# Other Aquarium Forums > Freshwater Fauna > Cichlids >  illumnae's Apistogramma bitaeniata "Tefe Bauana" (Orange morph)

## illumnae

Hey guys, here's a couple of really poorly taken shots of my new pair of apistos in my freshly set up tank =) Thanks for the lovely fish genes!

Male:


Female:


Sorry for the poor image quality...my camera and camera skills both suck in equal proportion =)

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## trident

yi xiang,
nice fish, shot was poor due to low light,
next time try using flash.
richard

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## illumnae

my fish are settling in better now and colouring up abit...those shots were taken on day 1 when they were still scared. gonna tempt them out with decap bs eggs tonight and try to get some nicer shots in  :Smile: 

richard, wanna come down to my place one day and take pictures for me with your nice new camera?  :Laughing:

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## leeruisheng

Is this your second pair? Sinking deeper. I always wanted to get a Bit but no space for them.

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## illumnae

Yup, 2nd and last (for now at least!) pair =) they're cute i like them alot haha

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## PLee

woah... you have a pair like mine too  :Grin:  ...

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## illumnae

haha i got the brother and sister of your pair paul  :Smile:  same batch of fry from eugene haha...how are yours doing? alot bigger than mine now for sure  :Wink:

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## valice

> yi xiang,
> nice fish, shot was poor due to low light,
> next time try using flash.
> richard


On the contrary, his picture is like that due to on board camera flash. See the reflections of light off head of the fish.

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## illumnae

i only have a compact digital camera...how do i take a good photo? =)

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## genes

Haaa...Need my help?

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## trident

Yi Xiang,
I think Eugene is a much better photographer than me.
Anyway would be a good idea if we both went down.
I'll like to try out my camear and maybe can get some tips 
from Eugene.
Richard

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## illumnae

haha that'd be good, i get 2 pro photographers to help me take pictures! both of you are welcome and of course i need your help eugene =)

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## genes

Me not pro. I'm still learning how to use my camera, confuse about the settings...  :Opps: 

What camera did you get Richard?

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## trident

Eugene,
I got a Fujifilm S6500fd prosumer camera, looks and feel like a DSLR but inside is a compact. Lens are fixed.
Good for shooting discus, but the apistos are a bit small, more difficult to shhot, even with the marco feature, a marco lens would be perfect.
richard

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## illumnae

my apistos are still hiding away, especially the female. the male would come out sometimes at night after i get home from work. maybe he knows i'm tired and just wanna chill by viewing my fish?  :Laughing:  i can never see the female unless i hunt high and low in the many caves provided to them though.

one thing i've noticed is that they really like plant cover. i have a semi-densly planted rotala grove at the back right corner of my tank, and the male loves to hide in there...

hopefully they'll gain some guts soon and start strutting their stuff like my cacas do. i notice bitaeniatas seem more timid than cacas...PLee's took 2 weeks to get a good shot, and mine are acting alot more fearful than the cacas ever did. thank goodness i spot nice round bellies on mine or i'd be alot more worried!

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## chuencp39

actually a stronger light source will help in taking fishes photo...and you must know where's the usual place that they will hang out...try to make them curious and look at you...but not by scaring them away hor..haha..by the way last time i was using nikon compact camera too...but now upgrade to fujifilm S9600fd prosumer camera...quite easy to shoot...for fries photo taking, really need to add on macro lens  :Smile:

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## trident

chuencp39,
That is one power cam, better than my S6500fd. But can you add a marco lens to it? I thought it's a fixed lens cam.
Richard

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## chuencp39

Can. I'm saving money to buy it. Althought our cam is fixed lens, we still can attach / mount tele or macro lens on it.
Check out this website, yours S6500fd also can fit.
http://raynox.co.jp/english/digital/s9000/index.htm
Have fun!

p/s: Actually not recommended to take fish photos with flash, not good for the fishes.

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## genes

> p/s: Actually not recommended to take fish photos with flash, not good for the fishes.


