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I've been looking at some of the Apistogrammas on Aquabid, specifically from Apistodave. It looks like he has a decent selection and all, and the prices aren't bad. I especially am fond of A. nijsseni, which he sells. But looking at his feedback, he does have a few instances where the buyer went unhappy. That makes me kind of wary. Has anyone here dealt with him before, and have any recommendations?

Thanks.

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And when he gets to Heaven, to Saint Peter he will tell: "One more Marine reporting, Sir! I've served my time in Hell."

I've been eyeballing his auctions as well. Boy, has he got some good looking fish that I'm interested in. I'm thinking he's got to be okay. He has 539 positives and only 2 negatives (5 neutrals. I do a lot of buying on Ebay and Aquabid and I would say that this is a pretty good record. I haven't bought anything from him....yet, but I would trust 539 to 2 (or 7 depending on how you look at it).

Let me know what you decide and what your experience is if you go for it.....oh, yeah, and post a pic of the nijsseni if you purchase them....they look nice!

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~~Melissa~~
"Beauty is in the eye of the beer holder."

i dont wanna trsh talk anyone but this is what ive heard about apistodave from reliable sources that use and frequent aquabid.

daves stock is a coin flip. the pic you see is the best of the best. hes interbreeds heavily and doesnt cull enough.
what does this mean? well this translates into a crapshoot for the buyer.you could order 7 pair and get 1 or 2 really nice fish and the rest could be of lower quality.

few months ago i heard that he got a new batch of apisto caca's and his posted pic changed shortly after hearing it so i suspect it was true. i say this because this mean his caca's are gona have better odds of quality because of this. the line has been refreshed. this doesnt mean if you order 2 pairs your gona get a nice pair. your odds are better that the fish will have a better ratio of good fry.

this is not to say your gona get crap fish. they will also be very well packed and ive heard your more then likely gona have a 100% survival rate after shipping.

its really a matter of what kind of quality your after. if your after a pair of fish to put in your tank to watch then this is a good route. if your after F2 from good stock with intentions of breeding i recommend you keep looking.

anyway take this as 3rd person hear say. ive spoken with alot of other dealers/breeders on AB and this is just what the grapevine has leaked and my ears have heard i was very interested in the caca's and asked around.

hope this helps and best of luck with whatever you decide to do.

Sin

That helps a lot. I got hit with the Apisto bug and picked up some A. macmasteri yesterday. They're in my General Freshwater tank log.

I've been toying with the ideas of getting a salt tank or breeding either more Apistos or a pleco species. A. nijsseni is my favorite of these dwarf cichlids, and considering the prices I could get for the fry, looks like a good option.

Thanks for the tip. I have no idea what Apistodave's nijsseni look like, because the picture he supplies is from Uwe Romer and never changes from auction to auction. I don't really see Apistogrammas from other sellers on Aquabid, so it's either Apistodave or another site. I'll keep looking around, just for the fun of it.

How have your Apistos been doing? It's been a while since I've heard about them.

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And when he gets to Heaven, to Saint Peter he will tell: "One more Marine reporting, Sir! I've served my time in Hell."

I got mine from another seller who I would not recommend...terrible communication and a major shipping error. The fish I finally ended up with are nice, although much smaller than originally described. And I'm 99% sure that at least one of the 'females' is actually a male...the seller wasn't concerned about any of the problems, he just wanted me to post feedback

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There is water at the bottom of the ocean

i would post feedback then but not the kind hes looking for. thats what its there for. tell everyone else how he rushes everything and has poor communication.

books i never got apistos. ill be looking for a good strain to work with so i can breed them. im really picky so who knows if i will ever find the perfect pair heheh.

wish you both the best of luck with your new fish. sorry you had such a bad experience theresa.aquabid isnt what it use to be, i dont even shop it any more.

this is where all the good folks from AB have gone to chat.
http://www.rmc-aquatic.com/chat.htm
rmc-aquadic

It seems many members of local fish clubs keep apistos, that might be something to check into

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There is water at the bottom of the ocean

I buy from dave regularly and I really like him, his product has never been bad for me always looks great. But that is just my personal opinion. I have bought from almost every regular vender of apistos and dave seems to be the best.

Nick, I have gotten Apistos from Dave several times. I must say that his fish were better long back when he first started selling on Aquabid. He does have a large selection now though, and many are very hard to find species. I would still purchase from him if I found something I wanted that he had.

On a side note. The nijsseni are probably the hardest of all to keep and breed. If they are one of your favs then give them a try. I too just had to try them, but it took me several different orders from several different people till I got a good quality (hardy) pair that bred for me. They are very temperamental to the water conditions, especially the ph.

Have you looked at the pandoras? These guys are actually more colorful and easier to keep. And the males resemble the nijssenis very much. My fav Apisto was the nijsseni before I got ahold of a pair of the pandoras.

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There is always a bigger fish...

I actually have both of those from apisto Dave and have very little trouble keeping them believe it or not. My panda's melini cory's, and panduro and nijsseni are in one tank and its an incredible mix of white and black with flashes of colour. I think I may put white sand in the tank and black rocks and make it look zen garden like just as an art piece because they are so cool. Apisto Dave sent me them, they were in great condition, I acclimated them and they are living quite well. I have yet to try to breed them, I don't have the space setup for the breeding project yet, but I get to build the fish room this month and I will start breeding them. I am going to try to get a few more to mix together so that I can get a stronger gene pool. But there absolutely amazing and personable fish. Great buy! go for it.

I will definitely look into the panduros, I've seen them before but passed them by. Thanks for the tip.

I think I've caught a break. My little sister has permission to get a ten gallon aquarium, and naturally I'm going to have a hand in everything. I've sold her on the nijssenis, so it looks like I'll end up ordering a pair of either them or the panduros. What a great turn of events. If everything goes through okay and we really set this thing up, I could use recommendations of sources for these species, if anyone has them.

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And when he gets to Heaven, to Saint Peter he will tell: "One more Marine reporting, Sir! I've served my time in Hell."

Hey guys let me tell you about feedback--it has been my experience that only about 25% of the people who buy fish from me leave feedback, and people who are unhappy are more likely to leave it than those who are happy. So looking at mine, it kind means that 2000 people are happy and 2 arent with 5 not knowing exactly how they feel. Thats not bad I think it says more about the people who left negative feedback than it does about me.

Here are a few photos,

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And another

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and the last

Attached Image:

Here is a pic of two of my male breeders taken about 5 years ago. These came from ApistoDave.



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There is always a bigger fish...

Those are very nice fish, what species is it?