Breeding tank for my Apistogramma cacatuoides

[iwishweallcouldwin]

Hi all,

Just to share with you some pictures of my new breeding tank and its inhabitants. Comment away so that I can improve on my setup. Hoping this new pair up will spawn for me soon. Sorry for the poor pictures, my camera and phototaking skills are far from perfect... and its really tough to catch my apistos full flaring... frustrating... female was easier to capture as her flares usually last longer... male caca kept overthrowing my poor BMT standard issue black mirror and slamming it into the soil..

Overall shot of breeding tank - 18x12x14inches, with ADA Africana, Java fern, winderlov, java moss, frogbits and coconut shell cave with java moss and planted nana rooftop. Tank mates include 1 oto and 4 zebra danios.


Adult male cacatuoides




Female cacatuoides




Fries from my previous pair's spawn, now all orphans


Thank you for your time and kind attention.

[illumnae]

has this pair spawned for you before? it might just be my bad judgment, but your female looks very much like a male

[iwishweallcouldwin]

yup this is a proven female, spawned for me before, but afterwhich also sent her husband into fish heaven.

[Cacatuoides]

Is this the same female that spawn for you?
Looking at it again, it really resembles a male...

[iwishweallcouldwin]

yup eman, even before her first spawn, she already looked like a male, and that made me pretty worried, and her late partner did not make things easier by constantly attacking her till her anal and caudal fins were tattered and torn. but after the spawn, she started to inflict serious damage and before i knew it, my male died due to fatal body wounds. scary.

[sheng]

Hiding your Biohome Plus will make your tank look nicer

[iwishweallcouldwin]

haha oops thats what my friend told me as well, pointed taken.

[trident]

iwishweallcouldwin,
I got one that resembles a male too, but till today have not proven to me whether it's male or female. I think their breeding setup can be quite simple, as long as there is sufficient hiding place it's ok with them. I have 2 pairs spawn in a bare bottom tank before. Just a cup and one pot of plant.
I think your pair will love it there, plenty of plants and hiding place.
Richard

[valice]

If shim is indeed a female, then something in the genes of the fish has been very screwed up...
She has all the characteristics of a male and none of a female.

This is making sexing all the more complex nowadays. I am starting to doubt myself.

[illumnae]

we've always had sneaker males, are we starting to see the emergence of the sneaker females? haha

[KWLee]

Hi iwishweallcouldwin, what is the ph of your tank ?

My Apistogramma cacatuoides have spawn twice and stop, never able to have a successful breeding. My current tank ph is at 6.3

[Cacatuoides]

Its quite scary to see a female like this being able to spawn normally.....It really looks so much like a male....oh my

[genes]

Goodness...what is happening to the genes of these aquarium strains!

[iwishweallcouldwin]

haha beats me man, frankly speaking looking at her picture now, i really find it quite hard to believe myself that she was once yellowish and defending her fries! maybe its due to the male genes in her that she so brutally killed her husband!!!
hope she'll stop being so scary and turn yellowish again soon! but she seems to be very at ease with my male. is that a good or bad sign? i thought there should always be some sort of aggression around to stimulate breeding? maybe my male thinks that she's a butch!!!! by the way i got this female from 328... we'll see how her batch of fries turn out in a couple of months' time!

sorry kwlee, i'm really still quite a newbie, so i haven't gotten any pH measuring devices for my tank...

[minidevil]

wow first time see such a "male" female caca, good catch for you. wondering what her babies will look like...

[iwishweallcouldwin]

still waiting though. male seems super interested already, keeps doing the tail dance. however, female still shows no signs of yellowing yet.

[cueball]

nice tank.. do let us know once your female spawns. .. really curious as the female really has so much male characteristics in it.

[iwishweallcouldwin]

the female has spawned once before but that was just before i wanted to remove her due to my previous male's bullying. this piece doesn't seem very keen on breeding to me, but i'm still happy just viewing her. Honestly i did not realise how male-like she was until she lost her yellow dress after her first spawn. will keep you guys updated. thanks.

[wasabi8888]

If I am the male apisto, I am not sure whether the female is attractive or looks wierd

If the later, not sure whether I would be willing to copulate, then again, only one female left in the world...

[iwishweallcouldwin]

haha my exact thoughts!!! unless my male cacatuoides is a little gay, i see no reason in him finding her attractive! but fact is that he keeps doing the tail dance... its the female who isn't interested at all... maybe she's a lesbian...