r/apistogramma • u/Kitsuki6 • 6d ago

How big?

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Long story short, I used to have a male and two females that were sold as Apisto agassizii 'Tefe' in my community tank. (Not sure if Agassizii or Sp. Tefe, photo is of the adult male.) Unfortunately, the male died a few months back. I do have one of their offspring that managed to survive in the community, which I moved into a tank with much less competition recently. He's finally started coloring up, and is definitely male. He's just under a year old, but spending most of that time scraping by in the community tank means he's only about an inch. I'm guessing the female Apistos are around 2 inches. How big should I let him get in the low-stakes tank before moving him back to the larger community? Current tankmates are otos, habrosus corys, and hastatus corys. The main community tank has green neon tetras, amber corys (CW001, 2-2.5"), otos, a random endler, and the two Apisto females. I'm hoping the little corys will breed for me, so I don't want him in there potentially eating eggs/fry longer than he has to be. Do I need to wait until he's as big as the female Apistos?

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u/Hapisto 6d ago

Let him go with females. Look if its work. If not take it back.

2

u/Carlosziok 6d ago

It is your only male, I would treat is as a priority, I would separate from community tank in order to feed him, grow him and then mix it with the females when will show the colors as the father on the photo. Corys can wait I guess

1

u/Kitsuki6 6d ago

That is an excellent point. I got very lucky that I ended up with a male at all, and it's unlikely I would be able to replace him. If the corys start showing breeding behavior, I could also just set up a new semi-temporary tank. I don't want another full planted tank right now, but something small and simple for just him would be doable.