help needed for my borelli

[elwen]

Hi Guys,

My borelil recently spawned. Just wondering when do i remove the female ?? And the instructions on the JBL artemia eggs seem very complicated. Could someone explain it in a more "layman" terms to me ??

Thanks

[elwen]

Hi Guys,

My borelil recently spawned. Just wondering when do i remove the female ?? And the instructions on the JBL artemia eggs seem very complicated. Could someone explain it in a more "layman" terms to me ??

Thanks

[elwen]

Hi Guys,

My borelil recently spawned. Just wondering when do i remove the female ?? And the instructions on the JBL artemia eggs seem very complicated. Could someone explain it in a more "layman" terms to me ??

Thanks

[elwen]

Hi Guys,

My borelil recently spawned. Just wondering when do i remove the female ?? And the instructions on the JBL artemia eggs seem very complicated. Could someone explain it in a more "layman" terms to me ??

Thanks

[Simon]

u shld only remove both or one of the parents if they start eating the fry, otherwise, they r there to protect the brood... in which case, the male is always the one to be removed...

for yr JBL artemia eggs, they need to be hatch... u need to follow their instruction

[benetay]

You should remove the male instead of the female, how big is yr tank i need more info so i can provide with accurate information.

In a tank only with the pair, remove the male instead of the female, as the female are the ones that are the ones which will take care of the fry and tend to the eggs.

The female have a greater role as she fans the egg constantly to provide oxygen rich water to the eggs to prevent it to fungus.

When to remove the female it'll depend on when she thinks it's time to move on to another spawn.

I've left female inside a tank with the fry till they are big enough to eat blood worms. There are different character for different fishes, good parents tend to care for a longer extended period of time.

Atermia eggs or we call it brine shrimps eggs are one of the best nutrition you can provide not only to the fry but instead to all other fishes. It's one of the best for all the fishes in community tanks or any kind of tanks, as brine shrimp is so small but in the thousand or millions where every single fish will have their share no matter if it's big or small.

For hatching brine shrimps i've long lost my memory on how it should be done, if i still remember correctly it's 4tbp of salt to 500l of water, i'm sure you can find the hatching of BBS(baby brine shrimps) using the search function.

There are more info on what to do step by step instruction on what to do during the spawning and after spawning process do browse thru the older posting and i am sure you can find tons of information too much to even digest.

If tank is a community tank with other fishes around, you have to look out for cory cats which are the so called "egg hunters" they have a liking towards eggs which is nutrition rich. For tetra they are fry snipers, they will hover like a hawk waiting for a good chance to attack. With many tetra around the female and male apisto have to work extra hard which may result in more stress for the both of them and in return if they can't outwin the number of predators, they'll consume their fry and wait for a better chance next time round.

Hatching BBS is painstalking, if it's a habit rather then a chore then i'm sure your fry will be very happy. There are many more suggested food for fry which still result in growth but at a slower pace. There are powdered food and liquid food. So far i'm using liquid food to cultivate daphnia or is it micro-organisium(this i'm not very sure).

Apisto are very good parents by nature as they will try their best to protect their young. By observing the female action when she cares for her fry is something very interesting to watch.

When the female hovers motionless above the cloud of fry it means clear for eating, the fry will hover around the female, the female will look out for predators that invade her "area" she will aslo "mouth" lost sheep and spitting it back into the cloud of fries. When she twitch her head it means danger is around the corner then the fries will immediately sink down to the bottom of the gravel and stay motionless changing colour that blends. It's something very interesting to watch as i've said. There are many more actions and such behaviour are really awe.

What does the male do when it comes to parenthood, the male apisto will guard an area of 30cm perimeter roughly. He will fend off any intruders that came too close to the area. When the male comes to close to the fry and the female, the female will shoo him off showing her belly towards him just like saying " hey don't skive go and protect the area well" [] the male will not by any chance try to provoke the female as the female aggrasion is at it's peak once she laid her eggs.

So far i've notice that some of the harem brooders male tend to neglect the female in guarding the area leaving it totally to the female alone to fend for herself and her fries[].

A.Borelli are easy apisto to keep and breed, so have fun with apisto keeping!

CheerS!

[elwen]

Hi Benetay,

Thanks for the extensive info. But sad news is that i came back today all the frys are dead. Can you advise why ??

It is very disheartening especially this is the second attempt. My first attempt my njisseni female ate up all the eggs.

Looks like breeding is not that easy afterall.

Oh by the way, my breeding tanks is just a 1ft cube. Is it big enough ?? Do i need filtration or aeration ??

[Trevor]

Hello

Though im new to apistogramma, but here's my 2 cents. Compliments of the advise frm the nice ppl.

You need a air pump with airstone, or either a sponge filter so that yr fries can feast on the micro organism. As the sponge filter is a very good media for this micro organism to live in. Choose sponge filters with finer spores.

