Apistogramma njisseni

[elwen]

Hi All,

Am new at breeding appistos. Could someone tell me if it is normal for the male to chase the female around or is he just not interested in the female ??

I am presently housing them in a 1 ft tank with just some nana on driftwood, aeration but no filter. Anything else that i need ??

[Simon]

its normal, but give more cover for the females.. and pls watch them, sometimes, the female will be stressed out and it may be fatal...

the cycle of apisto: b4 courtship.. Male chase female ard, after courtship/breeding season.. female chase male.. in both case, IMO, u shld watch them closely.. especially when u have a small tank, oso lower the water lvl or cover the tank.. if either one turn dark and stay that one, remove him/her... the other way will be, have both male/female in separate tanks, then add the male into the female's tank when she spots her breeding colours (yellow)

perharps the rest got some points to add

[kenzo]

krkr.. juz like humans..

b4 marriage, guys chase girls.. after marriage, girls peck @ guys..

elwen, juz observe the female's behaviour..
b4 breeding, if she turns dark and cowers in 1 corner, it's better to remove her or introduce dither fishes..

after breeding, she will guard a small area and chase the male away from it.. in this case, better to remove the male..

good luck!

[ikan]

Mine breed quite often but always eat the eggs on the next day or the day after. Maybe just an egg eater?

[Simon]

ikan, perharps u can try a few diff combos.. first, take the male out, if it still happens, remove the female.. and if the eggs is still eaten, remove both

[juggler]

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On 10/14/2002 4:32:55 PM

Mine breed quite often but always eat the eggs on the next day or the day after. Maybe just an egg eater?
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What size tank did you use to encourage them to breed? I used a 1 foot plastic tank with a flower pot. No action so far.

[Simon]

kf, time to adjust yr water parameter

[benetay]

KF: i'm sure u saw my 1ft breeding tanks, if your apisto dun breed, water parameters should be altered slightly.giving them more food will actually induce the female to spawn as she will save more energy to produce more eggs.

Feeding them before and after the female had laid eggs is very impt. Not feeding food to the mother after she had laid eggs and she will eat up the eggs as she consider that food is scare and therefore will wait till another better occasion to produce eggs.

even after the eggs are hatch, without feeding the mother , she will go after the babies as food.

Ikan: a few tries for the pair that kept eating the eggs to gain experience, if it persist, remove the pair if not remove the clutch of eggs to raise them yourself , longer time needed but well worth it.

[elwen]

Hi All,

Thanks for all the advice !! So far the female is okay and is actually yellow in colour already. Will keep my fingers crossed that the breeding will turn out okay.

Incidentally, am also breeding appistos Cacatouides in the other tank. ANy advice ??

[juggler]

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On 10/14/2002 5:32:11 PM

KF: i'm sure u saw my 1ft breeding tanks, if your apisto dun breed, water parameters should be altered slightly.giving them more food will actually induce the female to spawn as she will save more energy to produce more eggs.

Feeding them before and after the female had laid eggs is very impt. Not feeding food to the mother after she had laid eggs and she will eat up the eggs as she consider that food is scare and therefore will wait till another better occasion to produce eggs.

even after the eggs are hatch, without feeding the mother , she will go after the babies as food.

Ikan: a few tries for the pair that kept eating the eggs to gain experience, if it persist, remove the pair if not remove the clutch of eggs to raise them yourself , longer time needed but well worth it.


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Thanks for the advice! I am apprehensive about feeding live daphnia because at my first experience with Borellii frys, I pour in the lot of daphnias to the one-week old fries, and the frys disappeared over the weekend. I suspect something was also with the daphnias that cannibalised the frys.

OK. Will remember to keep the mother well-fed.

So weather is cooler lately. Expecting more spawning, Benetay?

[ikan]

I will try to remove the eggs next time and place them in a fry container in the same tank. I also noticed that number of eggs ussually only around 30. I have never seen the male guarding the eggs.

Tank size: 80x45x45 with plants and driftwood and a paid of bristlenose and lots of fries. This paid of appisto was moved several times from different tanks and they always breed. I also had a paid of cacatuoides and gibicceps but they never breed.

[Simon]

kf, I think the daphina is the cause of their death (pollution of the tank water due to uneaten/dying daphina)

ikan: the male hardly guard the eggs.. his job is to secure the perimeter of the spawning ground.. the female will fan the eggs

if yr apisto aint breeding, likely cause is the parameter/condition of the water

[benetay]

KF: As usual mamore breed but due to time constraint i can't feed them like what i did last time almost every 3-4hrs a feeding.

Results: eaten eggs.

Foul water is the number 1 killer for fry. Having a small tank , water condition detoriates lightning fast. Before you know it, the fry had already suffered it. Unless you don't mind changing water all the time.

Toh can afford to feed dapnia as his fish is his ricebowl. He change water frequently too. He'll watch his tank from morning to night and react to his tanks at the very first moment he thinks theres a problem.

For us, we can't do these as we have our jobs/studies to persue.Therefore feeding them BBS(which is the best) will be much better compared to daphnia in terms of the speed of fouling the water.

I find feeding liquid food to do the job too with the aid of sponge filters, i usually feed liquid food till the water is milky in colour.In a few hours time the water will clear up and after a day the water will be clear again.

Ikan: What species of apisto are u breeding. Usually smaller size apisto like the apisto trifasciata can lay max of 80eggs which is rarely the case.

apisto cockatoo is one of the easiest apisto to handle, they breed in almost any condition given, feed them well and change water regularly and they'll breed. They are not so fussy as other apisto.

Males will not guard the eggs but the perimeter, for heram breeders like the a.tri and a.mamore one male will breed with 3-4 female at a go if condition is ideal.Heram males will guard the whole perimeter as his.Watch out for other fishes as he'll not tolerate any intruders into any of his area. Usually in a big tank u'll see the character of the heram male.very interesting too =)

Cheers!