Breeding cave for Apistogramma

[doubleace]

Went to daiso and bought some cave for apisto. Are they suitable?

Cave 1




Cave 2 (while washing i drop into the sink and a crack was created)




Cave 3




All comments are welcome.

[Zenislev]

Your cave1 & 2 should do the job, im not really sure about your cave3 though. But i was just wondering how big are they?

[illumnae]

i've never tried using glazed pots for apisto breeding before. i think they usually prefer a rougher and more natural surface?

[doubleace]

Your cave1 & 2 should do the job, im not really sure about your cave3 though. But i was just wondering how big are they?

Oh they can be fit into 1ft tank same size as the breeding cave.

i've never tried using glazed pots for apisto breeding before. i think they usually prefer a rougher and more natural surface?

Really?

[Zenislev]

i've never tried using glazed pots for apisto breeding before. i think they usually prefer a rougher and more natural surface?

True bro. Pots with rough surface are better, but i also heard of some successful cases using glazed pots though.

[benny]

Glazed surface is not too much of an issue for most species. I have seen breeders use ceramic bowls too.

Cheers,

[Simon]

yes, I concur with Benny. Have seen 1 breeder in the farm using ceramic bowls to breed apisto.
If apisto can spawn on the glass wall of a tank, I think a glazed surface is not a problem

[doubleace]

ok thank guys thanks for the comments... Then i will try it out.

[trident]

no.1 and 2 looks good, not sure about no. 3.
I got 1 quite similar to no.3 in my Tanga tank.

[thanantosis]

i will take no. 2

as no. 3 dont look too natural to me

[iwishweallcouldwin]

hello i just made these yesterday for my new apisto tank... colour's a bit off but hope my apistos will love them...got the idea from eman... what do you guys think? couldn't find the more earth-coloured ones like those i got from eman, these are more off-white. and one of the openings got chipped off by too large a chunk while i was chiseling it...

[illumnae]

how big are the holes? it's best to have holes that are just big enough for the apisto to enter and leave, so the female can use her body to block the entrance and guard her brood. kind of like what celticfish was selling in the marketplace, or Eman's caves

[iwishweallcouldwin]

yeah i just saw the breeding caves from germany!! if i had known earlier i would have gotten those instead! the holes are quite huge, about 4cm in diameter, but i made it slightly larger as i intend to push the caves pretty deep into the gravel.

[doubleace]

anyway to import those cave?

[iwishweallcouldwin]

hmm that you'll have to ask celticfish...

[illumnae]

do a mass order?

[benetay]

My 2cts, breeding media on the other hand is more for us to see. The usability is more important. It' look very nice in the tank but i'll settle for something less for the purchase of better apisto.

When you have the fishes, naturally with progression, you'll get the nicer breeding media.

In the wild they only have fallen tree branches, leaves ,rocks, etc so i believe that breeding media is secondary whereas obtaining a good pair is the primary issue.

[illumnae]

i think it depends.

for example, my A. bitaeniata male is particularly aggressive and my female is particularly docile. As such, even the female in breeding mode is unable to chase him away. I lost alot of batches of eggs because of this. the times i had successful spawns was when the female had the bright idea of choosing to spawn on places with very small openings such that either the male couldn't see her, or she was able to totally block him from even entering the spawning site. breeding media that works with other pairs (e.g. small flowerpot, or even a curvy driftwood that forms 2 natural caves) just don't work with this pair.

However, that being said, i didn't need specialized breeding media with this pair anyway. the female was clever enough to:
1. hide in leaf litter
2. hide underneath my moss mesh (this one takes the crown i feel) and spawn on the mesh itself
3. dig a hole under the driftwood instead of using the driftwood formed caves

(now to get her to understand to do that every time instead of insisting on going back to try out the flowerpots and driftwood caves )

so while breeding media might be secondary, having media that fits certain criteria would increase your chances of a successfully raised spawn imo

[benetay]

No argument here on the last sentence. What i'm trying to put it across is that the relatively easier apisto do not need high standard of breeding media for them to breed true.

I'll not classify A.bit as an easy apisto, it should be rank moderate difficulty.

I didn't dare to state an example like, easier apisto do not need high quality breeding media.

Just a thought; i spend $300 for a dry cabinet to safe keep a $10000 camera. Logical right? How many people will get a dry cabinet for a digital camera worth $399? Something like penny wise pound foolish.

Food for thought:

The chances of increased spawn for a relatively difficult apisto does not only comprises of breeding media. Every little factor adds up to the big picture. Whereas breeding media shouldn't constitute to the bigger percentage of increased spawn i think. Water quality should be on the top of the list i suppose.

Rather than breeding media the apisto females decide on the breeding sites' suitability. Meaning that the breeding media isn't the cause of the failure but the suitability of the site. A breeding media that is located in your tank is said to build up the breeding site.

We cannot justify the good & bad of the media the final decision is the fish themselves.

p.s. Illumnae i enjoy understanding and communicating with you & your ideas. We need more people like you!

Cheers!

[illumnae]

p.s. Illumnae i enjoy understanding and communicating with you & your ideas. We need more people like you!

Cheers!

Thanks


I agree with you that water quality is the top concern for keeping the brood alive. I've lost a few batches of bitaeniata and elizabethae eggs/wrigglers because my hand itchy and i went to change water (even topping up of evaporated water lost me wrigglers!). but live and learn i guess!

as for the breeding media, it's definitely true that it's up to the fish to choose...we can't tell them where to lay their eggs after all