F0 Apistogramma norberti breeding/pairing hints

[gage]

Hey guys, picked up 5 F0 Apistogramma norberti, but they aren't wanting to pair up, any suggestions are welcome.

[Lisachromis]

No idea on the breeding hints, even though I have bred norberti in the past. I just had mine in a 20 gallon tank with plants and some small clay pots.

I miss my norberti. I kept the male I bred (I only had a few fry) for over 8 years. He was a gorgeous fish even though he liked hiding.

[gage]

Thanks for the reply

by chance do you have pics of that male norberti?

[Lisachromis]

Maybe a few old pics, but he's not very visible. I know he's there tho. LOL

[Lisachromis]

Oh... forgot...

http://users.kent.net/~lisab/Anorberti.html

A few pics there. As you can see, they spawned in 2000. And, you'll also see I had a REALLY crappy camera.

[gage]

Thanks for the pics I'll try to get pics of mine, not much color on mine at all, maybe a tad bit lol.

is there any way to sex them at 1-1.75"?

[gage]

when you bred them, what was the water temperature and pH?

[Lisachromis]

Well... pH here tends to run around 7.8 (I was told they wouldn't spawn in that, or at least no viable fry). The temp was probably around 75 or so. This is going on memory though.

[gage]

any little bit helps! thank you! but about the sexing, is it possible at this size?

[Lisachromis]

I assume the typical black pelvics like many other Apistos, but it's been so long...... sorry. Maybe Mike Wise will pop in and help out.

Oh, not sure this will help but the water hardness around here is 222 ppm.

[gage]

My apologizes, very new to the Apisto world, know nothing about them, I assume females have black pelvics males do not? never heard of this before, great to know.

[Lisachromis]

Yes, generally speaking, the females will have black pelvics and the males don't. Sorry, didn't mean to assume you knew.

[gage]

not a problem, now I do

I'm used to my old CA's when all you had to do was look at it was hanging out to tell you whether it was a male or female

[Mike Wise]

A. norberti is relatively easy to sex - if the fish are old enough. Males show rows of spots on the tail; females have no pattern on the tail. My A. norberti, which I brought back from Peru, reproduced in water similar to their wild habitat: pH <6.0, 3º dGH, <1º dKH, cond. < 50 µS/cm @ 26ºC/79ºF. Males are very rough on females and other males. The tend to form breeding pairs (like A. nijsseni) and drive off or kill other members of their species. Once a pair forms, breeding is fairly smooth.

[gage]

Thank you for the reply and help!

They are in a 90g 48" tank, so I hope it is enough room for them to pair up peacefully.

How old before you can see these spots in the tail?

[Mike Wise]

If your fish are over 1½ in./2.5 cm then the fish should be sexable and the males should show a patterned tail fin. Otherwise they may all be females.

[gage]

ok, thanks, not that size quite yet, doing well though!

[Csababá]

Hi,
any updates, pics?
Cs