Interesting Cacatuoides cross!

[LeviathanGirl]

I have a pair of Apisto Cacatuoides that are from a triple red x wild cross. The pair has spawned twice and I've got 1 pair left that I've decided to keep for breeding once they mature enough. At the local auction in Feb I purchased a pair of tripple red gold cacatuoides. Having lost the male a couple months after that and needing tank space for a pair of pelvicachromis, I tossed the female into the tank with the non gold pair. Being as the tank is well planted and contains 4 neon rainbows as dithers, the rainbows are also spawning, I figured that she'd be rather safe in there until I aquired another mate for her.

Reguardless I have been keeping a close eye on the tank in case the pair disagreed with having her in the tank. Neither fish seemed to mind having her present at all and though I observed her hiding among the plants and driftwood I also saw her swimming side by side with the pair. On a stray thought I wondered if the male would try to spawn with her and what it would produce, being a cross himself. Well this morning I was presently surprized to see the little gold female, appearing even more golden than I have ever seen her before, leading a rather large spawn of newly free swimming fry around the tank! None of the fry appear golden, but I am quite eager to see how they will look once they mature into their colors. This will be a quite interesting cross I think.

 

[ed seeley]

Be prepared for them all to look like the wild type fish! I'm not sure on the heritablity of cac features but usually things like xanthism and extra red colour are recessive characteristics. What may be very interesting is if you save the babies from this brood and breed two of them together. Then you'll see a range of different outcomes!

 

[Mike Wise]

I've never kept the yellow-gold strain of A. cacatoides, but I was told that it is best to cross a yellow-gold with another color strain or you get very few surviving offspring. Something to do with a genetic flaw when both parents have the yellow-gold trait dominant.

 

[apistodave]

ALL the caucs will interbreed, and do so frequently--once you have crossed them you will get offspring of all CF's in all broods--another problem with the Golds is that females are impossible to get if you keep Golds W/ Golds

 

[LeviathanGirl]

That will be quite interesting. Dave you've been temping me to no end with your auctions! >.< If you still have the species I've been drooling over by the time my fishrooms complete I'm bidding!

The female is doing a really good job of tending the fry and their growing at a good rate. Already their noticably larger. As an extra surprize my albino kribs spawned later in the day after I discovered the apisto spawn. :biggrin: So far I've got a spawn from each of my adult apisto pairs except my hongsloi... the males been trying for weeks, but the females playing hard to get. She just waggs her body at him a little and then ignores him. LOL I'm wondering if the removal of the P. gertrudae group in the tank will speed things up a bit with the pair.

I recieved a young pair of A. melgar last week and am having a bit of trouble finding info on them. I'm thinking maybe their mislabeled or that melgar isnt their whole name. If anyone can help me with info I'd appreciate it.

 

[apistodave]

Post pics of the melgar

 

[LeviathanGirl]

Dave,

If I had a camera I could. LOL He looks like the Melgar on your webpage. LOLz I can find pics, just no info. I got him from TwoFishGuys via aquabid.

 

[Mike Wise]

A. sp. Melgar is Römer's name for the fish more commonly discussed as A. sp. Nanay. Sadly A. sp. Nanay is now used for 2 very different species: A. sp. Papagei, which doesn't come from anywhere near the Río Nanay, and A. sp. Nanay/Melgar, a species related to A. cruzi from the Río Nanay.

Sadly, because Römer continues to use the name "Nanay" for the fish from the Río Ampiyacu (A. sp. Papagei) - contrary to all other published authors - confusion with the Nanay name remains. Instead of using the Nanay name like all other authors, Römer calls it A. sp. Melgar after Julio Melgar, who first recognized the species and sold it as "A. sp. Nanay".

 

[Apistomaster]

I bought a pair of apistodave's gold caucatuoides and raised about 80 fry, all gold and seemed no more difficult than any other A. caucatuoides strains as far as hardiness is concerned.
Hi Dave,
Larry

 

[apistodave]

Hey Larry do you know what the sex ratio is yet???

 

[LeviathanGirl]

Well here we go AGAIN!!! The pair are still guarding their fry, who are 1/4 inch now and I find the female also guarding the cave today. I look inside real quick with a flashlight and found over 100 eggs attached to the ceiling of the cave! Will this have any effect on the fry already roaming around the tank, will they be ok or should I remove those to another tank which would take alotta effort and might disturb the female guarding the eggs? So far the parents arnt bothering the fry at all.

I wish the darn Hongsloi would breed already. Their the same age as the apistos and gettin quite large. The macmasteri did it already too. I'm wondering if they need a demonstration show. LOL