Managing Apistogramma cacatuoides fries

[genes]

For Apistogramma cacatuoides, not a wise idea to hold fries and parents together if you are thinking of breeding them. My cacas ended up eating up all their old brood because the female was getting ready to spawn again while nursing the old brood...

Not sure if this applies to A. agassizii and A. trifasciatus. But i suppose apsitos that breeds fairly frequently in general.

[Cacatuoides]

How old was the old brood when the female eats them up??

[genes]

Slightly over a week...

And another week later, her new brood came out and this time round, i prepared a fry only tank.

[evolim83]

Was at Biotope last evening!
They have a nice pair of Apistogramma trifasciata at the last tank, all the way at the back of the shop!
Decent pricetage also!
Can go check it out!

[Cacatuoides]

wow.....it took them merely 2 weeks to breed again? thats amazing!!

[genes]

wow.....it took them merely 2 weeks to breed again? thats amazing!!

Yah. What can i say... benetay's triple red is a hot guy

Barely over a month and she bred 5 times. Here 5th brood just got free swimming yesterday. First brood was with another male. The other 4 was with the triple red.

Lost her first 2 brood in the comm tank from predators coz didn't have a fry tank then... Her 3rd brood was eaten up, managed to keep her 4th brood, but being inexperience in raising fries, only manged to keep 8 out of 36 alive in my fry tank. And now they are like 4mm to 5mm big and quite fat too.

[Cacatuoides]

wow! congrats bro!! I assume you only have 1 female and 1 male in your tank right? any problems when getting the fries out at week 2 into e fries tank?

[genes]

wow! congrats bro!! I assume you only have 1 female and 1 male in your tank right? any problems when getting the fries out at week 2 into e fries tank?

2 female and 1 male. But the other female has never breed before. The male always chases her away when they come into contact.

I removed the fries by sucking them out using an airtube while the female was herding them. Not much problem in taking them out but i am not sure how many actually died as a result of the transportation or surviving in the new environment without the female's care.

benetay once told me its a little risky because they might be too fragile at that stage. Better to remove them while they are still eggs and hatch them artificially using an airstone. But i do not have a choice because my cacas are kept in a 3ft densely planted tank and the female always lays her eggs on a granite rock i use to attach my nanas to.

Was at Biotope last evening!
They have a nice pair of Apistogramma trifasciata at the last tank, all the way at the back of the shop!
Decent pricetage also!
Can go check it out!

Very tempting pair indeed. Nice colour on the male as well when it flares.

[Cacatuoides]

The fries are really very delicate to be removed in their early free swmming stage....a little risk would definitely be involved....would experts be in a better position to advise us on when will be a suitable time to remove the free swimming fries and transfer them into a separate fries tank?

[lwm999]

The other alternative will be to leave the fries in the tank and remove the rest of the fish from the tank

[Cacatuoides]

Hmm.....I have removed all the dither fishes from the tank, now left with mother and her fries.....this tank is used for planted at first but the pair spawned in it, therefore i'll probably have to take out the fries into a separate fries tank because this tank has an internal filter and i'm planning to use this tank for the pair to breed again.....how?

[genes]

Just happen to saw this little guy at the front of the tank this morning and so took a pic

[dbcyeo]

nice picture of the fry, gene. keep up the good work with the fries.

looks like one of the benefits of this forum is that we have an in-house expert photographer *cough* benny *cough* who has helped and pushed us to come out with better pictures.

[genes]

Hmm.....I have removed all the dither fishes from the tank, now left with mother and her fries.....this tank is used for planted at first but the pair spawned in it, therefore i'll probably have to take out the fries into a separate fries tank because this tank has an internal filter and i'm planning to use this tank for the pair to breed again.....how?

I would suggest using a seperate fry tank.

[Cacatuoides]

I'm waiting for the fries to reach 2weeks old before taking them out into a separate tank.....

How old are your fries?

[genes]

My fries are 3 weeks old

[Cacatuoides]

Cool....my fries are half as young as yours bro.....hahas
Wats the size of your brood bro?

[genes]

I am not sure because each time i transfer the fries over, i leave some behind for the female for a stupid reason ...afraid the female might be too shock/sad with the sudden lost of all her fries if i take all out. But sadly the left over fries in the main tank never survive. Think its the male that eats them up coz i always see the male disturbing her and she tries to whack him off with her tail.

The previous brood i transfered 36 over, only 8 survived and around 5mm in size. Just transfered 56 new born fries over 2 days ago. I think her lastest brood have at least 70 or more fries.

[Cacatuoides]

WOW!!! Tats a lot of fries bro!!! 70 fries of one batch or several batches? I'm thinking of taking out the fries in the next few days because the female seems restless and less of taking care of her fries......what do you use to take the fries out? I think the pair is getting "hot" to breed anytime soon.....

[genes]

70 from the latest batch. I think you better take the fries out before they become food for your male or other fishes in your tank. I use an airtube to suck them out.