Mikrogeophagus altispinosus

[benny]

Hi guys,

Another South American Dwarf Cichlid, but not from the genus Apistogramma.

This belongs to the same family as Mikrogeophagus ramirezi, but significantly larger as they can grow up to 8 cm. Distributed around Rio Mamore and lower Rio Guapore (Northern Bolivia), these are the Bolivian Rams what we hear about all the time.

Anyone has any experience with them that they care to share? I have only 1 piece at the moment and will be trying to add more if I can find them.

Cheers,

[joopsg]

I have...

They are fairly easy to spawn. Some say they are hard to sex, but however i managed to sex them and got 2 pairs in my 2ft tank with spawning taking place every 2 weeks. They are great diggers. Alway rescaping my tank when they spawn. Yours looks like a male. but I need a clearer pic before confirmation. They readily accept all sort of food. I can even hand feed them. Great Parents. Did manage to bring up some fries. Spawning behaviour like Mikrogeophagus ramizeri.

The 2 pairs I got was from Biotope Aquarium when Charles was still in the trade. THey can be seen frequently @ K & K in Tampines. Saw a few time they have this bolivian rams.

[benny]

They readily accept all sort of food. I can even hand feed them. Great Parents. Did manage to bring up some fries. Spawning behaviour like Mikrogeophagus ramizeri.

Sound like a fuss free fish indeed. I like the hand feeding part especially!

The one in my picture is a male indeed.

Cheers,

[joopsg]

Well, sexing them seems to be easy but the introduction stage abit nasty as the male will fight very ferious with the female after sometime, everything seems alright n spawning like rabbits...

[Cacatuoides]

It's a nice fish...always like cichlids of South America and West Africa.....just some beautiful fishes they offer!!!

[mickthefish]

they are a very prolific fish, good as a community fish with nothing smaller than say a danio or R hengeli, at the moment ive got a tankful of youngsters ready to go to the shop if i get a decent pic i will post it.
mick

[mickthefish]

benny, if you haven't got any rams yet, here's a couple of shots of my pair ,
if you like them you can have them when we meet up.
here's the pics

[mickthefish]

here's the first mistake of the day ive posted the wrong bloody pic, here's the right one i hope. haha
thank god for that it's gonna be one of those days.

[Happy Camper]

I believe they are Altispinosa, they call them Bolivian Rams over here. Nice fish, very placid, they bred for me in my ten gallon but none of the fry made it, I think they're a bit on the sensitive side.

[Justikanz]

I love the Bolivian rams... They seem more hardy and their colours, though more subtle than the rams, are also very nice!...

[joopsg]

But they tend to grow bigger which some rather choosing the German Rams.
But bear in mind they are better parents than the rams, cos i have also 100% hatch rate for their brood n no sign of cannibalism from the parents. They shown interesting brood caring action

[mickthefish]

here's a couple of pics of the youngsters at feeding time, this is only half of them i had to dot them in other tanks to grow on.
mick

[philippe]

Hi,

I just got this fish. Only one

I tought that it was a Ramirezi, thanks for the data. I´ll upload pictures and behavior info.

Regards,
Philippe