At last - my Cacatuoides have spawned :)

[davidjp1982]

Who would have guessed - after removing all other fish and leaving my orange flash pair with some privacy, they spawned within 2 days

Having trouble getting a good pic but here's the proud mother with her fry

 

[davidjp1982]

Fascinating to watch at first I thought she was eating the fry but she is actually picking up any that stray too far and then spitting them back with the rest

 

[MonteSS]

Gratz. My mom took good care for a weekor so. Not bad for a first time.

....Bill

 

[davidjp1982]

I was going to leave them in for another 4 or 5 days and then move to another tank unless anyone thinks its safer to remove earlier for a first spawn?

 

[MonteSS]

First spawn leave them alone to learn. They will spawn again.

I found my female still has a couple left that I didnt see.

....Bill

 

[davidjp1982]

Thanks will be hard not to try and rescue the little critters if things turn nasty!

 

[wethumbs]

The female in the pic doesn't look like an 'orange flash' since it has black spots on the caudal fin.

 

[davidjp1982]

Ah what would you think it is?

 

[davidjp1982]

Also, the tank is starting to look a bit messy as I haven't cleaned the glass or excessively vacuumed since the fry arrived as I thought it best to leave alone as much as possible. I put a stocking over the PF2 filter so as not to suck any fry up but as a result there's quite a lot of debris gathering. I'm doing a 20% daily water change so I'm guessing the debris on the substrate will offer a food source for the fry?

 

[MonteSS]

Here is my Orange Flash for comparison.



....Bill

 

[wethumbs]

Here are just some examples of my 'Orange Flash' females.

Your fish most likely is a 'Double Red' or 'Triple Red' female. My suggestion is to contact the person who you got your fish from and let them know the fish you got is not what was advertised. Chances are somewhere down the line, a 'double red' and 'orange flash' were bred together creating a kaleidoscope of various color morphs of cacatuoides. Kind of like some Apisto breeders that bin out their 'Double Red' and 'Triple Red' from the same batch. In this case, there are 'Double Red' and 'Orange Flash' from the same batch.

 

[davidjp1982]

Yep I definitely don't have any of those you pictured! Will be interesting to see what variations of fry I end up with - that's if I can raise any - can't see many in the tank today, started with maybe 15 after a week I think I can see only 2 or 3 this morning

 

[MonteSS]

So are you saying that mine is not an Orange flash either?

Not that I really care

I still have at least two left that I can see. They are about two weeks old now.

....Bill

 

[wethumbs]

I was referring to the original post by davaidjp1982.

 

[davidjp1982]

My male is having a really tough time he's spent a week cowering behind the filter and getting harassed whenever he emerges from cover - should I move him to a 10 gallon temporarily or will keeping the pair together in the tank stimulate a "protect the fry" mode in the female. She is out parading the fry foraging for food today counted 11 Thought Id lost them all!

 

[MonteSS]

What size tank? My male stays away and is not stressed at all. She stays in the back and he stays in the front. He is not shy at all. Mine is 24" 26g bowfront.

.....Bill

 

[davidjp1982]

It's 24" however he is dive bombed the second she catches site of him ANYWHERE in the tank

 

[wethumbs]

Sound like there isn't enough hiding places as well as structures to break the line of sight.

 

[davidjp1982]

This is the tank before I got rid of the other fish. She's taken up residence behind the bog wood just underneath the filter. There's also another coconut cave you can't see in this pic which I moved to the front left corner.

 

[davidjp1982]

Female and fry