• Hello guest! Are you an Apistogramma enthusiast? If so we invite you to join our community and see what it has to offer. Our site is specifically designed for you and it's a great place for Apisto enthusiasts to meet online. Once you join you'll be able to post messages, upload pictures of your fish and tanks and have a great time with other Apisto enthusiasts. Sign up today!

Cupid's Arrow

Mol_PMB

Active Member
Messages
252
I haven't been around for a while; sold some of my cichlids and lost a few too, sadly.

I've had my Cupids for over 2 years and nearly lost them all in a major tank disaster while I was away 3 months ago. The 3 survivors (of 8) had a very near-death experience.

However, I've come home from work today to a very pleasant surprise.This is the first sign of breeding I've noticed from them. Let's hope it's the start of something.

Cheers,
Paul
 

Attachments

  • cupid_on_eggs.jpg
    cupid_on_eggs.jpg
    563.6 KB · Views: 779
  • cupid_on_eggs_2.jpg
    cupid_on_eggs_2.jpg
    483.3 KB · Views: 784

Mol_PMB

Active Member
Messages
252
This morning both Mum and Dad were by the eggs.
Now, Mum is no longer guarding eggs. She is hovering in a different place nearby, behind a chunk of bogwood so it's impossible to see what's going on. But I can see a spoil heap of substrate so it looks like some digging has occurred. She may have dug a pit to contain her fry? Hopefully.
 

Mol_PMB

Active Member
Messages
252
This may be a daft question, but can anyone tell me which is Mum and which is Dad? I can see no difference in fin shapes or blue stripes. There is a difference in the proportions of the face, I think.
 

Attachments

  • image.jpg
    image.jpg
    751.9 KB · Views: 676

Mol_PMB

Active Member
Messages
252
The fry are eating, pooing and growing, though slowly. There has been some attrition in numbers, partly through predation by the Brochis. But still about 100 left (at a guess).
Today's surprise was in another tank, where I spotted a half-inch long L397
icon_smile.gif
 

Mol_PMB

Active Member
Messages
252
Some more pics of they fry. They're not great pics I'm afraid; the lighting is gloomy and the fry are tiny and fast-moving.
Also the tank is full of hairy algae which looks terrible but provides a great grazing ground for the fry. You can see some of them trailing strings of poo
icon_smile.gif

Spot the odd one out ;)
cupid_fry_20june_3.jpg
cupid_fry_20june_4.jpg
L397_little+large.jpg
cupid_fry_20june.jpg
cupid_fry_20june_2.jpg
 

Mol_PMB

Active Member
Messages
252
I've been away for nearly a week, but am pleased to report that my arrangements to provide food to the fry seem to have worked. I still have between 30 and 50 of the little ones, which are approaching 10mm TL.

I'm currently feeding microworms, BBS, 'golden pearls 5-50um', Chlorella and Spirulina powder, and a blackwater gloop full of paramecium etc.

Any thought on what foods I should move on to next, and when? I've got grindalworms and daphnia but those are both too big. Should I be acquiring a new culture of something?

Thanks,
Paul.
 

Mol_PMB

Active Member
Messages
252
Thanks :)

I tried to get some more pictures tonight, but they've spent all evening grazing in the back corner under the watchful eyes of Mum and Dad.
They seem to love rooting in the (very unsightly) algae for microscopic critters. I haven't managed an accurate count but there are at least 30 of them - down from the 100 or so that hatched but still pretty respectable after a couple of weeks.

Here are a couple of bad pics. I'll try again tomorrow.
 

Attachments

  • cupid_fry_28june.jpg
    cupid_fry_28june.jpg
    1.4 MB · Views: 657
  • cupid_fry_28june_2.jpg
    cupid_fry_28june_2.jpg
    647.6 KB · Views: 667

Mol_PMB

Active Member
Messages
252
I've been away for two weeks; had a friend come in and feed the fish a couple of times. Happily I still have a good shoal of baby Cupids; I reckon about 25 but they're very hard to count. They're starting to look like miniatures of their parents and have been eating greedily since I got back.