Why is it so? There are cases where flash is used to stimulate breeding by simulating lightning.

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## trident

chuencp39
I usually take photo of fish w/out flash, but sometimes the color don't show that good. Flash photo of fish with dark background will stand out better. Thanks for the website.
Yi Xiang, if everything is ok, will go to your house this Sat to shoot your fish. I amatuer only, hope you don't mind if photo don't turn out that nice.
 :Smile:  
Richard

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## illumnae

Eugene and Richard were very kind to take time off on a Saturday morning to come take pictures for me. Unfortunately my naughty fish wasn't very cooperative so only a few shots of him flaring got taken.

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## illumnae

Some not so good shots taken with my point and shoot:

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## PLee

nice fish... *though* some shot not really focus

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## caseyhoo

nice fish you have there!!!!

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## genes

The yellow face is showing up well. You've got the best of both, blue specks and yellow face!  :Well done:  

Sorry i couldn't get a shot on him while i was there. Wasen't the most cooperative fish either...must leave the flash on an acrylic and wait instead of using the hand... :Opps:  

To use PNS camera, you got to camp your cam in a position where the fish usually freezes, this is usually a point infront of the mirror where the male will hold his flaring position for afew seconds, snap without the build in flash to capture the colours of the fish. Because its without flash, any movement with the fish, or your camera will result in blurred pictures. 

Here are some of my pics using PNS camera
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v642/genes/bauana.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v642/genes/caca3.jpg

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## illumnae

Looks like i'm gonna be a grandpa again soon. found eggs today =)

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## Wackytpt

Congrats man  :Smile:  That is very fast news  :Smile:

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## illumnae

yeah i was shocked myself =) just yesterday the female was black black and looked half stressed to death by the male...today i see eggs. looks like the male got what he wanted after all

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## PLee

congrats man!!!!

Wacky... better check the pair you have and see if the eggs have or not  :Grin:

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## illumnae

haha yeah, wacky having even more problems with his female, maybe he'll find eggs soon too

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## trident

first the cacatuoides spawn now the bitaeniata also spawn.
you are one lucky man.

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## illumnae

haha not so lucky after all, like my first batch of caca eggs, the female has eaten her spawn up...better luck next time i guess  :Sad:

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## genes

If they have bred for you, they will breed again. A possibility for the female eating her eggs is that this is her first spawn and she do not know how to brood care.

With more spawns to come and experience, she will herd her fries for you soon.  :Wink:

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## illumnae

yup i had a similar experience with my caca where her first spawn got eaten up and 2nd spawn was particularly small...i think this is the same with discus as well where the first few spawns turn out gone or small...correct me if i'm wrong please richard =) hopefully i'll get another spawn soon!

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## trident

Yi Xiang,
somewhat similar, maybe 1 or 2 bad batches then boom time. Their breeding instinct is very good and if they spawn once, chances is that they will spawn again.
Richard

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## PLee

good luck mate !!!

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## illumnae

male's busy flaring at the female whenever he catches sight of her, if things go like how my cacas did, i expect another spawn in 1-2 weeks once the female has time to "regenerate" her eggs haha

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## Cacatuoides

congrats on the eggs bro....

For young pairs, it might take a few spawns to be successful...like what eugene said, once they spawn, they will continue to spawn regularly....  :Grin:

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## illumnae

came back from a short holiday today and the female was hiding as usual...went out for dinner, came back, settled myself in front of the computer and what do i see but the male and female chilling in the cave together...after awhile the female chased the male away...i looekd in and saw eggs...at least 2-3 times more than the last batch. hopefully this one's successful =)

P.S. she liked spawning in the driftwood formed natural cave over the flowerpot from teo's, for some odd reason


EDIT: Looks like this may be another failed attempt. woke up this morning and less than half the eggs were left. maybe next time i really should remove the male

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## illumnae

is it normal for the male to take over egg guarding duties from the female? he chased her out of the cave and is now chilling in there for hours on end

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## trident

Yi Xiang,
Looks like the male is taking over the duty of the female. Maybe it's a sneaker female? kekeke just kidding.
Good luck bro.
Richard

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## illumnae

haha no such luck, think the male got tired of guarding...after zealously chasing away the female and otos for 10 hours, the male feasted on caviar.

next time round i'm definitely removing that bugger!