Can also use a normal internal filter, but its not as good. Cause the fries need to feed on micro organism which helps them alot in their growth.

1ft cube tank, is perfectly alright. But.. don put in more any other fish as the bioload will be too much and the apisto will feel stressout.

Not even dither fish can be added into the, reason why the tank is that size and if the apisto chase it arnd the dither fish might jump out and there's no way to escape as a 1ft tank cube. What u expect...So small tank.

Yr fries died or got eaten up ? If its the latter, maybe due to stress put on the female by the male. Or u didnt feed the pair with sufficient food which lead them to feast on their young. Now, if they died. My guess would be parents give up on the fries. Not really sure bout this, can check with Benetay.

all this imo. correct me if im wrong.

[elwen]

Thanks Trevor for your advice !!

Benetay,

trevor thinks that the parents gave up on the fries that is why they died. Why is this so ??

[Trevor]

Welcome.. Why huh ? Cause the male keep attacking the female by going into her area. LIke what ben had said, the male guards a perimeter of 30cm from the eggs. And when the female is taking of her fries, this is the stage whereby the aggresion of the female is at its peak.

So.. probaly the male go into the females area and they fight fight ? Then the fries are neglected ?

imho. Ben speak up!!

[Simon]

IMHO, even if the parents leave the brood,
given a tank without any dither fish. the possibilty
will be the fry died from (1)starvation (2)poor condition/
unsuitable condition. given any tank(excluding newly setup)
the existing micro-organsim is sufficient for the fry to feast on
they reside on the gravel or any other place...

if for instance, the female will know if her brood would be worth
raising, if she deem that the chances is low, she simply leave them
to die. There are situations, where the female would leave/eat her fry
and go on to breed another round with the male.

the death of the fry could mean that the parents (namely the female)
need more experience. I would say a bigger tank for breeding will be better
and would have a higher success rate than a small tank. I have tried 1footer,
and even though they spawned, survive rate is much smaller compared to
say a 2footer. it could be because the water condition for smaller
tank changes alot.

for a first time hobbist going into breeding apistogramma, I would
advise you to try them out in a community tank, though with other fishes
around, it may proved to be better, as the parents can use their natural
instinct. But frankly, there are some fishes that makes worse parents.
And also, u will see the true characteristics of a dwarf cichlids.

Breeding them is easy, the hard part is raising the frys

[Trevor]

icic.. Thanks Simon and Sorry elwen, not so good at this yet. Just givin my 2cents.. Pardon me..

Thanks and good luck next time round!!

[Simon]

trevor, I do not see nothing wrong with yr posting, every individual has their own methods. Elwen just need to find the one that suits him best

[elwen]

Hi Guys,

Just got back and managed to buy a sponge filter. Think Simon is right in that the condition for small tanks is too unstable. But what to do, already got a 4 feet community tank and hence no more space for a 2 footer breeding tank.

i think after squeezing some drops of JBL liquid fry food, the surface seemed to have a film of oil or something. Noticed the female and fries coming up to the surface for air after i feed them the JBL Nobilfluid. Dont think they die of starvation but rather from too much of it if there is such a thing.

B I have just converted the breeding tank to one of those rectangular tanks that you can buy off any LFS. Not sure if it is bigger than my 1 footer but the surface area sure looks bigger.

Just put back the borelli pair and thought they could rest for a while. Got the rectangular tank set up with the sponge filter and "cave". Put in a Pandurini pair this time round. Any advise for A. Pandurini ????

[Simon]

I have no experience with A. panduro, but i heard they r the same with A. nijsenni, perharps benny can advise you on that species.

[benetay]

Okay back from malaysia fishing, hmm...seems like i'm requested to advise..Okay then.

First of all after reading so many replies.

My first attempt my njisseni female ate up all the eggs.

Looks like breeding is not that easy afterall.

Oh by the way, my breeding tanks is just a 1ft cube. Is it big enough ?? Do i need filtration or aeration

Breeding apisto is fairly easy once you get a hang of what to do and what not to do. Its very normal for you to lost the first few batches cos' you will not know what to do. after a few spawns, you and the pair will have a better knowledge on what to do.(even fish need to try to know and to learn)

trevor thinks that the parents gave up on the fries that is why they died. Why is this so

Parents do give up on that current batch of fry when the condition isn't ideal, when the female thinks that the condition will not allow as many fry to reach adulthood then she thinks she will wait for a better chance to breed.

When feeding liquid fry it's best done with a droper and dipping the head of the dropper into the water colume to feed.

A.panduro is the same family with a.nij. They are very aggreasive apisto and is not suggested to be put together nor in a community tank.

one more thing to note, please do not stare at your apisto they need some private time so do everyone of us =)

[Trevor]

When conditons make the expenditure energy to raise fry
to adulthood less likely to "pay off", then the eggs (energy) was consumed
by the parents.

Extracted frm http://www.thekrib.com/Apisto/eggs.html#0