Female cacatoo eating her fry. How to stop her?

[Algaehater]

Today I finally saw why this female has been gaurding her coconut shell. She has tiny babies, but she is eating them. Why? can I stop her? I put 2 cubes of baby brine shrimp in the coconut for the fry today and tubaflex near the opening to hopefully stop her from eating her fry. I noticed one little baby swan out of the coconut and she gobbled it up. This was the first baby I saw. It was so cute and then it was gone. I have seen a few more babies in there. How many fry is normal. I now have seen her eat 3 babies. What should I do? I also have one other female that the male chases. Now that I have a breeding pair should I bring this extra female back? Thanks a lot.

 

[Tea]

eating fry?

Hello there, maybe she is not eating her fry . My female cacatoo will pick up any babies that will wonder off to far from her by picking them up in her mouth and spitting them out with the others. Just keep an eye on her and watch to see if she spits the baby back out. Vue

 

[Algaehater]

Oh cool I did'nt think of that. Its to dark in the coconut to see if she is spitting them back out. Thanks.

 

[Apistt_ed]

..

THAT'S correct! Same happened to me and I just refuse to use coconut shells for breeding simply because it's so hard to see the fry and to see the development of the fish, instead I will use terracotta (clay) planting pots. you can lay them on their sides if they are the small pots. If you have large pots then, just drop them onto pavement to break them and arrange the pieces all over the tank bottom and these will be sufficient. As for removing the other female, as long as the tank is large enough the male will breed with her also. Trios of one male and two females has always been a standard with apisto keepers and it occurs in nature where one male will have multiple females that will live and breed in his super-territory... and there really isn't anything like two female apistos, yellow is broodcare dress leading their young around the tank at the same TIME!
good luck!


john

 

[Neil]

Algaehater,

WELCOME TO THE FORUM

Sometimes it is better to let things work out the way they will. By trying to "micromanage" what is happening in the processes of breeding with your cacatuoides, you may inevitably cause more trouble than you think you already have.

IMO females rarely eat fry because they are hungry. They do so more often when circumstances are not to their liking in the tank. So, by adding food in the cave and food just outside of the cave, you may be disturbing her more than she already is. In addition, putting 2 cubes of BBS in a cave can easily cause a problem with water quality in that small space. I have found poor water quality to be one of the reasons that a female might possibly eat her fry. When she thinks that the conditions are not suitable for the best chance for her fry's survival, she may eat them to salvage that resource for herself, using that protien boost for the production of a new batch of eggs. You might be better off to squirt a little food further away from the cave and then stay away from the tank. This might get her to bring the babies out. She will be fine eating the frozen BBS, so you don't need to feed both BBS and the tubiflex. Remember that the water quality in the tank is critical when new babies are around. One more thing, I would thaw the BBS before putting it in the tank and not use so much,. Aquarter to a half cube is probably OK for one feeding.

If the male is one of the reasons that she doesn't want to bring the babies out, then remove him. But I usually don't, because that is not all that common. Males are not inclined to eat their own young very often. It does happen, but he has a big stake in seeing his fry survive. However, it seems like the female doesn't know that sometimes and will act like he is as much of a danger to the fry as another predator.

Adding the other female will almost certainly cause trouble in this situation- either for her or for the insecurity that the mom already has. I would leave thing as they are and see what happens. It may take a try or 2 for the pair to sort things out, but half the battle is already won- they've spawned! Let nature take it's course and the reast will probably follow.

Good luck,

Neil

 

[Gary W.]

eating or protecting fry?

HI Algaehater

At this very moment i'm watching a an "Orangeflash" Cac. father pick up fry and swim half way down a 20L and spit the fry back at it's mother. The male staked out the middle of the tank and the two females each have their own dug out bog logs. They realy like the sand to dig in. The real strange thing is that he seems to know which female to send the fry back to. I've watched the fry wonder off from each end. Both females let him around the fry. BUT WILL NOT LET THE OTHER FEMALE CLOSE TO THEIR LOG. Also had other females steal a brood and get nice and yellow.

just love those apisto's
Gary W.

 

[aspen]

i like to add a fish species that the others can 'defend' their brood from that are not under threat from, like an oto or 2. this will make the females just nervous enough for their protective instincts kick in, yet pose no real threat.

i wouldn't use cory's for this, they can eat a whole spawn in record time when she goes off to eat.

rick