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## PLee

yeah better luck next time !! :Exasperated:  

All the best bro  :Smile:

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## illumnae

i'm going to get a betta box for that guy... have a netting cage already but it's too big for the 1ft tank i keep this pair in, so the male is going to sit in a super small cell for 2 weeks as punishment for ruining 2 batches of eggs!

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## trident

Yi Xiang,
You put the male into prison for 2 weeks that mean you have to wait 2 weeks longer for the next batch of eggs  :Smile: 
Just remove him after the female spawned.
Richard

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## illumnae

haha thats what i meant. when the next spawn comes, he's going into prison for 2 weeks until the fries are old enough for me to remove and rear on their own...then the male gets to come out again

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## galactuz

Nope. Parenting for apistos are different from West African Dwarfs. Only the female will guard the eggs and herd them during free swimming stage. 

So the female has to be fierce enough to defend her spawn otherwise the male will intimidate her and force himself into the cave to have a feast.

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## illumnae

they spawned again! hopefully i'll get 3rd time lucky and see fry this time haha =) one funny thing i noticed is that unlike my cacas, these bitaes spawn at a different location each time. i have 2 flowerpots and 2 natural caves, so far both flowerpots and 1 natural cave have been spawning sites

this time round i actually managed to see them spawning and watch the whole act  :Wink:  very interesting indeed!

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## illumnae

after 1 night of chasing the male away, the female succumbed again and got chased into another cave. good thing i came home just as the male was entering the egg cave and fished him out and put a netting cage into the tank for him to be contained for the next couple of weeks.

the female now is still hiding in her other cave...will she go back to look after the eggs now that the male is gone?

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## illumnae

i think my female is just a bad mother =(

fished the male out already and still after 2 days she ate up her eggs...she's really yellow still though  :Mad:

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## illumnae

you guys are probably getting sick of hearing about my unsuccesfully breeding pair of bitaeniatas, but they just broke a new record during the 4th spawn! eggs seem to have hatched and i saw some wrigglers! the female moves the wrigglers around though, she moved house twice already is this normal?

other than breeding, this pair is absolutely perfect, and if they manage to get the brood out this time, i'll have to say that i have the perfect pair of bitaeniatas  :Laughing:  the male has grown out splendidly and looks better than anything else i've ever seen!

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## leeruisheng

That's good news. Can understand the excitement and thrills.

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## trident

congrats Yi Xiang, finally all your effort is paying off !

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## illumnae

finally, got a batch of fry from this beautilful pair! on the same day i brought home my new eliz pair as well...double happiness haha!

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## doppelbanddwarf

Congrats Yi Xiang. You must be one happy guy.  :Grin:

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## iwishweallcouldwin

congrats! may this batch of wrigglers grow up healthily and beautifully for you! well done!

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## Cacatuoides

Congrats Yi Xiang....finally your efforts and speculations have paid off,
now you'll need to take good care of the fries and grow them out nicely!!  :Wink:

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## illumnae

a not so good picture of him flaring at the female. he's still abit skittish after being released back into the tank so i was unable to get a good shot of him flaring

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## trident

Yi Xiang,
I think it's time you invite Eugene to shoot your fish again.
Have grown up nicely.
Richard

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## Wackytpt

Richard,

Why not you give it a try? Saw some of the pictures you have taken. They still pretty good. Can use it as a practise too.  :Smile:

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## trident

Nicholas,
I was there the last time and yes I could use the practise. But problem is my camera isn't so good for shooting close-up. The DSLR with marco lens would do a super job. No problem for me to shoot them again.
Regards
Richard

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## illumnae

haha richard, anytime you're free you're more than welcome to come over...don't need to just be to take photo...kopi and chitchat also can  :Grin: 

but of course that being said, i would greatly appreciate photographers who could help me take pictures of my fish, as the lousy pictures i take do this magnificent fish no justice!

