belly sliders

[Corie Dora]

I'm looking for as much information as possible on belly sliders, and wanting to know what if any, are people's experiences with them.

My experience:I had a batch of cacatuoides last month, only 6 fish survived due to an accident. All of them what I *think* are belly sliders. They are all growing and eating well, swimming, but always resting on the bottom when not in motion. We've been meaning to euthanize them but haven't gotten around to it yet.

I now have another batch of cacatuoides born to the same father, but different mother, numbering around 40-50 fish, hatched out 4 days ago. They are all behaving the same way as the last batch. I don't see them as a cloud around the mother, which is what I thought they should be doing. Instead, they swim up jerkily about 1-3 cm off the bottom to eat their microworms and bbs, then rest on the bottom once full. Today they looked as though they were trying to paste themselves to the wall of the tank.?! They stay near the mom, and can get around the tank just fine, are growing, eating ect ect. but I don't see them 'hovering' at all, but resting on the bottom and then swimming.

The 2 mothers are related and of sound genetics, but the father is from an entirely different source, genetics unknown.

Any thoughts and experiences on this type of behaviour, and whether or not these are belly sliders or not would be much appreciated.

Thanks

 

[lab]

In general Apistogramma youngsters will stick much more to the substrate than for example cichlid species that spawn in the open (eg. Mikrogeophagus, Laetacara). Could it just be this difference that you are observing?
The fry of open substrate spawners will hover in a swarm just like you describe it, while Apistos seek protection by sticking to the bottom. In some species the mother even has a signal that will cause the fry to drop lifeless to the bottom.

I don't have experiences with belly sliders, so if this is the case I'm not of much help.


Allt the best,
Lars

 

[Corie Dora]

Thanks Lars, that's very helpful.

I'm not really sure if that's what I'm observing. I have bred this species before, but not in such a concentrated effort as now. I seem to remember the fry hovering about, especially when they were larger. I have also bred Angels, pseudotropheus and convicts, and those fry definately swam all over the place, so I'm glad you pointed out the difference. I was kind of expecting the apistos to do that.

The apisto fry I have which are 4 weeks + still stick to the bottom. These fish are about a half centimeter. When they swim up, it reminds me of a catfish, something without a swim bladder swimming. But they don't spiral or corkscrew swim or anything which I've read that belly sliders do, for the most part they are normal. With this older brood, I did make the mistake of squirting melted bloodworms into the cave for the mom, when they were wigglers so perhaps this caused some development problems.

My new brood however, which is only a few days old and number about 40+ fish, seem to behave exactly the same way as the older brood did at that age. Right now, they have been jerkily moving up the glass and the sponge; eating microbes I suppose, but they remind me of little plecos right now. They are all readily taking bbs.

I'm not sure. I think I need to get someone experienced to take a look at them or videotape their movements somehow so someone else can see them. I don't want to cull them all, just beacause I'm not experienced enough to recognize what may be normal behaviour. Perhaps my own motherly instincts have led me to be paranoid about their development!!