Ordering apisto at auburn?

[andrekweh]

Hi fellas,

Just wondering if anyone has made a bulk order at auburn? If so I would like to add my 2 cents to getting a species which we might establish a line from. Just as rams have home breeders that regualrly supply to our LFS. I'd like to suggest we combine an order for Ap Wilhelmi as they are easy to look after and breed quite easily. They display well and are not timid fish. As for exotic ones like elizabethae and mendezi and the like, I think we would not be able them at a reasonable price here in Syd. We could also try asking AI if they could source for a bag of Ap sp "Arua". These are very pretty fish and have lilac sorta eyes when juveniles. I've seen them before in Singapore and I think they were wild and were young fish. Is anyone keen?

[AdamR]

If we had them in the country i would like some.... I think we'd be better off going through another shop, which has a german import list. There are a few like Aquapets, slippery lil suckers, parramatta somehting. I like Auburn but from my knowledge they do not have access to the other lists. I'll keep my eye out for them tho.

Im not so keen for the other ones tho, but id love to see them if you can get em =]

[BlakeyBoyR]

It would be better for everyone to do one big bulk order as then there is only one lot of ordering fees etc. to pay for. I think people need to be clear as to whether they are ordering these fish in for themselves or for themselves AND the hobby.

Ordering exotic apistogrammas that need a PH of 5 to live comfortably may be good for the individual, and that is fine. But it would be useless trying to sell them to LFS as they require far too much care and maintenence to have them sitting in a holding tank at neutral PH etc. Also, your average Joe off the street wouldnt have a hope of caring for these fish adequately, meaning a lot of LFS wouldnt touch them with a ten foot pole.

I think people need to have a think about exactly who they hope to benefit from this order. If it is just for you to have some nice fish at home, that is fine. More power to you However, if you really do wish to breed apistogrammas that will revitalise what can sometimes be a pretty drab market in terms of quality, then stick to fish you know will survive in holding tanks etc.

[andrekweh]

Yeah I think your right adam, the chances of getting some Wilhelmi from Aquapets is probably a lot better. I have dealt with a shop in Singapore who shipped in 20 pcs of wilhelmi, they were still young adults and so did not develop the purple lips yet, but it was easy to sex them. I think they paid something like S$12 of less per piece cost. I paid S$50 per pc( which is around A$38 ) I have kept a pair and strongly recommend this fish as they are not too boisterous and generally mild when defending territories. Breeding them was easy and they were not too fussy with water, as long you used aged water, colors were very interesting. All of the apistos I have had survive on tetramin pro flake and IME is the safest food for apistogramma.

Let's see what Aquapets say when I next visit them. I was there last sunday and they had some german cacatuoides - (double reds) they were priced at high 20s per fish. Glaser has all the species even diplotaenia, which is overpriced IMO( A$400 and up) since they are quite easily found in the Rio Negro around the sandy banks according to a field expedition by practical fishkeeping crew( UK fish mag).

Some of the fish I have kept can be viewed at www.photobucket.com

Under search album, key andekweh

enjoy, cheers!