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## trident

YiXiang,
Sure! just gotta check our schedule, better to look at the Bitea live instead of the blurry picture. Haha
Richard

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## leeruisheng

Amazing finnages.

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## genes

Wow!!! Look at that dorsal membrane!

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## tcy81

i like the finnage, very long. nice  :Smile:

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## illumnae

> Wow!!! Look at that dorsal membrane!



thanks for letting go such a wonderful fish to me eugene  :Grin:  especially love its colour, finnage and tail... really a top quality specimen! i greatly appreciate it!

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## illumnae

Richard came over today to take some shots of my fish  :Smile:  only managed to get the male as the female was hiding under the moss mesh guarding her latest brood.

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## leeruisheng

Looks quite different from your earlier shots. To be truthful, it seems that the finnages are not as long as it seems to be. But still very nice specimen. Hoping to get a bit. one day.

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## illumnae

thanks for your comments  :Smile:  

these shots were taken with a much steadier hand and more professional photographic eye than my previous shots, as well as with a better camera than my pns, that's why it looks quite different

for the finnage, the dorsal fin (when measured from its highest tip) is longer than half the body of the fish. this can be seen somewhat from the 3rd shot (the frontal). the other 3 shots were either of it not extended or swaying to the side away from the camera and hence it seems shorter  :Smile:  the actual length of the dorsal fin can be seen from my previous blurry photo...that's exactly how it looks when he flares, i'm just not good enough a photographer to catch a clear shot of him  :Smile:

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## trident

YiXiang,
Yes the female was well hidden, and the male wasn't that co-operative, couldn't get that many nice pictures as he keeps running away once the flash is fired.
A pity I couldn't get more picture of it's fins fully extended.
Richard

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## doppelbanddwarf

Really beautiful fish. After looking at the pictures of all the bitaeniatas posted by you, hanzomy and others, i think that the next pair i want to get would be a wild bitaeniata! :Laughing:

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## illumnae

removed ketapang leaves today and discovered that unknown to me (though suspected), i had a 6th spawn, and a 2nd batch of free swimming fry. the female looks like a better mum this time though, it's her whacking the male and no longer the male whacking her.

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## PLee

very nice photo taken  :Grin:

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## iwishweallcouldwin

congrats illumnae on your spawn! seems like the ketapang leaves did work well for you!

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## illumnae

haha it's not the leaves with this pair, i'm afraid...they're the most prolific pair i've ever seen. every 1-2 weeks i'm sure to see a spawn. i got the pair at the end of june, saw my 1st batch of eggs 2 weeks later and it's been regular since then  :Laughing:  

the problem with this pair is that the female is very easily bullied and thus not a very good mum. i've lost all my eggs/fry so far in various stages of development due to her not taking good care of her offspring. she seems to have improved this time though, so we'll see how it goes. i've netted out the male and dithers just in case. hopefully the catching of the fish didn't startle her too much and end up with her eating her brood again...what are the chances of that happening anyone know? as of now i can still see fry

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## iwishweallcouldwin

well having a pair of prolific apistos is not a bad thing at all is it?? :Laughing: 

once i startled my female caca while netting my male out, and she immediately lost her yellow dress, and the colouration of her ventrals became washed out instead of her original jet black. soon after, she started swallowing all her fries and to my horror dead fries started spilling out from beneath her gills!! i netted her out immediately.

but since you already netted out your male and dithers quite some time ago, and the fries are still around, i don't think they'll be eaten up unless there are further scares? as long as the female stays in her brooding mood and dress, i don't think there would be such a problem?

