Steelblue fry

[volkant80]

Tank size: 100x40x60h 240 lt.
Fish stock: 1 pair steelblue (with fry), 1 pair Cacatuodies (with fry)
Ph: 7.2

Male with fry.

Female with fry

 

[beleg]

Congrats Volkan, you did a great job

 

[drudnick]

Are females still hard to find, or are they more readily available? My LFS has a pair that breeded in the tank they are for sale in. Female is nice and yellow and very protective mother.

 

[beleg]

Apistogrammas are hard to find in Turkey. If i remember right Volkan got those from a friend. I have one of his pairs but i am still not sure if the female is a real one . Volkan said she is so we will see.

Unfortunately his female died 2 days after the fry started free swimming. Now a cacatuoides is taking care of all her fry

 

[Mike Wise]

Are females still hard to find, or are they more readily available? My LFS has a pair that breeded in the tank they are for sale in. Female is nice and yellow and very protective mother.

I imagine that what is occurring is like when the first domestic color morphs of the Dwarf Gourami appeared on the scene. First only males appeared. Females were held back so that only the original breeders could supply them. Once in a while a female might sneak through and an knowledgeable breeder would grab it and start his own stock with both males & females. Once pairs were available, females became more common, but commercially are still not as common as males. We still haven't heard if the Steel Blues produce equal numbers of males and females. It would be interesting to know.

 

[drudnick]

The store that has them has them marked as borellis. So I may see if I can free up tank space and grab the pair and see what happens. They are less than 20 bucks for the pair. 8.99 each I think. And I already saw the female in action with fry. If I get them and they spawn, Ill keep ya posted

 

[beleg]

Meanwhile my pair seem to have laid eggs as well.. The tank they live in has 14 bentosi tetras so i will have to remove the fry once they start swimming. Volkan reports the parents are really bad, leaving the fry alone all the time. Will see if its his pair or if i will experience the same too..