Newby with a complex problem

[burak]

Hello everyone;

I am Burak from Turkey and recently joined the Apistogramma forum.
After a long period of waiting and preperation, I have now 3 Apisto species and also an Altispinosa family in my tanks.

My first question is about my Altispinosa fries. Due to a problem in their own tank, I had to put my Altispinosas to my 200 liters Apistogramma community tank. However, these young lovers prefered to lay eggs immediately in that tank, before I moved them back to their own tank only a few days later. I first thought that my little ones wont be able to get their fries out of their eggs anyways. However after a hard work of the couple and with a good defence the eggs hatched 5 days ago and now there are about 150 jumping babies in my community tank. Everything was ok and I was thinking of moving the couple and their babies back to their own tank after the fries become a bit more bigger in 3-4 weeks. Unfortunately I can't now Since the mother also keeps the father away from herself and the fries, I can not do anything. Whenever I decide to move the mother and the fries away, the mother comes above and starts to fight with the fish net, the lonely fries start to go apart and I have to move back, in order to let the mother to go back and take care of her fries.
Their neighbors in the tank are a steelblue male, a cacatoudies male and a group of agassizis (1 male & 2 females). After a former fight I had to take my cacatoidies female and the steelblue male, which I though was a female at beginning but turned to be a male, to another little tank to let them gain some condition and strength.

What should I do now? Take the fries away together with the mother? Or let her to continue with taking care of her offsprings in the community tank. You think fries will be able to stay alive there? Untill now, the mother did not let her babies die, not even a single one. She does not let the apistos to come close to her babies, neither the father. I have to admit that I did not see any aggression of any of my Apistos against fries either. My tank is well planted, full of Mangrove and coconut shells.

Please give me some advice..
Thank you

 

[burak]

Fries are free-swimming now!:redface:
The mother is still defending and taking care of them. She doesnt let the father come close to her or the fries. Should I start giving food to them now? Or wait a few more days? I am planning to use Sera Micron and Artemia to feed the babies.. Still thinking of whether I should move them away or not. Will the mother lose her interest towards them if I move all to another tank?

Any idea?

 

[DH247]

Well... I do not have expereince with the Alti's... but I would expect that the fry would stand a better chance out of the community tank. Apistos will take what they can get, and that's anything that will fit in their mouth. You may be able to get a few fry out of the community tank provided mum doesn't back down until the fry are big enough to fend for themselves. I would expect that if you could gather mum and the fry in a small container then re-introduce them to the other tank then you would not lose very many. This way mum doesn't get too seperated. However, I have seen my Trifasciata mum 'lose' her fry during a cleaning (aka I didn't know they had spawned... hehe oops!) and then claim them all back within a few hours of finding them here and there. I guess it all depends on the fish. On the upside they spawned for you and you've got a 'proven' pair. So even worst case scenario, you will most likely get more :biggrin:. In any case, good luck to you!!

 

[burak]

Thank you very much for your answer;

I decided to give a shot and try to seperate first the fries and later the mother to a container, and then to put them to another tank. I hope not many fries get lost in action

 

[Daryl]

I have found that siphoning fry is an easy and effective method to move them! There is a good chance that mom will stick around and attack the siphon tube so if you have second set of hands helping you out they could probably net her quite easily!

As DH247 has already said - you will have more fry on your hands in the future!

Good luck!

 

[gingerbeer]

I use airhose to suck up fry. Works well and small enough not to risk other fish - and low suction.

 

[burak]

Thank you all for those great information guys;

I tried it already, took the fries using an air hose and the mother afterwards to another tank. I put the water of this tank completely from the main tank, where the family was. I kept everything the same as the former tank. However; the mother ate her own fries

The day I transfered the fries; I noticed that their nıumber decreased drastically. I think that my apistos attacked them as expected. After I also moved them, the mother became too stressed and all fries were lost this way.
Until now bad news. What about some good ones?

After this, I put the mother and the father back to their own tank. The father behaved aggressive towards the female 2 days long. But now they are moving together again. I saw the dad again on a stone, cleaning the substrates on it.

I believe that new comers will be on that stone in 10 days :biggrin: Moreover, this time they are alone in their own tank.

In the main tank my agassizis are preparing to lay eggs also. Both females do not actually leave their coconut shells except that the male is around. And the male defends the area covering the two shells with females like a mad bull. I hope that he and one of the females will have some eggs very soon.

Now it is the turn of my Cacatouides. The male started to hang out with one of the females. In some weeks they might also make a surprise to me I hope

It is very sad that I could not find a female for my Steelblue male He is in a very good shape right now. If I had a female there; I am sure he would be the fastest father of those all.

Thank you again for your interest and help. I will share their pictures with you very soon.

 

[DH247]

Sorry you lost your first round of fry, but at least this time you've got some better rearing conditions! Good luck!