of the tank.

As far as getting a counter part for him goes, they are listed as 'red flashers' and 'orange flashers' on the list, so my friends going to order me some to see if its what I want. If not, oh well, they got some new fish in.

I have one other shop I can try as well.