Breeding Problems with Orange Flash

[skray]

I have had 2 pairs of orange flash for about a year now. I know the male and female are good because the first few times they laid they raised the fry to about 5 days old .So I know they are fertile.But from about the 3rd batch its been down hill since. They lay quite often but do not raise the babies. I have pulled the males. I have pulled the females. Eggs always end up getting eaten. I have tried pulling the eggs and raising them artificially. I can't get them to hatch. I put the eggs in a tank by themselves. I use methalane blue and an airstone by the eggs for a gentle airflow. Water is at 82 degrees. PH is a 6.6-6.8. How can I hatch 100 German Blue ram eggs in these same conditions, but I cannot hatch the orange flash.


I have even had the rams and the apistos lay on the same day in the exact same condition. I have even tried to put both ram eggs and apisto eggs in the same container at the same time .All the ram eggs will hatch but only about 5 apistos hatch.

1 pair per 10 gallon aquarium.
PH 6.6-6.8
Temp 80-82 degrees
Frozen blood worms & frozen brine shrimp

Any suggestions????????????
Thanks for your help,
Kenny Ray

 

[tjudy]

Sounds to me like something happened to the fertility of the male. You might want to consider tryng a different male... any color strain will do... just to see if that is the case.

 

[skray]

That is a good thought.I do have 2 other males one is a tripple red male and another orange flash male.But i cant seem to get them to breed.I keep the males and females seperate till time to breed .Neither one of those males has ever enticed a female to breed with them.
Any idea what might have caused him to possibly lose his fertility?
Thanks for your help.
Kenny Ray

 

[tjudy]

Most likely cause would be an infection. How old is he? If he is over 1.5 - 2 years old it might be age. Any particular reason you keep them apart until breeding? My pairs seem to get along better when they stay togther.

 

[Randall]

Viable eggs

Hello Kenny,

How's the conductivity of your water? Water with high conductivity and/or high carbonate levels can interfere with egg fertilization and development.

Good luck!

Randall Kohn

 

[tjd]

Viable Eggs

Kenny, you may be going through something similar to what I went through with some Aggies. The thread I started last year is:

http://forum.apistogramma.com/showthread.php?p=25191#post25191

But to summarize, I had checked and controlled the water conditions, I separated the pair for months, tried different temperatures, treated for possible infections,... What made the difference for me was food. Once I started including BBS as a daily part of their diet they came around wonderfully.

Tom

 

[Apisto ranch]

I had the samething happen with my pair of Orange flash. The eggs just wouldn't hatch no matter what I did to try. It all changed when I started feeding BBS. I also kept the male in the tank at all times with the female now. This has helped 100% The pair being togeather all the time has reselted in a spaw every 14days. Almost to the point you can set your whatch by them, the eggs or fertile and I'm getting at least a 80% hatch rate from her now.

 

[skray]

Thank you for your comment and ideas.

The apistro’s lay about every two months, so in an attempt to stimulate breeding, I separated the males and females for a week and then match them back up. They tend to be more interested in each other after going through a week of separation.

When they lay eggs, they last 24 to 36 hrs with the parent and then they‘re eaten. Are the parents eating them because they are fungused? (I never see them under the parents turn white). If I artificially raise them they start out as red and after 24 to 36 they start to turn white.

What is the recommended breeding TDS level for Apistos? 20 – 80 ppm?

Water out of the tap – well water (5.5 pH) raised to pH 6.6 – 6.8,
20 ppm TDS
Temp 80 – 83 F
2 x water change per week

Thanks for you help.
Kenny Ray