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Now this is more like it!

MadHatter

Member
5 Year Member
Messages
31
Location
Melbourne, Australia
Some of you may remember me from about a year ago when I posted about my disastrous attempt to add a colony of A. stiendachneri to my 6ft 'upper rio negro' biotope aquarium, which ended with the loss of the entire colony. (I still feel pretty bad about that, even though I don't know that there was much of anything I could have done to prevent it)
Anyway, after some 9 months of soul searching, I finally decided to give Apisto's another try. Originally I was on the lookout for some A. cacatuoides, but on a visit to the local LFS last weekend, I came across some very lovely A. agassizi 'Double Reds' and took home a trio. I figured if I tried a species from a different species complex, it might help clarify what went wrong the first time around.
I have diverged somewhat from the biotope in the process, but I figure if I do well with the aggies, I will have little trouble finding buyers, and thus defray some of my costs, and the Apisto experience will be invaluable when it comes time to move on to one of the rarer 'biotope accurate' species.
It is now 6 days since I purchased them, and they have settled in beyond my wildest expectations, with one female already guarding a clutch of eggs! :cool:
There is still a long way to go, and I worry that the female will have her work cut out for her in keeping any fry safe from the cardinal and rummy-nose tetras who share the tank, not to mention the pair of medium angels. Never the less, things are looking alot rosier than last time. :)
 

MadHatter

Member
5 Year Member
Messages
31
Location
Melbourne, Australia
Well the eggs are gone. Not sure if someone ate them or if they hatched already. From what little I could gather in searching the forum, I get the impression that the eggs hatch after 3 days or so, but the fry are not free-swimming until some time later. Is that right? I don't see any fry in the hollow the eggs were laid in, but judging from her behavior, she may have moved them to a more secure location, is this possible? Assuming some fry survive, how long is it likely to be before I can expect to see them free swimming?
 

killiguy

Member
Messages
48
Location
Geelong australia
If youve been a member of this forum for long you will soon get the axiom "community tanks are not breeding tanks" drummed into your psyche.

Enjoy the activity but dont expect young fish to become part of it or any financial bonus.If you get a 3ft speices tank with a few dithers into it then that may work.

Sorry to be a wet blanket
 

MadHatter

Member
5 Year Member
Messages
31
Location
Melbourne, Australia
That's fair enough. I fully expect that few if any of the fry will survive once they are free-swimming, but I'm happy to let them try and I will do what I can to try to help them succeed. Even so, I am under no illusions that I will stand much chance of raising fry in my community tank. I have a couple of smaller tanks in which I plan to set up breeders down the track. I didn't expect they would be ready to spawn so soon after I got them so they caught me unprepared. I'm just trying to get a handle on what to expect so I can plan ahead a little. I'm reasonably confident she has fry, and I want to be ready when they emerge. Right now I have nothing to feed them. My whiteworm cultures seem to have died out. At this point I'm thinking I will need to buy some infusoria to start them off on, but I want to get the timing right. I'm also considering 'rescuing' some of the fry if I can get to them in time and raising them in one of my spare tanks. Again, if I know when they are likely to emerge, I'll stand a better chance of getting to them in time.
 

MadHatter

Member
5 Year Member
Messages
31
Location
Melbourne, Australia
fry emerged today. so far she is managing to fend off the ravenous hordes, though it remains an open question as to how long she will be able to hold out. I have read that fry respond best with parental care, so I'm wondering if it's better to rescue some and try to raise them on their own or to leave well enough alone?
 

Mike Wise

Moderator
Staff member
5 Year Member
Messages
11,201
Location
Denver, Colorado, U.S.A.
I don't try to reproduce fry in community tanks. Results are usually very poor. It often isn't worth the effort. If you have another tank, then use it as a breeding tank with only the parents.
 

MadHatter

Member
5 Year Member
Messages
31
Location
Melbourne, Australia
Yeah Mike, I get that. I have a couple of breeding tanks, one of which is set up for attempting to spawn the tetras & pencilfish, and the other is currently holding some surplus SAE's. The aggies caught me by surprise and started breeding before I was ready for it. I had not expected them to be ready to breed so soon after I got them. Clearly, they had different ideas. I'm just trying to make the best of the situation I find myself in.
 

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