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## illumnae

haha no issue i guess, i've lost enough eggs/wrigglers/fry over the last 3 months of owning this pair to not be so affected anymore. i enjoy the pair as they are, especially the male since he's the most beautiful bitaeniata i've ever seen so it's all good  :Smile: 

as for having a pair of prolific apistos...1 batch of fry every 2 weeks = not enough tank space if they all survive  :Wink:

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## trident

YiXiang,
Well I don't know if it's a good thing or not, 
too many fries and too little space. hahaha
anyway congrats.
Richard

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## illumnae

haha yeah richard i also say! the whole reason i removed the ketapang leaves was to discourage breeding and make my tank more of a "viewing" tank and less of a "breeding" one (not that it'll work with this pair...they were breeding even without the leaves like clockwork every 2 weeks)...then i find fry greeting me from under the leaves!

i just decommissioned my fry tank, now i need to set it up again  :Confused:

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## doppelbanddwarf

Yixiang if you do not have enough space for the fries you can give them to me! Haha just joking. :Grin:

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## iwishweallcouldwin

haha too many fries? you're right about that. gives lots of headaches. headaches which can only be solved by buying more tanks!!! such a waste to give up fries which have to potential to grow to look as beautiful as your bit!!

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## illumnae

haha i won't be able to have any more tanks except my 1 fry grow-out tank that i just cleared out...now must take out again! i've netted out the male and dithers and they're angrily sitting in a breeder mesh box in the tank...they'll stay there for 2 weeks while the fry stabilize before i transfer them into the grow-out tank.

well it took 6 spawns, but the female bitaeniata has FINALLY learnt how to be a mum! very far cry from my caca who was a good mum right from spawn 1.

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## illumnae

i've just released the male and dithers back into the tank and fished the 4+ week old fry out into the breeder netting...the male was getting edgy spending so much time in the breeder netting  :Laughing: 

counted 23 fry in all, and i just lost one yesterday to fungal infection (i think they fought and this one got wounded). hopefully the fry don't die due to the shock of the transfer. I netted them out using a fine mesh net (they're too big to suck out using air tubing) and kept them in a container using tank water till i netted all 23, then poured them into the cleaned netting...really hope they don't all die on me!

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## trident

Yi Xiang,
Good job, hope the fries grow up to be at beautiful as their parents.
Richard

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## shrimp999

So the fries still keep in the same tank after separated from their mum.
Are you going to put them into the newly setup tank soon? :Smile:

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## illumnae

the new tank isn't for fry  :Smile:  the fry are in the fine mesh breeder box that the dad was once in...i released the dithers and dad back into the tank

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## PLee

> i've just released the male and dithers back into the tank and fished the 4+ week old fry out into the breeder netting...the male was getting edgy spending so much time in the breeder netting 
> 
> counted 23 fry in all, and i just lost one yesterday to fungal infection (i think they fought and this one got wounded). hopefully the fry don't die due to the shock of the transfer. I netted them out using a fine mesh net (they're too big to suck out using air tubing) and kept them in a container using tank water till i netted all 23, then poured them into the cleaned netting...really hope they don't all die on me!


congrats on your spawn!!!  :Jump for joy:

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## illumnae

Lost 3 fry to unknown reasons  :Crying:  just picked their corpses out of the fine mesh breeder box...

2 days after taking the fry out and releasing the male and dithers back into the tank, there are eggs laid again...this couple is really prolific!

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## trident

..........and here I am wondering why my caca refuse to breed !

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## Cacatuoides

Do pump them well before the next spawn, it helps!!  :Grin:

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## illumnae

They've been pumped well and separated for 1 month, i guess that's why they were both ready for some action  :Wink:

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## genes

Feed the fries hatched bbs. If you realise, even without the shells for decap eggs, they are still pretty hard. My experience is that the decap eggs can cause indigestion for fries.

