Apisto SP Apache/Masken eating eggs.

[Microman]

I have a pair of wild Masken that have spawned on 3 occasions and each time the female has eat the eggs after a couple of days,this is despite removing the male and leaving her well alone to reduce any stress.The eggs seem viable
and there are no fungal problems.
The fish are housed in a 10g tank,maybe a bit small,with plenty of bogwood, moss and a good 2" of oak leaves.PH:6.8,KH:2d,GH:2d,Temp:80f.Sponge filtration,slow turnover rate.
If this continues I am considering removing the eggs and hatching artificially but I would rather not do this if at all possible.
I am new to wild caught Apistos so any advice on this subject would be appreciated.Thanks,
Mark.

 

[Apistt_ed]

With your fish being wild, there shouldn't be any problems spawning. I have a pair wild also and it took them the first try to get it right. My male was juvenile compared to the female when I purchased them and the female courted and bickered with the male till he started showing the characteristics of A. sp masken, the pointed dorsal/anal fins and the painted face and even still then they spawned perfectly fine and I have two month old fry at the moment. Your water parameters are practically the same as mine so that's not the problem. All I can see is a difference in temperature. I keep mine at 76. Mine also spawned a few days after I did a water change. I have my pair in a 15 gallon tank so, yours is about the same only mine has a larger floor space. I'd say do a water change of about 30% to drop the temperature of the tank slightly. That may be all you need to trigger the male to spawn. Did you have a dither fish also? Maybe the addition of a target fish could also do it. I would suggest something that will not harm them and with your tank being a 10g, maybe a top water column fish. I use hatchetfish because they are quick and have been effective for me. good luck and please keep us informed. good luck! John

 

[tjnelson44]

The egg eating could be due to the disturbance caused by removing the male or some other activity. I had a female cacatuoides that ate her eggs when I tried to remove some other fish in the tank. In fact, she would eat her eggs if I even stuck my hand in the tank. She did mellow out once the fry hatched.
Trevor