catching apistogramma cacatuoides fry

[TK27]

Hello everyone,

I have a question about catching fry. I have a great pair of cacatuoides, i have them for 3 months now, and they have had fry every month now. its just a community tank, so im not really breeding them, but my father is able to raise them in his tank. I recently found some fry in my tank and managed to catch them with a small net (4 now, all caught on a different day) At first I thought they all died but they seem to survive pretty well in my tank, a lot of wood and plants in it. I was wondering if there is a way to catch them before they leave their mothers protection? I would love to raise some more fry besides my rabbit fry, uh I mean swordtail fry catching them with a net is kind of hard to do. does anyone have any suggestions? I used to breed them, had 2 tanks, and would just move the parents but I dont do that anymore, its a community tank. I would love to hear some suggestions/advice etc.

thank you for reading, i cant keep things short

Edit: added a pic of the first fry that I caught. it was in the quarantine tank at that moment.

 

[Mike Wise]

Use a small diameter siphon hose if still clustered together. I personally prefer to let mom keep them for a while until they are larger; less chance of damage when ¼"/6mm or larger. Of course once they are this size they usually are on their own. Then I use a bottle trap (see: http://www.apistogramma.com/forum/threads/methods-for-catching-fry.18414/#post-87959).

 

[TK27]

Thanks for the information! I checked today and couldnt find the fry nearby the mother. been looking for some time and managed to spot a few, they seem to have left the protection. looks like i should try to make me a bottle trap then I will try the siphon hose thing when they have fry again. with their rate, it shouldnt be too long from now. I prefer to keep them with the mother for some time aswel. they seem to leave their mother after about two weeks. I have been keeping track of this with all the fry I had. this is the third time theyve had fry. first time didnt work out. so thats only 2 times I took notes of that, not that reliable yet.
Does anyone know how long it takes for the fry to leave their mothers protection?

 

[Russ Hennessey]

they tend to start straying in the first 14 days and its usually about 30 days till mom is chasing them and ready to breed again . I try to take mine out when she starts chasing them....The difference is that I keep pairs in breeding tanks and my male is kept separate. Once I've separated them he then goes back in and they start again.

 

[TK27]

for now I do use 3 methods, bottle trap, syphon and just catching them with a net. I put in the bottle trap right after I think they left their mother. I do use a net most of the time. They all seem to go to my big piece of wood, it has lots of holes and plants in and on it to hide in. They can also reach the surface of the water pretty safe(its close to the water surface at one part). ALL the fry seem to find this spot. I just trhow some sinking food on it and they will come out, then I catch them with my net. for now it seems that from every batch of fry, about 10 survive. they grow up in a big tank, it has 3 parts to keep multiple generations at once. they grow up with swordtail and endler gup fry. I do sell those to my local fish store, I look at it as free food for my fish. I just like to see some fish grow up.

also added a pic from one of the fry. i love his colors already.

 

[boofeng]

As a variation on the bottle trap, I sometimes use a breeder box (the type used for guppies and shrimp) stuffed full of plants, especially java moss, plus a squirt of grindal worms. When the fry are deep within the plants I pull the box up, and their natural response is to seek cover, swimming downwards and into the plants, rather than out of the trap.