Apisto Cacs Triple Red help

[jb-ny]

I have a pair of Triple Reds that are roughly 16 months old. They have been together for 10 months and have spawned several times.
reading that they are good parents I left male and female with fry the first several times and the numbers of fry dwindled from 25 or so to nothing inside a week.
I tried taking the male out after one spawning...same thing, fry disappeared with mom and no other tank mates in 30 gallon. fry
Most recently they spawned in a 10 gallon, more fry than i have ever seen about 40. it has been 1 week today they have been free swimming. There is noticeably less fry but still about 20 with both parents in the tank.
Are they getting better as parents? . Is there another explanation for this?
Water parameters are the same. Are there any pitfalls to taking the mother and father out of the tank and leaving the fry?

thanks for any help you can offer.

 

[Mike Wise]

My guess is that the losses are more due to feeding and tank maintenance than parental behavior. This usually is the cause with hobbyists new to apistos. Could you describe what and how often you feed your fry, and quantity and frequency of water changes? It's also possible that your parents are from a genetically weak strain.

 

[jb-ny]

I got the fish from chris at amazon tropicals (before he closed up shop) they are beautiful and I have heard good things about him so hopefully they are not genetically weak.
The first few times they spawned they were in a 30 gallon and thought that i might not have been getting the food to them.
This time they are in a 10 gallon with lots of xmas moss.
I feed what I believe kens fry food (breeder friend of mine gave it to me, uses it for his African Cichlid fry) in the morning, a few hours later I feed mom and pop frozen brine shrimp and put in some baby bs for the babies and they same thing in the evening.
I have been doing 10-20% water change daily previously on 30 gallon I did 15% every couple days.

 

[Mike Wise]

I no longer feed dry foods. Apisto fry don't eat it well. They are attracted to motion, so feeding live BBS and/or microworms is a better bet. For the first couple of weeks, try 2-3 daily feedings of live BBS only (both fry and adults). I would expect you to get better results. Your water changes are good. Just make sure that the change water values are close to those of the tank water. Otherwise change less. Once you get things going, you'll know where you can simplify the techniques. Good luck with your fish!

 

[jb-ny]

thanks for the info.