Apistogramma Borellii Apistogramma borellii

Quick Stats

Tank Setup

The Apistogramma borellii (sometimes sold under the older synonym A. reitzigi, and commonly called the “umbrella cichlid” for the sail-shaped dorsal fin males raise when displaying) is the most forgiving Apistogramma species in the hobby — the apisto I steer first-time dwarf cichlid keepers toward when their tap water is too hard or too alkaline for cacatuoides or agassizii. Borellii comes from the Paraguay and Parana river drainages in southern South America, where water is naturally softer and more variable than the blackwater Amazon tributaries the other apistos come from. That evolutionary history shows up in the aquarium: borellii tolerates pH 5.5–7.5 and GH 2–15 dGH — a range roughly twice as wide as cacatuoides (pH 4.5–6.5, GH 1–8) or agassizii (pH 5.0–7.0, GH 1–8).

Maintain water parameters within: temperature 22–28°C, pH 5.5–7.5, hardness 2–15 dGH. That range covers almost any dechlorinated tap water on the planet — no RO unit required, no active substrate required. Captive-bred borellii (which is what you are buying unless the listing says otherwise) will live and breed at pH 7.2 and GH 10, parameters that would stress cacatuoides and kill agassizii within weeks. I keep my borellii colony at 25°C, pH 7.0, GH 8 — straight tap water, no RO, no Amazonia — and they spawn every 5–7 weeks. If your tap water is at the extreme hard/alkaline end (pH 8.0+, GH 18+), mixing 30% RO water will improve breeding but is not strictly necessary.

Set up the tank with a fine sand substrate (1–2 mm pool filter sand or play sand, 3–5 cm deep), driftwood, leaf litter (Indian almond leaves), and dense planting along the back and sides. The non-negotiables are caves: one cave per female, plus one spare. Coconut shells with a 1.5 cm entrance hole, half-buried flower pots turned on their side, or slate stacks all work — the entrance must be just large enough for the female to enter and the male to be excluded. Apistogramma are sifters; they will sand-sift all day looking for food, so gravel disqualifies a tank. Borellii is slightly more cold-tolerant than other apistos and can be kept at 22°C; do not push them below 20°C or above 28°C sustained.

Tank Mates

Apistogramma borellii are peaceful for cichlids — until they spawn. A guarding female will attack any fish that comes within a body-length of her cave, including fish three times her size. Borellii females are slightly less aggressive defenders than cacatuoides or agassizii — they will hold a smaller territory around the cave and chase fish only within that radius. Plan tank mates around the spawning reality, not the resting state.

Compatible tank mates include: tetras that tolerate 24–28°C (Ember Tetra, Rummy-nose Tetra, Diamond Tetra, Cardinal Tetra, Neon Tetra, Black Skirt Tetra), pencil fish (Nannostomus), Corydoras (especially dwarf species like habrosus or pygmaeus, but bronze and peppered corys work too), Otocinclus, and peaceful mid-water schooling fish. Borellii's broader water parameter tolerance means you can pair them with hardier community fish that cacatuoides and agassizii cannot live with — Platy, Guppy (in a 20 long), Harlequin Rasbora, and even smaller danios all work. Avoid housing with other Apistogramma species (they will hybridise or fight), large aggressive cichlids, bottom-dwelling predators like Synodontis catfish, and any fish large enough to eat a 5 cm female.

The harem structure matters: one male with two to three females per territory, in a 20 gallon long with broken sight lines. Two males in a 20 gallon will fight — sometimes to death. If you want multiple males, you need a 4-foot tank (40 gallon breeder or larger) with visual barriers between each male's territory. A sexed group of 1M:3F is the standard starter colony; the females will establish a pecking order among themselves, and the dominant female will spawn first. Borellii males are slightly less aggressive toward each other than cacatuoides males, but the one-male-per-territory rule still applies. I keep my borellii with a school of Ember Tetras and a group of Corydoras habrosus; the tetras act as dither fish that signal “no predators above”, and the corys occupy the bottom without competing for the caves.

Diet & Feeding

Apistogramma borellii are omnivores with a strong carnivorous leaning — more omnivorous than cacatuoides or agassizii, which are essentially strict carnivores. In the wild they eat insect larvae, small crustaceans, worms pulled from the sand, aufwuchs, and even soft plant matter. In the aquarium they accept frozen bloodworm, frozen brine shrimp, live blackworms, live baby brine shrimp, high-quality micro pellets (I use New Life Spectrum Thera+A 0.5 mm or Fluval Bug Bites Cichlid Mini), and even flake. Borellii's willingness to take flake is unusual for an Apistogramma and is one of the reasons it is rated Easy — you can keep a colony healthy on flake if you have to, though colour and breeding will suffer.

