Urgent before problems arise

[tillbarnem]

I have a community tank. 2 questions. My double red cacatuoides have bred twice in the last month. The first batch did not survive. I attempted to place a few of the second batch in a hanging breeding net but they did not make it. I've decided to let mom and dad try with the remaining fry. Any suggestions? Secondly, I have a pair of Pelvicachromis taeniatus that have bred and I believe the fry will be coming out any day now. The 2 families are only about 6 inches apart in the tank. Should I erect some type of barrier between the families? I can put some rocks there. Please advise. Jeff

 

[tjudy]

I am surprised that the P. taeniatus have not tried to eject the A. cacatuoides from the tank. Are the spawning site caves that are easily movable? One way I remove dwarf cichlid spawns is to use caves with single openings and holes small enough to cover with my thumb. Once the fry are free swimming the parents will usually take them back into the caves at night. Either late at night after the lights have been off a couple hours, or early morning before they are turned on, I will remove teh whole cave with teh spawn adn the mother and put it in a growout tank. Usually the female will care for the fry in this new location without any problems. If I want to raise the fry without the female I will net her out of the grow out tank and return her to the breeding tank.

 

[tillbarnem]

What would the parameters of the grow out tank be? Obviously, the tank would probably need to be pre-cycled, right? Would bare bottom be better? Thanks, Jeff

 

[tjudy]

I use water from the tank the fry are in. If the gorw out tank is too large to take all the water from the breeding tank I do a water change in the grow out tank of at least 50% before transferring the fry (using water from the breeding tank for the water change). Water parameters should be close as possible, but so long as differences are not extreme there will not be any problems. I do nto even acclimate (horrors! ) when I move the fry.

 

[dw1305]

cacatuoides fry

Hi all,
I'd try to leave the female with the fry. I like sand as a substrate, and Electric Eels suggestion of "a big gnarly lump of java moss".

I keep a spare sponge filter and extra pieces of java moss/java fern planted bog wood and planted bamboo canes in all my tanks, rested up against the glass, and then when I need new/emergency/fry tank I can pick out some bits and move filter, plant, wood and algae/biofilm into the new tank. It's amazing how wood you can get in a tank, you can stack small bits like the game "jenga" and plant up all the sticking out ends.

cheers Darrel

 

[tillbarnem]

How does everyone feel about removing mom or not?

 

[Hassles]

Removing Mum

How does everyone feel about removing mom or not?

A few days after the fry are free swimming I remove the male - for his own good. I leave the female with the fry but......If I notice that she is less inclined to eat I remove her. I generally remove the female after abour 10 days anyway. I find that she becomes exhausted from protecting her brood and if not rested may expire. I find that the fry do well on their own by this time.

I never remove the fry as I personally find it easier to relocate the parents. I breed my Apistos in standard 2 foot tanks so I simply
leave the fry behind and rehouse the parents. Nice to have the option. I know some breeders who I respect and they always remove the eggs for rearing. So yeah, no one way about it - just do what ever is needed and build your personal experience base. You're bound to have some dispiriting experiences but chalk it all up and learn from your successes and failures. very nice to come here and seek advice though isn't it ? Geez, where would we be without forums!

I also keep 'spare' sponge filters in many tanks and as soon as I see fry, I place an additional filter into the tank. As mentioned above I use standard 2 foot tanks with a single (twin sponge) filter and place the 2nd filter into service so the bacteria colony can colonise on this 2nd filter and grow with the fry. I ain't ever had any dramas with this method.

All my Apisto fry are raised on microworms (i find these incredibly convenient) but I intend to raise BBS in the near future as an alternate food source.

HTH