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## illumnae

Thanks for the advice eugene  :Smile:  i'll try to keep that in mind...so far i haven't had the time or patience to keep a bs factory going on...been too lazy and the decap eggs are just so convenient  :Laughing:

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## illumnae

blah bad news  :Sad:  i got home today to another batch of fry...and nowhere to house the dithers and male as my breeder box is being used by the first batch of fry...looks like i've gotta sacrifice this batch to raise the first batch  :Sad:

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## trident

put them in my tank lah!  :Smile:

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## illumnae

haha i may have to take you up on your offer richard...1 week old fry have been abandoned for the female to lay a new batch of eggs  :Shocked:  the fry are wandering around the tank now...wonder if the male will eat them up. i'm really out of space already....dunno what to do also  :Confused:

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## trident

Yi Xiang,
Bring them over if you really got no place, I got a spare 10" tank.
If they can survive on their own then shouldn't be a problem.
Richard

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## illumnae

The fry should be 7-8 weeks old by now and approaching 1.5-2cm...lateral band and blue speckled faces are clearly visible so hopefully they'll be sexable within the next month or 2  :Grin:  so far 3 bros here have indicated that they'd like a pair so hopefully there'll be enough males and females to go around!

now for the bad news...the other 2 batches of fry i've had since then i've lost due to a loose power tab. the filter went off for a whole day while i was out and i came back to find no fry...pity though as they were doing so well with the male still in the tank...in fact he was helping the female look after the fry at times by chasing away the dithers and otos. one particularly sad moment came when 2 fry swam out at the same time and the female rushed out to protect them from the dithers...she managed to grab one in her mouth and dashed back in to spit it out to safety, but in the meantime the other one got eaten =( so sad...saw her dashing out again in a mad rush but she was too late to save the 2nd one...the dithers have since been banished into my cycling nano tank  :Evil: 

finally, the male is as elusive as ever and a proper flare shot still can't be caught (eugene, i need your help!!!!)... but this particular shot seems quite cool...my fiancee took it and i thought it made the fish look like a ghost since the head was transluscent  :Laughing:  can see a hint of its dorsal finnage in almost full glory if you look hard enough though, so that's the bonus of this picture too  :Smile:

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## illumnae

looks like the female got more adventurous. this time, instead of digging a substrate hole under the driftwood to hide in and lay her eggs, she laid this batch in a flowerpot. i'm having my doubts whether or not this batch will reach fry stage as she's never been successful in fending off the male in such an open location before (she's tried the exact same flowerpot as well as the more open caves formed by the driftwood, both ending up with eaten eggs).

i think i can set my calendar by this pair already....

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## illumnae

R.I.P.

came home today from work to find out that this beautiful fish committed suicide =( he was found dead on the floor in the late afternoon. i'm really quite sad as he was such a lovely fish. no idea why he jumped also...he never even tried to jump once before in the 8 months i've had him.

sigh  :Sad:

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## mictok

Sad to hear that,I will try to bring up the pair that brought from you,hope that they are as nice as the parent.

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## exotic_idiot

??? So sad, i read all the way from how you got your fish and how they spawn for you.. On and on time spend taking care of them really feels sad for you man...

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## trident

yixiang,
so sorry to hear that, something must have spooked him  :Sad:

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## illumnae

i guess so richard. it's just very weird though, because the tank's a very tall tank, and he's always loitering around the bottom...i wonder what caused him to swim all the way to the top, because i've never seen him swim up before

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## genes

Sometimes, we're so used to them being at the bottom, we forget that apistos are excellent jumpers too. I also came across ap. bitaeniata jumping out couple of months back when he was transfered into a tank where there are practically no threats but water level in the tank was filled closed to the brim.

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## illumnae

oh well. too late anyohw =( i'll possibly make this tank another planted nano with a pair of apistos/wild bettas instead of a breeding tank this time.

pity thio's nice Ap. agassizii "tefe" has been sold. maybe when the next alpha gets on form!

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## wks

Cheer up, Yixiang. Use this tank to keep _Betta channoides_. :Wink:

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## eddy planer

Yi Xiang,

When you complete your new project, i offer you take nice pix if you have any.

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## doppelbanddwarf

Tough luck Yi Xiang, it was a really nice bitaeniata. Cheer up.

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