Growth rates of Apistogramma fry?

[LyreTail]

I have some Apisto sp. "Papagei" with somewhere over 50 fry

Female does not seem to control fry most of the time, but that may be because she feels safe? She will gather up the fry and herd them around, but only occasionally.

At first I thought I only had about 30 fry, but several dozen more must have hatched in the few days following my first sighting of them, because smaller ones started to appear and now I think there are more than 50.

Anyways, I am noticing they are growing much slower than my Kribensis which were just free swimming a few days before the apistos. I feed live baby brine shrimp to both on an every other day basis. Both are in planted tanks with Acid water

I know Kribs are really good at eating plant matter and detritus as fry, perhaps I should be feeding baby brine shrimp daily to the apistos?

 

[fishgeek]

when i first started , and was a lot keener to succed with my first spawn i was feeding brine shrimp 4-5 times a day and the apisto fry grew well
now i am much lazier and have less room for grow out , i feed the fry less bbs and subsequently have some very slow gowth rates

my tnks are all heavily planted and i believe natural infuso populations have sustained some fry from spawns which i was unable to feed
these fish are only 1.5cm at 2-3mths old

growth rates in my experience can vary greatly dependant on feeding
i also find that the movement of life food interest's the fry and encourage's feeding much better than any powderd/liquid commercial foods
though once eating i often mix feeding and slowly reduce my need to produce bbs etc
hth
andrew

 

[Mike Wise]

I have found that different apisto species also grow at different rates. For example my A. sp. Masken fry became freeswimming about a week after my A. cacatuoides (wild strain). After 3 weeks the Masken were larger than the cacatuoides fry and are now half again as large. Growth rate probably is related to more than just food & water quality. It may have to do with their natural habitat. Some habitats dry out and fish in such biotopes need to grow more quickly than those in a more stable biotope.

 

[Neil]

I would definitely agree with Mike on this. There are some species that no matter how heavily you fed or how much you change water, just grow painfully slow. And others outdo them with half the food and half the water changes. That said, it is always most beneficial to replace a portion of the tankwater weekly and give small feeding 2 to 3 times per day. Regardless of the growth rates specific to each species, this will give them the best headstart towards adulthood.

Neil

 

[LyreTail]

Fish that I have spawned and raised in the past several years

Serpae Tetras / Redfin blue Columbian tetras
Swordtails / Platys and Mollys
Moliwe Kribs
Pulcher kribs
Angel fish
Discus
Golden Wonder Killi fish
Dwarf Gouramis
And now the Apistogramma Papagei - 1st batch.

I have never seen such slow growth rates, and I was just a little suprised at how slow these mature.

I intend to spawn some electric green Peru Corys as soon as I setup a tank for them and I have been trying to spawn Zebra plecos for about 3 years now, with no success

 

[LyreTail]

A month old now and some blue color starting to show on gill plates

Fry range from about 4mm to 6 mm in total length - One single fry is huge compared to other 40+ - It is about 1cm long and 1/2 cm tall

Here is a picture taken last week at three weeks old - not many deaths so far as I can tell.

http://groups.msn.com/LyreTailsAquarium/discusandangelfish.msnw?action=ShowPhoto&PhotoID=476

 

[LyreTail]

Growth rates have accelerated without changing anything. I think the mom is starting a new spawn.

Should I remove the "kids" now? Fry are about 2 months old

 

[Apistt_ed]

...

Lyretail,

As long as the tank they're in is large enough with leaf litter, plants (java moss is good also), and hiding places I'd say leave them in there. But if they are in a smaller tank (10g-15g) I'd say go ahead and put them in a separate growout tank. As soon as you see the female start to clean a site to spawn again, move quickly and get the fry out if that's what you are going to do. I've got the same problem with my Aggies. Before a spawn has gotten to be more than 1/4 inch, she's already got one batch coming. I find that sometimes it's not the mother killing/harassing the previous babies but them eating the newer ones instead! Now, when I have the space for growing out, I'll take out the older clutch and have two separate spawns and when I don't have the room for it I'll leave them in and once the new clutch is taken, she'll accept the older fry again and resume care for them. I'm not sure if this is typical behavior but I've noticed it numerous times now. Good luck catching them if you decide to move them! I've found it easier if you turn off all the lights for about an hour or so and then turn it back on and quickly net them up. I've found out the hardest way tearing up my tank the first time after feeding them. good luck and Your fish are drop dead beautiful!!! Any chances of seeing them for sale and shipped soon? :wink:


john

 

[LyreTail]

I think that I would hesitate to ship any fish during the winter - By next April or so they should be fairly good sized by then. Right now the majority of these fry are a little over 1/2 inch long right now. I have a ton of Pulcher and Moliwe Kribs to offload soon though - Of course I also have several hundred swordtails that I am constantly selling.