Apistogramma Nijsseni. A childhood dream.

By Steven Chester 2008

 

History.

 Apistogramma Nijsseni was first discovered and collected in the Rio Copal of the Rio Ucayali river system in the federal state of Loreto, Peru in 1977. It was named Nijsseni in 1979 by Kullander in dedication of Dr Han Nijsseni, a Dr who had published numerous papers on South American dwarf cichlids.

 Apistogramma Nijsseni is a member of the species rich A.Cacatuoides complex and heads the Nijsseni sub complex along with, A.Baenschi, A.Martini, A.Norberti, A.Panduro, A.Pantalone, A Payaminonsis and A. sp ‘zwilling/Twin’.

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Species and Habitat description.

 Apistogramma Nijsseni is quite unmistakable and is one of the better known (To hobbyists) species in the Apistogramma group. Males grow to around 3 inches max and have bright blue scales across the body, they have a yellowish stomach region and in good quality specimen’s yellow/orange lips. The caudal fin is round and edged with a red band with a dark outer band in males.

 Females grow to around 2 inches and are generally a yellow colour, the strength and depth of yellow depends on the females mood and condition, as in all other apistogramma the females have a set of unique black body marking which allow us to identify species, In Nijsseni these black markings consist of three large patches, one on the Caudal peduncle, on the flanks and one on the operculum, these markings and pattern have led aquarists to label this fish with the common name ‘Panda cichlid’.

 This species of Apistogramma hails from ‘Black’ water habitats in Peru and lives in small slow flowing jungle streams and creeks which usually consist of a sandy substrate overlain with a heavy layer of leaf litter and fallen wood, the Nijsseni natural habitat is fairly well studied by scientists which helps hobbyists like myself when it comes to studying the natural habitat before attempting to spawn them. Water perimeters in the creeks have been recorded and water temperature ranging from 22c and 30c, Ph between 4.2 and 5.9 and very soft, usually below 2dgh..

 I have read that on various occasions all specimens collected have been one sex only, in fact in 1977 all eight of the type species of A.Nijsseni were female, it was not until 1983 that De Rham and Kullander performed a redescription and listed male fish amongst the females.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My story.

 I can remember it well, I was still a teenager and reading through one of my many reference books i stumbled upon the most gorgeous cichlid I had seen in my short fish keeping career, that fish was a female Nijsseni in full brood care colouration and the image of that fish stayed with me for a long time, in fact it may have been the trigger that aroused so much of my interest in the dwarf cichlids of South America..     

 

Anyway..

 That first sighting was over 12 years ago (I still have the book and picture), my fish keeping has progressed and I am now lucky enough to own a small fish room holding 24 tanks of mainly South American and west African Dwarf cichlids, I have been quite successful and have spawned most species I have owned, one that was missing in the fish room but on my fish hit list was Apistogramma Nijsseni.

 I received a phone call from a friend who was out fish hunting in Lancashire and had spotted a tankful of newly imported wild Apistogramma Nijsseni! He asked if I wanted a pair picking up ?  looking at my full tanks I reluctantly declined his kind offer…This played on my mind for the weekend, the fish of my childhood dreams was within reach and I just needed to make some room to house them before they all sold and I was left empty handed. The decision was made to buy a pair and house them in with some catfish in my bare growing on tanks until a breeding tank became available.

 I went and bought a pair and spoke to the manager of the reliable shop who confirmed they were wild (The beat up fins and missing scales gave that away), I hurried home and settled them into the temporary tank, apart from feeding and a quick check my dream fish were left to settle in peace for a few weeks while I concentrated on clearing a tank.

 I noticed the female sat on top of the filter and a closer inspection showed she had a bacterial infection which steadily got worse; in the end the poor fish could not close her mouth or swim and before long I had lost her! At this point I decided to replace her, but to only buy another if I could house them in their own tank with the correct water perimeters.

 I cleared one of my 18x18x12 breeding tanks and set it up specifically for the Nijsseni, the water was adjusted to Ph 5; TDS was around 60ppm which is how my water comes from the tap. As the breeding tank was located on the bottom rack, close to the floor the temp was steady at around 24f in my space heated room, species from Peru tend to prefer cooler temperatures, this most likely stems from the fact that they receive cooler run off water from the Andes mountain range at the beginning of the dry season.

 I use the same décor for all my spawning tanks and this consists of a substrate of children’s play pit sand, wood, half coconut shell caves and usually some beech and oak leaves. This particular tank had a piece of wood that had Anubias, Java moss and some Java fern growing on it. This added to the cover in the tank and provided extra hiding places.

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  Initially I had problems with the male being aggressive towards my female, in small tanks such as mine, very careful observation is critical as aggression can soon turn into murder, the female tolerated the male’s aggression and apart from not being allowed into the open she was fine and not too stressed. To try and get the fish to form a bonded pair I used the old trick of adding mirror into the tank, the idea behind this is that both fish then attack their own reflections and establish the tank as their territory, i am sure and have proved to myself numerous times that both sexes enjoy seeing the other in full dominant mode and colouration and it certainly helps in forming pairs.

 Adding the mirror got both fish excited and before long they were patrolling the tank and side by side were attacking the “Intruders”, once the mirror was removed both fish assumed courting colouration and proceeded to flirt and prepare the spawning site, no more aggression between the two fish was noted.

 This is when I noticed a slight difference in this fishes spawning behaviour compared to other Apistogramma species I have owned and bred, the female did all the preparation work as usual but my female Nijsseni moved an extraordinary amount of sand, not just from her spawning cave but from the surrounding area, she dug under pieces of wood and soon there were dunes of sand surrounding the spawning cave. The female was noted to be in full spawning colouration and was seen to be frequently in and out of her chosen cave, I assumed that spawning preparations were ongoing and was completely shocked to see around 60 fry one morning when giving the early morning feed before work. My female Nijsseni did not block herself into the cave like so many other species I had bred before, she spent as much time out of the cave as in it and I had no idea that she had actually spawned. The fry were given a first feed of newly hatched Artemia and also excepted micro worm, for the first day the female would not allow the male near to his new family and he was banished to the far end of the tank, no other aggression was seen until the male ventured to close to the fry. Day 2 saw a change in behaviour, the male was now tolerated at the front of the tank, not yet in direct contact with the fry but close enough, day 3 saw the female stop being belligerent and actually allowing the male to help with brood care.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Both parents do a fantastic job and the fry are growing rapidly, the male stays close to his family and guards them while the mother forages for food, as I type the fry are three weeks old and have today been siphoned from their tank and into a separate tank to raise them separately, hopefully the parents will spawn again and i will have plenty of fish to spread between interested hobbyists. This is one species that I would like to see become as popular as it was many years ago.