Feed small amounts twice daily. A female guarding eggs or fry will eat very little; do not panic if she refuses food for a week — this is normal. Target-feed with a baster or long tweezers; Apistogramma learn to recognise their keeper and will take food from your fingers within a few weeks. Borellii is the most aggressive surface feeder of the three common Apistogramma — it will rise to the top to take floating pellets, which makes it a great show-tank fish because you actually see them feed.

The colour payoff from a varied diet is dramatic. A flake-only borellii is a pale yellow-grey fish with faint blue face markings. The same fish on a frozen-and-live diet for six weeks shows electric yellow body, blue face and gill plates, and orange dorsal and anal fins. The females go from camouflaged grey to bright yellow with black markings the day they start guarding a clutch. The two colour forms — the common yellow/orange form and the rarer blue form (sometimes sold as “Opal”) — are not different species; they are colour morphs of A. borellii and interbreed freely. Diet is the single biggest lever on colour intensity within either morph.

Common Health Issues

The two conditions I see most in Apistogramma are Hexamita (intestinal flagellates) and bacterial gill disease. Hexamita shows up as white, stringy, buoyant faeces, weight loss despite feeding, and a sunken belly. Treat with metronidazole — either in food (250 mg per 100 g of food for 7 days) or as a bath (500 mg per 10 litres for 7 days, in a separate hospital tank). Bacterial gill disease shows up as rapid breathing, clamped fins, and a fish hanging at the surface; treat with a broad-spectrum antibiotic in a hospital tank and address the underlying water quality. Borellii is slightly more resistant to Hexamita than cacatuoides and agassizii, but it is still the most common disease in any Apistogramma tank under stress.

Ich is a constant threat because Apistogramma tanks run at 24–28°C, the upper end of the ich reproduction range. The standard heat-and-salt treatment is risky: pushing temperature to 30°C to defeat ich will stress your Apistogramma and may trigger bacterial infections. I treat ich in Apistogramma tanks with formalin/malachite green (Rid-Ich or similar) at 75% of the label dose, holding temperature at 28°C. Copper-based treatments are toxic to dwarf cichlids — do not use them. Borellii is slightly more salt-tolerant than other apistos and can take a low-dose aquarium salt treatment (1 teaspoon per 10 gallons) as a first-line ich treatment if you prefer to avoid chemicals.

Prevention is straightforward: weekly 25–30% water changes with dechlorinated, temperature-matched water, no ammonia, no nitrite, nitrate below 20 ppm. Borellii is the most nitrate-tolerant of the three common Apistogramma (it comes from naturally higher-nutrient water than the blackwater species), and shrugs off 30–40 ppm nitrate without losing colour — but don't push it. Quarantine new fish for four weeks in a hospital tank before adding them to a colony. Lifespan in good conditions is 4–5 years — longer than cacatuoides (3–4) or agassizii (3–4), which is another reason borellii is the best beginner Apistogramma.

Breeding

Apistogramma borellii are cave-spawners and one of the easier dwarf cichlids to breed in captivity — possibly the easiest Apistogramma to breed. The female initiates spawning: she picks a cave, turns bright yellow with black markings, and leads the male to the entrance. A typical spawn is 50–100 eggs, deposited on the roof or wall of the cave. The male leaves after spawning; the female tends the eggs exclusively. Borellii spawns are slightly larger than cacatuoides (60–80 typical) and the species is more reliable — first-spawn females rarely eat their clutch, which is a common failure mode in cacatuoides and agassizii.

Eggs hatch in 48–72 hours at 26°C. The female will move the wrigglers to a pre-dug pit in the sand, then to another pit, then another — every 8–12 hours for the first three days. Once the fry are free-swimming (day 5–7 post-hatch), the female herds them around the tank in a tight school, gill-flaring and charging anything that approaches. The male guards the perimeter; in a harem setup, he will rotate between the territories of his females. Borellii females are attentive mothers and will hold the school together for 3–4 weeks — longer than cacatuoides, which typically lose the school after 2 weeks.

Feed the fry infusoria for the first three days, then graduate to live baby brine shrimp. They grow quickly on BBS — 1 cm in four weeks, sexable at three months, sexually mature at six months. The most common mistake is feeding flake or pellet too early; Apistogramma fry need live food for the first two weeks or they starve slowly. Borellii fry are slightly larger than cacatuoides fry at hatch and are correspondingly easier to raise on prepared foods after the BBS stage. A single pair in a 10 gallon species-only tank will produce 30–50 survivors per spawn with no intervention beyond water changes. Breeding for colour forms is straightforward — yellow to yellow produces yellow; blue to blue produces blue; yellow to blue produces a mix, with roughly 50% of each colour in the F1 generation. The two forms are not genetically fixed, and line-breeding will separate them within 2–3 generations.

Frequently Asked Questions