Breeding A. gephyra

[raymond82]

Hi,

The wild caught gephyra's I recently bought I think have spawned. The female I thought was a male has been in a cave now for a couple of days now.

I found this old (2002) thread on breeding gephyra and it doesn't make me very hopeful. Apparently it is quite difficult to have eggs develop and this will only work with really low pH. The thread actually ends quite abruptly with "exploded eggs", altogether not really assuring...

Does anyone have more recent experience with breeding this fish? Any advice that could be of help to me?

 

[Mike Wise]

A. gephyra are not as demanding of acid, soft water values as some of the other Rio Negro species. Still, I suggest that you lower the pH to ~6.0 and soft water (dKH<4°).

 

[raymond82]

Thanks Mike, that's encouraging after reading the 2002 thread. The fish are at a conductivity of around 75 microS/cm and a pH of around 5.5. The female has been busy making wonderful "dunes" in front of the entrance to the cave, so far she still seems to be doing well with the eggs!

 

[Gwendal]

Nice work! we will wait for some new pics.






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[raymond82]

The female is still busy in the cave so I have good hopes the eggs are developing nicely, if fry comes out it will probably happen soon. I have 5 Hyphessobrycon amandae in the same tank, would they pose any threat to the fry?

 

[Brown Water]

how do you sex these? lfs has some for sale and i was thinking of getting some, but they arnt pairs they are like 13$ ea. so im assuming that they cant be sexed?

congrats on getting yours to spawn!

 

[raymond82]

Mike Wise explained this very nicely when I asked the same thing recently:

"Adult females will have a round caudal fin with little or no markings. The ventral fins will be shorter. The posterior tips of the dorsal and anal fins will be rounded. The face will show few metallic blue markings."

This is the whole thread: http://www.apistogramma.com/forum/index.php?threads/gephyra-male-or-female.12760/#ixzz23AqzkaZm

Still haven't seen any fry but I'm expecting to see some soon!

 

[Brown Water]

Mike Wise explained this very nicely when I asked the same thing recently:



This is the whole thread: http://www.apistogramma.com/forum/index.php?threads/gephyra-male-or-female.12760/#ixzz23AqzkaZm

Still haven't seen any fry but I'm expecting to see some soon!

nice thank you! keep us updated on the fry!

 

[raymond82]

The fry are free swimming today!! The tank is quite dark so I couldn't count them (or take a picture) but it looks like they're a reasonable amount. I don't really trust the H. amandae that are with them so I think I'll try to remove them later. Although I have to say the female is doing a good job keeping them in a corner.

 

[Brown Water]

Wow! Congrats! Can't wait to see some pictures

 

[hapaluku]

Congrats with the spawn..

 

[Brown Water]

you made me go out and buy a pair today. aggassizi's are too easy imo.

 

[raymond82]

Here are some pictures, not incredibly clear but you can see some fry!

 

[Brown Water]

awesome pics. how are they doing?

 

[raymond82]

Thanks! They're doing fine, I have the feeling some have disappeared but it's still quite a big group and they're growing well! In then end I left the H. amandae with them in the tank, the female is very good at keeping the other fish at a distance.

 

[Gwendal]

Congratulations for the fry!







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[raymond82]

Meanwhile, the fry is doing fine and growing quite big. They seem to have taken over the whole aquarium and sometimes feed side by side with the H. amandae's.

The father seems to have taken over the care from the mother, who spends a lot of time hiding now. I understand it is is quite common that males take over care for the fry. Is there any explanation for why they do this?

 

[Mike Wise]

No real explanation. In some apisto species males sometimes take over brood care if the female breeds again. This is more common in pair bonding species, however. Just be happy he is caring for them instead of harassing a brood-caring female (or being attacked by her!).

 

[raymond82]

Thanks Mike, but don't get me wrong: I'm very happy with how he's behaving! He's taking good care of them while not bothering the female too much. I was just curious if it is known what circumstances could evoke such behavior.

 

[Gwendal]

In the next time you will be more lucky!






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