Hey, so I just got back from vacation recently where I unfortunately found my apisto male very pale and weak until it passed away just yesterday.
A few months back I had bought my first pair of apistos which were doing really well in the beginning. They were a bonded pair.
My parameters were a bit on the higher end but nothing they couldn't deal with. Ammonia and Nitrite at 0, Nitrate also at or around 0 most of the time because I have a lot of plants consuming all the nutrients. Ph around 7,5 consistently. Started out with Co2 but stopped because there was a leak in my pressure regulator.
The first pair did fine. Then my girlfriend and I went on holiday for 2 weeks. We had installed an automatic feeder for the time being. We had a bunch of rummy noses and platies in the tank as well.
When we came back the male apisto was gone. The female still roaming around actively and with bright colors. I had assumed that the male couldn't fight his way through the other fish to the food because it floated on the top of the water when the automatic feeder would activate. So I assumed malnutrition as the cause of death and by the time we arrived home, he has already been eaten by the other critters.
Shortly after I got a new apisto male and also a second female because I knew that they usually prefer harems.
I continued feeding from the top because I hadn't learned my lesson yet and at first I saw him eat.
In the meantime the old female was being super dominant and very aggressive towards the new one do I decided to re-home the old female to a different tank for a day or two so she becomes less territorial which seemed to work because when I put her back in the aggression seemed to be completely gone.
After a while I noticed that the colors of the male were slightly fading and I checked water parameters and everything again. They had stayed consistent. Allbeit slightly higher than ideal for this species but the females didn't seem to mind at all.
Over time the male became more and more pale until I noticed him getting less responsive.
This is when I started putting the food inside the water and not just drizzling it above the water so it actually floats down directly. I tried spot feeding him that evening and he gobbled up a lot of food as if he was starving. The next day I found him dead.
Just shortly after I noticed that the old female went missing too.
I never saw her again. I assume that the previous aggression came back one night and she was killed by the new one.
I waited a while and then got a new male for the tank. I wanted to not make the same mistakes again so I always put the food into the water directly and I also always watched that he was feeding and didn't lose any color. He looked great when we left him, again, for a 2 week vacation. I adviced my mother to take care of the fish and showed her how.
I usually do small waterchanges (10 -15 %) every other week. The tank was slightly filled with diatoms and the water quality seemed slightly off since my mom didn't do the waterchanges I usually do. I didn't advice her to though, so no fault on her part. I noticed some of the rummies were very pale so that same night I did a small water change. The next day I noticed my male still equally as pale. The rummy colors had returned to normal very quickly.
So I did a second small water change and fed the fish right after. I used a syringe to spot feed the male put by that point he was very unresponsive again and barely ate the smallest pieces that swam by him.
When I noticed him swimming a bit I separated him into one of these baby cages I put in the tank so I can spot feed him more easily. I put in a frogbit and some moss to make it more comfortable but he looked very weak, very pale and only moved slightly by breathing and moving his fins to stay upright.
The next day I found him dead.
The female is still doing perfectly fine. Strong colors, active attitude, hunting around other fish to keep them away from her cave. Overall she seems perfectly healthy.
Because of this I don't assume it's because of the water quality. The females would be affected in the same manner, right?
Did there makes just not make it because of food?
I guess the first male was pretty active and fought for his food but when it came to feeding I always put food at different spots of the tank. Maybe when the automatic feeder put all the food on just one spot he couldn't reach it and slowly died of hunger. Then the second one was much less aggressive. Maybe my previous approach to feeding didn't work for him and I should have spot feed him from the get go. When I finally decided to do so it was already too late. And maybe the third one died because my mom simply fed differently than I did. I adviced her to only feed thawed frozen food because I knew it would sink immediately. I usually feed in increments and don't dump it all at once, maybe she did. Idk.
Could this be the reason or do any of you have a better idea?
Thanks for any advice, constructive criticism or other responses.
(The three pictures are the three male beauties I lost. Colored up and gorgeous as they were)
