Everything About Breeding Apistogramma Cacatuoides

[kaitlyn19]

Okay so me and my husband recently got 3 trios of triple red apistogramma cacatuoides. We have a 30 gallon breeder tank set up for them. When we brought them home for the first time we put one trio in the breeder tank and the rest in our 80 gallon community tank. That way they wouldn't be as stressed by the change (my community tank has pretty hard water and the breeder tank has very soft water).
We are new to breeding egg layers but we are not new to fish keeping. I need some tips from people who are breeding or have bred these guys successfully. These guys will be our first breeders and then were also going to start on apistogramma agassizi's as we have very nice ones.

So basically I want to know EVERYTHING! I know ive came to the right place. I will add pictures of what the breeder tank looks like right now. I know apistos love to hide and this breeder tank is a little bare but its a breeder tank and Ive seen people have successful spawns in a bare tank. Keep in mind I am willing to change anything. I want this tank to be the perfect apisto breeding tank so that's why I am here.
They have been in this tank since Friday afternoon and no spawning yet. They just hide where they can all day. I have seen a male and female in the cave together but no spawning. The male stays close the both the females (trying to get a harem thing going on) all the time and chases and pokes at them.
Tank Parameters are:
PH:6.5-7
Hardness: 7 PPM
Temp: 79 Degrees ( I think I need to up the temp but im waiting on getting a adjustable heater, I have one of those ones that just stays at the same temp)
Ammonia, nitrate and nitrite are all good (normal)

Heres the tank and fish:

As you can see I have those 2 perfect looking caves for them, atleast I think they would be perfect for apistos. I want to change the gravel to sand like my other tanks asap and I have some live sword plants and java moss coming in the mail this week. Other then that suggestions?? I want to hear EVERYTHING to have to say about breeding these guys Tanks all!!

 

[Basha312]

That tank is really bright. If you were to put in some floating plants or really anything to make it a bit darker I think that your apistos would be much happier.

Also what kind of filter are you using? If you are not using a sponge filter then you probably should be, cacatuoides prefer very little flow and a sponge filter allows for sufficient filtration and minimal flow.

Another important factor is food. They will be more likely to breed if they are on a varied diet of frozen/live food.

Basically the idea is the happier they are the more likely they are to breed

 

[kaitlyn19]

Okay that makes sense. Yeah I was thinking it was a little too bright for them. I can add some floating plants or one of my weaker bulbs. Yeah its just a normal, hang off the back filter (tetra 20-40 gallon). I put some panty hose over the cover for the fry but maybe the problem is the flow? Which would suck cause I just got this filter the other week but that's okay, always good to have spares. Im going to try dimming the light and getting a few more caves for them for more options. Theres kinda **** all around here for good fish places so I was thinking about making my coconut cave and maybe getting some rocks and positioning them in such a way as they can hide under. I will be adding many live plants soon (there soo expensive at stores so im waiting for the London auction in a few weeks and for some to come from ebay) as well as java moss so I hope it lightens up the mood in there lol.
I need to focus on making them happy and the rest will fall into place, im doing lots of research today.

As for what they eat. They hardly ever get flakes and if they do is the colbalt brand (very good). All my fish get a mix of frozen brine shrimp, frozen blood worms and live black worms. But these guys are only being fed the live stuff at the moment. I heard it gets them in the mood. I have a culture of the black worms so there always around.
Thanks for the advice, keep it coming everyone!! I hope to share a successful spawn with the site soon!

 

[Basha312]

Since they are in a 30g tank you might be alrght with a HOB filter if it has an adjustable speed. When I had a HOB filter on my tank my apistos rarely came out of hiding and switching to a sponge filter made a huge difference. They are cheap (under $10) and are powered by a simple air pump.

 

[kaitlyn19]

Since they are in a 30g tank you might be alrght with a HOB filter if it has an adjustable speed. When I had a HOB filter on my tank my apistos rarely came out of hiding and switching to a sponge filter made a huge difference. They are cheap (under $10) and are powered by a simple air pump.

Yeah I know, I should have just got a sponge filter to begin with but I actually didn't know it was the flow they didn't like. I thought people just used sponge filters to keep the fry from being sucked up. I am going to the last auction for spring next weekend so im waiting to get all my new supplies from there because it sooo cheap. I plan on getting ALOT of live plants and some huts if I can. That should make them a lot happier. Ill pick up a sponge filter there too. Thanks guys

 

[Basha312]

Cacatuoides don' t like flow but I can't confirm for other spieces, so it may be different when you go for agassizi's when you try that. I'm sure someone else on here knows what conditions agassizi's prefer

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,
Have a look at Bob Wiltshire's web site for some details about Apistogramma tanks:
<http://www.dwarfcichlid.com/Aquarium_care.php>

If you've got time try and read all the different sections "Aquarium plants" etc it would re-pay you a 100 times over in the long term.

cheers Darrel

 

[lurch1000]

I have to say even a lightly planted tank brings out the best of many fish if thought is given to cover and territory making.

