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First of Five I. a apuanus juvies in their new set up.

stanleyc

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I've been keeping H. orientalis and H. cyanurus for 8 and 7 (?) years respectively and only a few weeks ago have I finally gotten a new species to keep. I picked up 5 I. a. apuanus juvies from otolith (Perry). I've been keeping them in temporary enclosures until this one's chemistry stabilized. It's been good for a while now and I've had some Amano shrimp in for about a week and they've been doing fine, so I put one of the Alpines in tonight. I will continue to put more in maybe over a week or two, and if all goes well, this will be their home until they outgrow it and I've worked out some room for a bigger tank.
 
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stanleyc

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Pictures.
 

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stanleyc

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Most beautiful species if you ask me. Especially the males during courtship.

I would agree, they're my favorite in terms of pure looks right now. Can't wait to see these guys display those colors in the future. I wanted to ask, how do the males look like once they reach maturity but outside of the breeding season? I would assume the crest wouldn't be there, but would anything else be different?
 

Chinadog

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Out of all the apuanus that I've raised, the males come into breeding condition as soon as they reach maturity and after that you can still tell them apart very easily. The male's crest is still visible as a spotted line along his back, whereas the female has a sort of groove instead. Generally, the males still have brighter, more defined colours than females in most cases.
 

Niels D

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They still look almost as stunning as they do during courtship, unlike most Triturus species and I.a.alpestris. In my opinion that is. I think the females are more beautiful and colourful as well.
 

otolith

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Stanley, the "father" of yours is basically in breeding condition all year round. I have never noticed the crest recede but the iridescent blues will fade a little. He's going to be very disappointed this season now that there are no females to bother. Your set up looks great, it should grow in nicely. Do you have any sort of filtration? I use sponge filters in all my planted set ups.
 

stanleyc

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Thanks for the reply guys.

Perry, thanks again for these guys and the advice you gave me, they've been plumping up on earthworms and bloodworms very nicely. I haven't used filters in any of my aquariums before and really don't know much about them. Should I? Are you mostly using it for getting rid of debris or oxygenating the water? Is it more necessary in a planted setup with substrate versus a bare bottom one?
 

otolith

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In a well established planted tank a filter isn't really necessary, especially with only a few animals and regular maintenance. Sponge filters keep the water chemistry super stable and do filter debris somewhat so I tend to use them on all my smaller tanks and larvae set ups. I've had a few cases where the quality crashed and I missed it and ended up losing animals so I just use them as a precaution now. I'll daisy chain a few different tanks to the same air pump so its a much gentler flow than normal. My apuanas tank is also a bit more crowded than yours at the moment so a filter is definitely necessary.
 

stanleyc

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All in the new setup now. Too early to sex? I got some tips from Perry for sexing them in the early stages, but haven't really been confident except I'm pretty sure the one in the first picture is a male.
 

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Chinadog

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The ones I have always keep me guessing up until I can see the yellow/black line along the male's backs, so much so that I've actually wondered if they can change their minds up to a point. o-O
 

stanleyc

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Guess I'll just have to settle on taking the chance to cultivate the virtue of patience.
 

stanleyc

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Happy new year and hope you all had a merry Christmas. Here are a few recent pictures of these guys. They've all grown probably half an inch or so since I put them into this setup. Still guessing their sex, and probably will be for a another half a year at least. The individual in the first picture is the one in the first pictures of this thread, the one that first went into this setup. She/he also happens to be the largest one.
 

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stanleyc

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A few recent pictures. Is it safe to say the one that is significantly lighter in color is a female?
 

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otolith

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They are looking super good! I think its a little early to sex them but I can take some guesses. The one in the picture with the snail looks like a male judging by the cloaca and the orange dorsal stripe. The large dark one looks like it could be female. Females will completely lose the orange dorsal stripe as they mature.
 

stanleyc

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Yeah, the one that you say is probably a male is almost definitely one. The other day I saw him practicing his courting game. His tail is wiggling slowly while stretched straight, then he brought it to his side and pulsated the tip. He didn't seem to be doing it to anyone in particular and I obviously don't expect anything to come out of it but it was great to see.
 

otolith

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Im glad you definitely have at least one pair. I looked through the pictures again and I see two probable females. Females have a kind of concave back with no orange. In my experience they grow faster than males too. Just wait until those little males become fully mature, absolutely beautiful.
 

stanleyc

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Yeah, I'm really excited about seeing how they will look lately since I think it's getting near the time when I can make relatively confident guesses at their sex. I've wanted a couple of times to ask if you have any pictures of your adults so I can get a good idea of how they'll look since from the pictures I've seen the females can be anything from a blue to an olive and the males can have different shades of blue and patterns. But I've decided against it, probably be more fun to just see that develop over time.
 

shnabo

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Beautiful animals! I have some about the same age, looking forward to being able to sex them and try to breed them. It is quite rewarding to see them grow and develop their colours. Excited for them to be full size lol.
 
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