A. trifasciata fry!

[Christine-FishGrrl]

Hooray! My A. trifasciatas I got several weeks ago have successfully bred! Tonight I noticed one of my females was extra snippy and when I looked closer, she was guarding a bunch of free-swimmers! From their behaviour of the last few days, I believe this was their first spawn. I think they really love the ADA Aquasoil substrate I have in my new tank, it keeps the pH and KH nice and low. Mom and Dad are being great parents so far (knock on wood), keeping everybody away from the babies and herding the babies around.

 

[nightowl1350]

Congrats! Sounds like they are great parents so far. Keep us posted on how they do.

 

[AdamT]

Good for you - trafasciata are my favorite (of somewhat limited experience). Are you going to leave them in the tank? Will you keep them or sell/trade them?

I have to move mine out of the community tank or they get eaten by tankmates by day 4 or so. Some people have really intensive fry-rearing programs involving multiple daily waterchanges and feedings. I go considerably lower effort than that, and of the 20-30 fry that I siphon out of the community tank I generally get 5 - 10 adolescents that eventually go into a tank a few months later.

Good luck, let me know if you discover any tricks!

Adam

 

[Christine-FishGrrl]

I have them in a heavily-planted 60 gallon community tank that is pretty understocked. So far, so good - they are keeping all of the other fish on the other side of the tank and I'm keeping the lights on 24/7. I know that having them in a community will really reduce the numbers of surviving fry but I'm not really setup to have grow out tanks living in a small apartment, so it's just as well. I have a 12 gallon planted tank that I'll move any juvies to.

 

[Christine-FishGrrl]

So far so good, there are still several fry that the female and male are protecting. They have driven everyone else to the other half of the tank. I have the foreground of the tank covered with Marseilia (sp?), they really seem to like the cover provided by the plant.

 

[Christine-FishGrrl]

i thought i had lost all the fry due to a power outage and a lot of really hot weather (no air conditioning in the house) but look what I found:

You can kinda see papa in the background keeping everyone away. Here's a better picture:

 

[Mike Wise]

A. trifasciata is one of the unusual apistos that often moves its fry to a higher leve in the tank once they hatch. According to Koslowski (2002) it might be in response to their natural habitat that dries up and loses O2. Oxygen is concentrated near the surface.

 

[nightowl1350]

Glad you didn't loose them all. Congrats on the spawn and I hope some reach juvie stage.

 

[Christine-FishGrrl]

I guess my apistos really like their new tank because last night I found all the fish hiding on one half of the tank - sure enough, mama trifasciata was herding around a flock of free-swimmers on the other half. These little guys are teeeensy! Barely visible to the naked eye!

Do I need to be concerned about the fry from the previous spawn? He's about the size of an apple or lemon seed. I'm afraid that either the parents will get him now they have new babies or that the other fish will. I could move him to my 12 gallon tank that only has small fish in it (ember tetras, rasbora maculata, pygmy corydoras and cherry shrimp).

 

[fishgeek]

i find that elder fry will sometimes predate o younger one's as a food source

if there is enough other options then prehaps this would not happen

andrew

 

[blueblue]

i find that elder fry will sometimes predate o younger one's as a food source

if there is enough other options then prehaps this would not happen

andrew

Hi Andrew: do you mean that the fry of apistos feed on other smaller fry??
I have observed this thing in many other cichlids but not apistos. May you
please share more? Thanks

 

[Mike Wise]

My experience is that any fish that can get another fish in it mouth will eat it.

 

[fishgeek]

yes i have seen in tanks of mine fry that are from an earlier spawn eating fry from a latter spawn
i tend to just let natural selection run it's course as i do not sell significant numbers of fish and can only accomadate so many

i have also once found an adult female dead witha large fry wedged in her mouth
i assume it got pectorals in and could not be spat back out nor swallowed