I still have checkerboard fry

[Orchid]

Half of the checkerboard fry have survived so far. They are so cute, the way they follow their mother. You can see their little checker patterns and they have big eyes just like the shocked emoticon 8O, . It's cool, their papa stays close and is the first line of defense, he keeps his distance and always places himself strategically to chase off the borelis, cories, and this afternoon-Smiley, the big male betta! It's as if he's making it so that the female only has to concern herself with watching out for the kids and not the predators.

I must have something in the tank that the babies are feeding off of, I see them actively picking at the gravel and driftwood, maybe snail larvae, and they seem to be growing well. I've given them one dose of Liquifry, but it attracts the corydoras, so I hesitate to give it to them again. Hmmm, I know I really need to feed it to them...I'll figure out something. I am sure the other half of fry fell to the night marauding cories, they are so efficient. I've set up the 20 gal tank for them, but I am afraid that if I move them, I risk killing them or their parents from the shock. I filled half of the tank with water from their 50 gal tank and the other half is RO, just like what I use in the 50 gal tank.

 

[Randall]

Feeding Fry

Dear Chris,

It's great that your are enjoying your checkerboard fry, but if you don't feed them, you may not be enjoying them very much longer.

If they are still too small for bbs, you can try mixing a powdered food with water and squirting the "milk" into the swarm several times each day. When they are large enough, you can feed them bbs or, better yet, decapsulated brine shrimp eggs.

Good luck and congrats!

Randall Kohn

 

[Neil]

Orchid,
How are the fry? Have the numbers been slowly reducing?
Neil

 

[Jason]

Neil,
I am curious , did you ask if the number of fry were getting smaller because it is something natural or because you thought they were not fed? In other words: what is the typical rate of survival of the fry? I have little A. cacaduoides, out of about 40 eggs I have 11 fish 1/2 inch long. Does not seem many to me...

 

[Neil]

Jason,
You are in the same boat as most of us. The trick to breeding apistos sometimes is just to get them to spawn. Sometimes it is to not have them eat their eggs. But, IMO, the real trick is to be able to raise most of the fry. This is where most people fail. The amount of eggs that they lay and the amount that hatches are variable, depending on fertilization, water quality, etc. Once you have a free-swimming batch, it is very difficult to raise that same amount to adulthood. My question to Orchid was a matter of feeding because filamentosa are tough little buggers to get enough very small food to. But that is only the first step. Continuing a proper nutritional program must be coordinated with careful and appropriate water management. And then there is the predator issue (including the parents). If you have other fish in the tank, some fish will probably disappear. If you have them alone with one or both parents you have to be careful to know when to separate them or some fish will disappear. If you artificially rear them, they will lack the helpful guidance of their parents in acquiring food and some fish will probably not make it. It is a tricky venture, but is what makes it challenging enough to really be worthwhile when you succeed. It is kind of an art to know when to do what. The more times you experience it, the more you will get a feel for how to best go about making the appropriate choices to get the most fry from each spawn. If you only follow one routine, there will always be a fish out there that will make you pay for your narrow vision.
Neil

Neil

 

[Orchid]

The fry from that spawn were doing well as far as growing. I watched the mom herd them around and they were actively picking off the gravel and driftwood and getting bigger. The problem arose from the cory cats. At night they would swarm around the places she would stash her babies and every morning there would be less and less fry.

I set up another tank for the parents that is well planted with plants that the female liked in the main tank. Two days after I put them into it, they had a HUGE spawn, but I don't think the eggs were any good because the female ate them. I figured new tank, the pH was fluctuating, stress from the move...all sorts of things could have contributed to the eggs being bad. I put in another female dicrossus, but she is getting beat up so she may just go into the main tank with the juvy male that is comming into his own.

The original female just laid a bunch more eggs inside a flower pot and they should be hatching sometime tomarrow, I'll see. Since there are no cory cats in this tank, I will feed the babies the Liquifry and bbs. After this spawn and the last spawn, the mama becomes such a tyrant that the male completely disappears. I did see his face peek out from some plants and driftwood after I fed the tank, but the female saw him and displayed at him from acrossed the tank and he dashed back into hiding. Serves that wife beater right. :lol: