New cacatuoides and immediately fry!

[Corine]

Hello there, I'm Corine and two weeks ago I bought a pair of cacatuoides because I liked their looks, their behaviour and I thought they would be the perfect addition to my 80 liter (about 20 gallon) tank.

My tank is a planted tank:

These are my two cacatuoides:

This is Mildred:

And this is George:

Three days after arriving Mildred laid a clutch of eggs in the little cave, but they were white and by what I could read, they were infertile. And sure enough, five days passed and Mildred ate the eggs.

Two days ago though I went to feed the fish and thought "Hey, what's Mildred eating?". I looked closer and she wasn't eating, she was collecting fry to spit back into the cave! Sure enough, Mildred has about 40 fry. In the mornings she leaves the cave with them, takes them across the gravel and the root to the java moss where they spend the day and in the evening she takes them back to the cave where they spend the night.

I am now totally enchanted by these fish. Mildred's behaviour is absolutely fascinating, even though George is now of course persona non grata near the fry she doesn't attack him, she pushes him out of the way.

I've spent a lot of time reading up on them now, I never thought they would breed this quickly or at all, but now that they have I'm really chuffed.

Oops, sorry, this got a bit long, but I'm afraid I'm totally addicted to them now!

Oh, by the way, can anyone tell me what colour George is?

 

[Mike Wise]

Congradulations on you new fry! Your fish must like your aquarium. White eggs are not necessarily infertile. Fish fed mostly on dry foods often have viable white eggs. White "fuzzy" (fungus) eggs are infertile. I hope you are feeding the babies. If not, you will lose most of them. Live foods are best, of course, but careful feedings with powder fry foods will get some to live.

 

[Corine]

Congradulations on you new fry! Your fish must like your aquarium. White eggs are not necessarily infertile. Fish fed mostly on dry foods often have viable white eggs. White "fuzzy" (fungus) eggs are infertile. I hope you are feeding the babies. If not, you will lose most of them. Live foods are best, of course, but careful feedings with powder fry foods will get some to live.

I'm feeding them liquifry, but my tank is well established and has two enormous lumps of java moss in them which I grew for the shrimp. Mama Mildred takes her fry there in the mornings and I add in the liquifry then.

Is that enough or should I feed more?

 

[Corine]

Well, I managed to count them today and there are about 25 left. Give or take a few. They're also twice the size they were about 2 days ago, I think that's good, right?

I'm rather pleased with that, they're beginning to look like little fishes instead of dots with tails on them.

 

[Mikey]

I'm very jealous!

 

[Travis_Conklin]

Congrats

Congrats, I would try and get them some sort of live food, (BBS) Baby Brine Shrimp would be good or some Daphnia, you should be able to pick up some BS eggs at your LFS and they should have directions on the package. Or you may be able to find Daphnia locally.

 

[Corine]

Congrats, I would try and get them some sort of live food, (BBS) Baby Brine Shrimp would be good or some Daphnia, you should be able to pick up some BS eggs at your LFS and they should have directions on the package. Or you may be able to find Daphnia locally.

Is there any way to check the level of infusoria in the tank without a microscope though? I have a really well established tank. The java moss is teeming with life, I have plenty of cyclops for instance, those I can see with my bare eyes. Also loads of other little moving pin pricks in the water.

 

[Corine]

I had a better chance at counting them today and I counted 30 fry. The female is really very diligent in guarding them and herding them around. When I take a photograph with the macro function on my camera they come out wobbly, but I can make out a true fish form now instead of a lump with a tail. They're venturing out a little bit further from the female now as well.

I have an Aqua40 (30 liters or about 8 gallons) on stand by that I can move them to once they're a bit older and bigger, I understand the female will mother them for about a month?

The local LFS have already said they'll buy any fry off me that I want to sell (and at a reasonable price I think, for about half of their retail price).

Now of course I'm looking at these little ones and thinking "hmmmm, will any of these will be better looking than their parents?" However, I don't have room for any more tanks than these two. Knowing that I have an outlet for the fry (he said he'd buy any I have to sell) makes it easier, but at what age would I be able to see their colouring come through?

 

[Corine]

And another question!

Some of my fry have a continuous line along their side.

Some of my fry have no line, but a dot on their flank.

Is this normal in their development or does it mean anything?

I'm so chuffed watching these little things grow and develop, they're soooooo cute!