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Apistogramma Agassizii Gold Blaze breeding project

Jon E

New Member
Messages
11
Location
Alberta, Canada
Hi Everyone,
I am starting a A. Agassizzii Gold Blaze breeding project and I am looking for any advice you may have.
My current breeding set up is 20 g (24"), PH is 7, TDS is a little higher than I would like, but I am working to bring it down one water change at a time. I have the temp sitting at 80. the tank has 2 coconut caves lots of plants and broken lines of sight, I think. I have lots of Cardinals for dither fish and to spread some aggression around. This tank has been running since March and looks to be maturing nicely.
I have other tanks I could set up for grow outs ect; a 5g,10g, 20g, 36, and 39.
I have never attempted to breed before, although my Kribenses didn't ask what I thought and went ahead and did it anyways. So I am pretty green when it comes to grow out tanks, managing fry and when to separate them from the parents.
I welcome your experience and wisdom to help along the way with this adventure.
 

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Andy452

Member
Messages
39
Tank looks nice, maybe too nice for a breeding tank I say that as maybe with so many hiding spots it could be difficult to catch fish ie the dad when he needs to be removed or fry when they need to go to a grow out tank, it might just take a little longer to catch them that's all. But go with what you have it looks a nice established tank.

I'd remove the cardinal tetras as I believe they could pray on apisto eggs, I have not tried Cardinals with apistos but others maybe able to confirm my suspicions but they are certainly large enough to take apisto eggs.

Grow out tanks I think at least 20G for size so its good you have a couple of options. Grow outs could be simpler, some drift wood clumps of java moss and sponge filters for example

Dad may need to be removed after spawning or when fry are free swimming and mum is protecting the brood - depends if there are signs of aggression
 

yukondog

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Messages
664
Location
N.W. Fl.
Welcome to the sight, for breeding the Cardinals would need to go, as far as them eating the eggs I dont think that would be a problem but the fry would. I've had glow light tetras eat all the fry in a matter of seconds, as far as raising them do you have a source for live food? Don't worry too much if you lose the first batch, sometimes it takes a batch or to for them to get it right. Myself I like to leave the male in with them as long as they get along, after about six weeks I remove the fry to there grow out tank using water from the parent tank, feed three time a day and 25% water changes four times a week. It's really fairly easy, the most time I spend is on hatching BBS to feed the fry and that is easy also.
 

Jon E

New Member
Messages
11
Location
Alberta, Canada
@yukondog Are the fry large enough to eat BBS or should I look to culture some daphnia before bbs? I think I will need to set up and cycel a 10g with leaf litter and caves no plants, that way I can keep the water soft without worrying about the nutrients for the plants driving TDS and Kh up.
 

Jon E

New Member
Messages
11
Location
Alberta, Canada
I hope it is appropriate, I am just going to log what I am doing on this thread, so if anyone else starts a similar project they can see what I did and if it worked. I am going to write about what I plan to do, so if anyone has advice to avoid some critical errors it could save me some pain.
currently I have 1 guaranteed female, 1 guaranteed male and one that I haven't fully confirmed but we think it is a female.
-I have the guaranteed female in her own tank for now because she was fighting with the suspected female.
the fighting was very intense and this is why we(Mike Wise, thank you for all of your support) suspect the gender to be a female as well.
-The suspected female is in the 20 gallon tank pictured above, I have now added a male to the 20 tank. The suspected female spent all day yesterday chasing after him and nipping a bit, but he kept flashing for her. I hope this is a good indication of some form of compatibility. So far today I haven't seen her chasing after him.
PLANS:
- I will be setting up a breeding specific 10 gallon tank with leaf litter and a few caves on a sand substrate and a decent amount of driftwood I will use RODI water, I am considering adding floating plants to offer more shade(I plan to set up 2 10 gallon tanks if I do indeed have 2 females). This way I don't have to worry about the Cardinals or tearing up the tank trying to catch fish
- I will be feeding Baby brine shrimp, from what I understand they will be able to eat BBS then I can transition to micro pellets and bug bites
- the male will be removed and homed in the 20 gallon tank and the female can stay with her fry for 6 weeks
-IF I have 2 females, I would be rotating the females into their 10 gallon breeding tanks and a "cool off"tank in between breeding so the male and the female can be added into the breeding tank at the same time and avoid territorial issues. The fry can continue to grow out in the 10 gallon while the female is in the cool off tank.
As always feedback is welcome and appreciated.
 

