My A. Veijitas spawned! Now what?

[DB6]

Hello all. I am relatively new to keeping apistogrammas, and this is my first successful spawn. So, my question is really, what do I do once the eggs hatch and the fry are free swimming?

The pair is in my 29g community tank with: a pair of kribs, 3 Corydoras aenus, a pair of rams, and a pair of bettas. I am worried about these fish eating the fry, so Im thinking I should move everything out except the pair?

Also, My nitrite and ammonia levels are at zero, but my nitrates are at 20ppm. Should I do a water change right now or should I wait until the eggs hatch?

Thanks for any help!

 

[DB6]

heres pics of the female with her eggs. Sorry for the poor picture quality (cellphone). The eggs are in the back right corner of the coconut shell.

 

[ExReefer]

If you are serious about breeding apistos, you really should have the pair in a separate tank or artificially hatch the eggs in another small tank. The good news is that they will spawn again. Apistos are easy to spawn if they are happy and healthy. My agassizii spawned in my community tank last week and I use tap water with a GH of 180ppm. The fry didn’t live long in the community tank and I’m not surprised or disappointed. When and if I have the desire to raise agassizii, I’ll just stick them in my 29 gal. breeder tank.

 

[Hassles]

Hello all. I am relatively new to keeping apistogrammas, and this is my first successful spawn. So, my question is really, what do I do once the eggs hatch and the fry are free swimming?

The pair is in my 29g community tank with: a pair of kribs, 3 Corydoras aenus, a pair of rams, and a pair of bettas. I am worried about these fish eating the fry, so Im thinking I should move everything out except the pair?

Also, My nitrite and ammonia levels are at zero, but my nitrates are at 20ppm. Should I do a water change right now or should I wait until the eggs hatch?

Thanks for any help!

Firstly congratulations on keeping Apistos with Kribs - it was a nightmare for me in a 250 litre!

no doubt your eggs will have hatched by now and destiny will have played her hand. When breeding Apistos you will be better off (as will the fry) if you house them in their own tank and even while Apistos are protective parents, their fry are still prone to predation. On that note some dither fish won't hurt in the tank - perhaps some Black Neons or Golden Pekncilfish. See posts elsewhere on this forum.

The nitrates at 20ppm is higher than you want them to be, aim for 5ppm or less. I would have undertaken a couple of subtle water changes to dilute this concentration regardless

Another point is feeding the fry - baby brine shrimp / microworms / vinegar eels all work as first foods. If you're desperate, grind up some quality sinking pellets to a very fine powder until you can get something more suitable and dno't forget to post with your progress / successes & failures.

regards