Juvenilles in with parents - how long?

[Angela]

Hi all, looking for a little guidance on husbandry of juvenilles. I added a pair of Apisto Cacactuoides to my peaceful community in early January, not with aim of breeding, just to enjoy them. Well they did in fact breed and are on spawn number 3 now. I have about 10 survivors from spawn 1 and 2. My question is at what point should I expect the maturing juvenilles to start causing trouble - e.g trying to establish terratories etc. They are in a well planted 40G long with the parents, pencilfish and harlequins. My LFS has agreed to take them when they are at a saleable size, but it's just getting to that point which is concerning me! I do have another setup currently understocked with rainbows, but not sure if this is a suitable option as a grow out tank. Advice very welcome . Picture is of largest fry from spawn 1, almost 2cm long. Many thanks

 

[Mike Wise]

You can move them now if you can do it without messing up you planted tank. Saleable size usually take 6 - 8 month, sometimes longer. Since you're new here - welcome! - I'm guessing you haven't seen my 1st axiom: "A community tank is not a breeding tank".

 

[Angela]

Hi there. Many thanks for the welcome yes I'm new here but have stalked for a little while. Oh I have seen the axiom community tank is not a breeding tank (!) however I did want a pair in my community to be able to observe the more interesting behaviours. I expected if they bred that there would be no surviving fry. However I was wrong, it's a nice heavily planted tank with plenty of hiding spaces. With no suitable grow out tank this has left me with the potential problem of maturing males alongside the original parents. Thanks again for the reply ,best wishes Angela.