Andy452

Member
Messages
39
Pretty good plan, good that from the outset you recognize the need for multiple tanks.
The first week or 2 the fry are free swimming they might benefit from some smaller foods like micro works etc. but they should take BBS very early... trying to remember what I did for my last spawn.... think for the first week I also used micro worms, just a good idea to have some on hand
 

Jon E

New Member
Messages
11
Location
Alberta, Canada
It has been a busy month. Here is the update.
I have set up the breeding 10g.
I have found a pair that appear to want to mate Luckily, because I unfortunately lost the other female that was also showing signs of wanting to mate but had a wound on her side that eventually became infected. she was showing her stomach and trying to lure him into a cave. Now, a day latter, she is showing aggression to the male and she is also guarding a small cave. All of this leads me to believe there are eggs, although I have not seen them with my own eyes.
The leaf litter and coconut caves are showing some signs of fungus, I have been doing water changes every 2 days with straight RO to try and get it gone, I don't want that fungus to kill any eggs or worse infect the fish.
My next step will be to remove the male to a holding tank so he doesn't get too beat up. right now there is a lot of leaf cover so he can get a break from her, but I know if there was a successful spawn she will only get more protective.
If I don't see fry in a week perhaps because it wasn't a successful spawn, how long should I wait to reintroduce the male?
 

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MacZ

Well-Known Member
Messages
2,959
Location
Germany
I'd remove the cardinal tetras as I believe they could pray on apisto eggs, I have not tried Cardinals with apistos but others maybe able to confirm my suspicions but they are certainly large enough to take apisto eggs.

On fry: Yes. On eggs: No. Tetras of almost every kind won't enter any caves, thus eggs are safe from them, but free swimming fry have little to no chance. I think TomC or Mike Wise wrote in a thread lately, that Pencilfish are good dithers when breeding as they can't eat the fry.
I myself would keep the Apistos without any other fish if I wanted to breed them.
 

Jon E

New Member
Messages
11
Location
Alberta, Canada
Well I thought I had a failed spawn, I was wrong! Today I have seen some free swimming fry! about 12 that I can see!
I feel a little unprepared, as I don't have any BBS but I do know there is bunch of micro organisms in the tank. I did Grind up some bug bites into a powder and have some froze daphnia and cyclops ready to go. My next project is a BBS hatchery.
I plan to leave the mother with the fry (assuming they make it through this first week) for 6 weeks or so, at which time I will move the fry to a grow out tank.
Water parameters
temp 80 F
TDS 42
PH 6.8
 

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Samala

Active Member
Messages
99
Location
Oviedo, FL
The fry appear to have very rounded little bellies so they are eating something! You might want to try microworms or get some going in preparation for the next spawn.
 

Carl W

New Member
Messages
5
If possible go with brine shrimp nauplii. You can buy the eggs of Amazon last I checked. As far as I know there isn't a better start up food for fry and Apisto fry are able to eat them from the start. They are easy to hatch and you have a non stop supply of good live food.
 

CRD

Member
Messages
56
how long can you keep BBS alive? what is the best way to store (If any) BBS so that you don't have to have a hatch going all the time? I hatched a 1/4 teaspoon and it was much more than I needed.
You really don't want to try and store them live....once the yolk sack they carry is consumed, they aren't really a magic food anymore. Hatch fewer every day.
 

Ben Rhau

Apisto Club
Messages
566
Location
San Francisco
I hatch every 3 days and keep the leftovers in petri dishes in the fridge. Their metabolisms slow down considerably at 4C, and are good for 2-3 days.
 

Ben Rhau

Apisto Club
Messages
566
Location
San Francisco
They are pretty still at 4C, but wake up again when you rinse them and resuspend in tank water. I just use refrigerate them in hatch water.
 

FishMonkey

Member
Messages
50
I haven't had any apisto fry yet but when I had rams I used hikari first bites which had quite a good success rate, not quite live food but pretty good.

You have to mix it in a petri dish until it sinks, then syringe it up and gently spray it a couple of inches above the fry. It takes a day or two before they eat eat but once a few figure it out the rest soon follow plus it gets them used to artificial foods early.
 

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