Odd behaviour?

[ElectricSnowman]

Hi all,

I was at my LFS about a month ago and they happen to have a pair of A. Cacatiuodes. I kept these fish years ago but they both died within 3 weeks of purchase Anyway, I love these fish so I picked them up immediately of course.

They started showing signs of breeding within days of coming home. I was very excited when the little female went into hiding for about five days guarding her cave ferociously. Then one day she was swimming around the tank casually with no fry following her.

I thought maybe she is a new mom, or in a new environment and ate her fry, so I didn't worry about it.

About a week ago the whole process repeated, and now she is swimming around care free with no fry to be seen.

Does anybody have any idea of why this might be happening?

-29 gallon
-medium planted
-plenty of rocks and caves
-2 apisto cacatiuodes
-10 zebra danio
-6 serpae tetra

 

[Mike Wise]

It's hard to say without more information on the aquarium lay-out, water conditions, age of fish, feeding, etc. More than likely, the female needs more practice.

 

[dw1305]

Serpae Tetras

Hi all,
Electric Snowman, Serpae Tetras are great fish, in fact they were the only fish that survived me for long as a newbie fish keeper. However when you keep them, if you feed them live food, particularly "glassworms" you can believe that they are little Piranhas, and I'm sure that they will pick off any fry really quickly.
cheers Darrel

 

[ElectricSnowman]

Thanks,
Yeah the Serpaes are pretty "active" eaters... However, I thought that I would see at least a few before they were all picked off.

As far as the layout goes: I've got three big pitted rocks, two pieces of driftwood, and about 6-7 plants including java fern, wisteria, Anubias nana, and some other tall stalk plant.

I feed the whole tank flakes 2 times a day, and frozen blood worms every other day.

As for the age of the fish, I really don't know. When I saw the Apistos in the store the female was already really bright yellow, so I thought she might have been a seasoned mom, but I really don't know.

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,
Yellow colouration would suggest she has spawned.
I wonder if it's a cover problem, our version of "heavily planted", tends to be much more heavily planted than normal. 3 sides of the tanks are blacked out, and I don't have any large open areas at all, it's all planted or covered by coconut caves, bits of clay pot, dead leaves and wood. Everything, other than the glass, has moss and ferns growing on it.

The fish find sand to sift under the plants and leaves. You'd imagine you would never see them, but you do, the dithers are swimming about and the cichlids are happy and out and about, and if they do feel threatened there is always cover within a few centimetres of them.
cheers Darrel

 

[ElectricSnowman]

Thanks!

My tank has only been set up for a little over two months now, and it's nowhere near your version of heavily planted. I will keep adding plants and whatnot until one day I get yelled at by my fiance for having too many plants:biggrin: ("its a fish tank, not a plant tank!")

Thanks again!

 

[dw1305]

Plants

Hi,
I can't find a recent photo of a bigger tank, I'll post one from home.
This is the tank I used to keep just a pair of borellii and cherry shrimps in.

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cheers Darrel

 

[Hilde]

Hi all,
I thought maybe she is a new mom, or in a new environment and ate her fry, so I didn't worry about it. About a week ago the whole process repeated.
-29 gallon
-medium planted
-plenty of rocks and caves
-2 apisto cacatiuodes
-10 zebra danio
-6 serpae tetra

Check your gh, kh and ph.

Would like to see a picture or your tank. I have a 29 gallon tank too.

 

[ElectricSnowman]

I'll see if I can get some pics posted today or tomorrow

 

[ElectricSnowman]

Here is a lousy picture of my tank.

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