 

[kaitlyn19]

Thanks all. Okay so its actually good I went out a bought the HOB filter anyways cause its always good to have a spare and the I can use it for species who like the flow. Ill definatly be picking up a sponge filter this weekend as I have many air pumps laying around. The auction is next weekend so im just going to try to keep these guys happy (adding more hiding places) until then. I don't expect them to breed until I have the plants, lower lighting and the sponge filter.
Thanks DW1305, I actually was just reading his site earlier and got some awesome ideas, ive seen some of your other posts and clicked on the links there.

 

[Mike Wise]

Just my thoughts. A. cacatuoides is one of the easier apistos to breed. If they are adults and not breeding, then something is wrong with either the water, aquarium decor, or food. Your food should be OK. I'm not a fan of aquatic worms, but that's me. Your aquarium is rather bare. Still, I don't recommend sticking in bunches of plants if you don't have experience with aquatic plants and their needs. A lot of dying plants won't help anything. When in doubt add a giant clump of Java Moss or 2. I must agree that the tank is way too bright and the substrate coarser than what I prefer, but the fish will survive if they have places 'out of the light'. You won't see them very often, however. My fish also prefer breeding caves with very narrow openings, just large enough for the female to 'shimmy' into. Males don't need to get into the cave. You can use the ceramic caves you have. Just cover most of their openings. You never mention your water values. Do you really know what they are?

 

[kaitlyn19]

Just my thoughts. A. cacatuoides is one of the easier apistos to breed. If they are adults and not breeding, then something is wrong with either the water, aquarium decor, or food. Your food should be OK. I'm not a fan of aquatic worms, but that's me. Your aquarium is rather bare. Still, I don't recommend sticking in bunches of plants if you don't have experience with aquatic plants and their needs. A lot of dying plants won't help anything. When in doubt add a giant clump of Java Moss or 2. I must agree that the tank is way too bright and the substrate coarser than what I prefer, but the fish will survive if they have places 'out of the light'. You won't see them very often, however. My fish also prefer breeding caves with very narrow openings, just large enough for the female to 'shimmy' into. Males don't need to get into the cave. You can use the ceramic caves you have. Just cover most of their openings. You never mention your water values. Do you really know what they are?

Well they have only been in there not even a week yet. I think its a combo of too bright of light and lack of hiding places. The breeder who I got them from had bare min cover in his tank so I thought I would try the same thing first. Me and my hubby were talking and were grabbing a sponge filter and black and white sand this weekend (same sand as in my display pic). I have 3 big clumps of java moss coming in the mail and it should be here this week, along with a java Fern. I do have experience with plants so adding plants is no biggy for me. We were getting the fish and kinda through this set up together with what we had. The rest were getting at the London auction next weekend. They should spawn no problem after that. I want to get a coconut cave for them, it would be a lot easier for the female to cover the entrance with one. I didn't mention my water values cause there fine but if you must know..

Ammonia - 0 ppm
Nitrate - 20 ppm
Nitrite - 0 ppm

 

[Mike Wise]

The parameters listed are maintenance values. These, of course, are important but I was thinking about pH, conductivity, carbonate hardness. These values are important considerations when trying to breed apistos and many other fish.

 

[kaitlyn19]

The parameters listed are maintenance values. These, of course, are important but I was thinking about pH, conductivity, carbonate hardness. These values are important considerations when trying to breed apistos and many other fish.

Yes I listed them in my very first post

 

[Mike Wise]

That's what I get for not re-reading posts. I doubt, once you change the decor a bit, that you'll have any problems getting the fish to breed.

 

[kaitlyn19]

The water is where it needs to be and so is the light in the tank now, its very dim in there. The transition into sand will happen this weekend as well as adding moss and more plants. There is a different male and female in there now because those 2 wernt interested in each other and they looked like they came from the same parents. So we swapped them with a pair that have been flashing each other in our 80 gal. So after the re vamping of the tank is done, they should breed no problem, they might even breed now, who knows. But im not expecting eggs until after the auction on the 5th. Thanks everyone for your help. I know what I need to know now to get these guys going

 

[kaitlyn19]

Okay so the tank is all set up the way we want it. Only thing to change is the fake plants to real ones (once we get some for cheap at the London auction this weekend). Despite us in there all weekend changing things a female laid eggs. On Friday we got a adjustable heater and sponge filter, this made her lay eggs. And on Saturday we got sand and made coconut huts, my ebay order of java moss came aswell. So lots got done to the tank, looks great. They are happy, swimming around more. So yeah the one female laid eggs, I don't know how much will turn out. There were about 30-40 on Friday and about half that Saturday. Not 100% sure they got fertilized, they don't look either orange or white to me.. somewhere in the middle. Never the less since this tank is all set up nice now, we got a divider and divided the other female and male on one side and the female with eggs on the other yesterday. The female without eggs kept coming by and bugging the female with eggs so we decided to put a separater up. All seem happy now. If these eggs don't work out we are going to take her out and put our male agassizi in with one of our female agassizi and hope for that. The male agassizi is the one in my picture and were dying to breed him. Anyways heres a picture of what the tank looks like now, let me know what you think.. (the HOB filter is still on in the picture but not running, its off the back now).

 

[Godly3vil]

All good things take time.