Apistogramma macmasteri fry

[Pol Nadal]

Hi all,

after some initial failed attempts, I decided to give a try to this commonly sold but magnificent fish. I must say that the behavior of this fish has really surprised me, whilst in the community tank, the male behave incredibly aggressive towards other apistos (m/f), both a re really peaceful with the rest of my fish (discus/tetras/corys/ancistrus,…) something i can't say from my eremnopyge pair that like to make a territory and annoy any passing by fish!!, as a pair he's been incredibly peaceful and protective with the female and the fry.

So after an unsuccessful spawn in the communitary tank, my macs were placed in the breeding tank, and with the right parameters (or the ones i guess they are for most apistos = 26-27ºC, destilled water = hardness 0 and a pH around 6), the female disappeared 2 days after inside the cave and covered the entrance.

I must say that, as a novice, I was quite surprised (and worried) when I did not see the female in almost 3 days, not even when feeding. Despite the facts pointed at it, I could not confirm the spawn till 5-7 days later when she decided to come out with the free swimming fry, At this moment I decided to remove the male form the tank.

The spawn has been quite small, I blame for that the age of the female, I think she's quite young based on size (compared to other females i've seen in pics and vids), but i can't discard any other reason!!. I guess I got around 15-20 babies max, which is the half of what I got with the A. eremnopyge first spawn.

Let's see how it evolves and hope I won't get many loses.

Here my first pic + vid of day one free swimming fry:

cheers,

Pol

 

[regani]

Congratulations to the spawn. The macmasteri fry are quite hardy and grow reasonably well. I always find it interesting to observe the female take care of the fry. With the pairs I had with this species I have always found the father to be reasonably well tolerated by the female and taking part in the raising of the fry. You could try to leave the male in for the next batch, maybe.

 

[Pol Nadal]

Thanks regani,

yes, i was also surprised how well tolerated the male was in the presence of the fry (i was told by Fabio Silva, that he got the same positive surprise with his A. panduro pair),… but there was a moment where a little one got lost from the group and encountered daddy where i really doubted what was going to be his reaction: eating or protecting it and I decided to act immediately to ensure the survival of this one and the rest of the fry. Don't try the same with A. eremnopyge (my experience) or A. baenschi "inka" (Fabio's experience),… it may not end up good

Also I must emphasize that i am using an aquarium size below what most of you would recommend (30 liters) so space can be a big problem even for the most tolerant of the mothers, you can see that in the short video, where she chases him away, as soon as he gets closer to the where the fry are. (he appears from the left side, u can see a dark shadow and mum reacts immediately),

I'll keep you posted on how that goes but i am glad to hear that they are hardy, and i already heard before that the growth rate will be much faster that what i am seeing in my eremnopyge fry,

cheers,

Pol

 

[Psycho74]

Congratulations with the fry. I look forward to reading how they progress. I'm awaiting my first batch of Cacataudies and can't wait to see the parents raise them!

 

[Pol Nadal]

Thanks Psycho74,
something else that surprised me of the macs' fry is their easiness to feed on BBS, the A.eremnopyge fry weren't so keen accepting food on the first days, the macs just love it. I guess this is another reason why they are considered hardy.
I've also discovered how easy is for fish to end up accepting only live food and how to switch them to dry pellets, they just need to learn from others: my eremnopyge adults would NEVER eat pellets in the breeding setup. As soon as I moved them to the community tank, they got to see what the others feed on (pellets) and decided that being hungry wasn't really worth.
I still have to see in the case of the eremnopyge (and later on with the macs) what percentage of males and females did i get. If i get 100% females it's going to be awful to sell them so i keep my fingers crossed.,

greets,

P.

 

[Psycho74]

Yes I know what you mean in regard to change of diet. However it's a bit of a trial and hope they turn for the dry food. I'm going through a similar situation with my two male Cacataudies that have been placed in the community tank. Boy was I relieved to see them eat! But I also think they have snacked on a few cardinals too! :-/

 

[Pol Nadal]

I was really afraid in the case of the female eremnopyge who never took a single pellet in the month she was in the breeding tank. I thought she would starve in the community tank where the rummy nose and the cardinal tetras won't let a single Grindal reach the bottom (sad also for my corys, I am certain that they would adore them). But I guess she noticed what was the situation, saw what the others were eating and probably thought: "what the heck?" i go for that now!! Now she doesn't miss a pellet!!

 

[regani]

To get the fry onto dry foods I start mixing in finely crushed flake with the brine shrimp after the first 2-3 weeks, then start to increase te amount of flake and reduce the amount of brine shrimp after a few more weeks. All my apistos are on dried foods as staple with some live foods mixed in a few times a week

 

[Pol Nadal]

Thanks Regani,

i will try that, i also thought of growing grindal on fish flakes in place of dry cat food to try to make them familiar to the taste. Otherwise i will have to prepare finely crushed cat food .
Thanks once again for the tip!!
By the way: the guy on your profile picture is a macmasteri, a borelli, or "the real thing"??
P.

 

[regani]

I am not sure if changing the food of your grindals will make them taste different -beef doesn't taste like grass either...

The fish in my avatar is an A. hongsloi Farbform 2

 

[Pol Nadal]

hehehe, i get the point but since I am spanish I will argue that the best ham is that made from pigs that eat in the fields,… but indeed they still taste like ham

 

[Psycho74]

Sorry to hijack your thread Pol Nadal. But how are your fry coming along? My Cacataudies have fry yesterday. Should I be giving them any special food at such young age or will they pick at the scraps?

 

[Pol Nadal]

Hi Psycho74,

nothing to worry, that's the idea of these forums.
My fry are doing well so far, sadly this week due to my work I did not manage to feed them more than 1 x day something i really try to avoid doing, tomorrow since it's weekend I will try to "compensate" a bit.
Normally the fry stills eating 2 days after starting free swimming. Then it's best to feed them with BBS, alternatively microworms or any of the solutions containing dead BBS that are sold at local aquarium stores.
I gave you the list in the order of best to worse, the best you treat them, the more of them that will reach adulthood. It is important to change 10-30% of the water every 2-3 days to increase survival rate. The water needs to be treated to remove chlorine and chlorinated substances (if using tap water).
Any question, just ask, I hope I can help you a bit,

many greetings and nice weekend!!

Pol

 

[Pol Nadal]

Hi guys,

i let you the last video of my macs fry, I was really surprised today when I saw the fry eating the adult Grindals that I was serving to the mother, I guess they really are growing much faster than the A. eremnopyge fry. The macs have now 3 weeks and here they are feeding on BBS:

greets

Pol