Here are some new photos taken yesterday:
Cupid_1.jpg
Cupid_2.jpg
Cupid_3.jpg
 

MickeM

Active Member
5 Year Member
Messages
441
Location
STOCKHOLM , SWEDEN
This may be a daft question, but can anyone tell me which is Mum and which is Dad? I can see no difference in fin shapes or blue stripes. There is a difference in the proportions of the face, I think.

Maybe a late recieved guess from my part..???

Female to the left, male to the right.. !!??

"Female" with higher/shorter bodyform + more prominent/intense black body-spot/spots on the golden "background"(I think the "male" looks more pale..!!??) + slightly shorter and somehow bent pelvic-fins!!??
I often also get a sense that the "visable" internal stomach/intestines/"egg sac" looks a little bit different..larger/wider on females!!??, this even if the female has been in a recent mating/spawning.. and laying her eggs..

I guess the female in "similarly"-looking species get a more intense color/pattern.. since cichlid females historically/often/naturally stays closer to the fry..??

BTW.. Nice pics!! ;)
 

Mol_PMB

Active Member
Messages
252
Thanks MickeM!
With the Biotodoma cupido I have found that once they're free-swimming, both parents look after the fry equally. My Pelvicachomis subocellatus were the same.
This is quite different to my Dicrossus filamentosus pairs where only the female was involved in raising the fry, and she actively chased away the male.

I'll try to keep documenting the slow growth of the fry with more photos :)

Regards,
Paul
 

Mol_PMB

Active Member
Messages
252
Some updated photos of the baby cupids. I still have about 20 of them, most about 2cm total length. Pics 3 and 4 are of one that accidentally went for a flume ride up the siphon pipe, and I rescued it and put it in a little tank on its own. Seen here having a meal of BBS.
 

Attachments

  • cupid_fry_2sep16_1.jpg
    cupid_fry_2sep16_1.jpg
    2.8 MB · Views: 625
  • cupid_fry_2sep16_2.jpg
    cupid_fry_2sep16_2.jpg
    2.3 MB · Views: 713
  • cupid_fry_2sep16_3.jpg
    cupid_fry_2sep16_3.jpg
    1.8 MB · Views: 610
  • cupid_fry_2sep16_4.jpg
    cupid_fry_2sep16_4.jpg
    1.7 MB · Views: 596

Mol_PMB

Active Member
Messages
252
Updated pics. New census suggests there are between 25 and 30 of them, about 1" long and now looking like miniature adults :)
 

Attachments

  • Cupids_18-09-2016_6+adult.jpg
    Cupids_18-09-2016_6+adult.jpg
    4 MB · Views: 722
  • Cupids_18-09-2016_8+adults.jpg
    Cupids_18-09-2016_8+adults.jpg
    3.4 MB · Views: 655
  • Cupids_18-09-2016_9.jpg
    Cupids_18-09-2016_9.jpg
    1.5 MB · Views: 542
  • Cupids_18-09-2016_10.jpg
    Cupids_18-09-2016_10.jpg
    1.6 MB · Views: 547
  • Cupids_18-09-2016_12.jpg
    Cupids_18-09-2016_12.jpg
    1.6 MB · Views: 712
  • Cupids_18-09-2016_14.jpg
    Cupids_18-09-2016_14.jpg
    1.5 MB · Views: 555

Mol_PMB

Active Member
Messages
252
Thanks Chris - I will do :)
I've had quite a lot of interest in these fish from local shops and on another forum, and will be selling most of them when they're a bit bigger. Would anyone on here be interested in buying some? I'm in Manchester.
 

Members online

Forum statistics

Threads
17,915
Messages
116,201
Members
13,027
Latest member
tonc61

Latest profile posts

Josh wrote on anewbie's profile.
Testing
EDO
Longtime fish enthusiast for over 70years......keen on Apistos now. How do I post videos?
Looking for some help with fighting electric blue rams :(
Partial updated Peruvian list have more than this. Please PM FOR ANY QUESTIONS so hard to post with all the ads poping up every 2 seconds….
Top