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What to do with female fry?

R-S

New Member
5 Year Member
Messages
20
Location
Washington State, USA
I have a spawn of 27 Apisto. Cacatuoides (triple red) growing out in which I got only 2 males. These fry are actually now sub-adults and some of the larger females are coloring up brightly at feeding time and acting like they'd like to find a nice boyfriend. Since the male which spawned this group (my only male) died, I need to keep the 2 little males, and they happen to be growing slower than about half of the females. The females are nice, but what can be done with 25 female apistos? LFS don't want females, because they aren't as flashy as the males, but I certainly don't need 25 of them! Also, I'm not too keen on trying to get into shipping. Can anyone give me an idea of whether there is a demand for just females among clubs and such in general?

I did have an outlet arranged before I got involved with raising fry in the first place, but they want at least some males to sell as pairs and I never expected that the ratio would be so uneven. :?

They are wonderful little fish, but I'd like to have room in the growout tank so that I can let the borelli's do their thing. (Nope, can't get another grow out tank. My kids already accuse me of trying to have Sea World in my house and my husband is starting to give me the evil eye every time he finds a fish he doesn't recognize in one of my tanks! :lol: )

Any feedback is appreciated.
Ronnie-Sue
 

aspen

Active Member
5 Year Member
Messages
1,033
Location
toronto, canada
a couple of weeks ago a poster here in toronto gave me 3 female cacatoides, which he had raised. i was pretty thrilled, since females seem to be hard to come by. i now have a male and 4 females, which makes a pretty good mix, imo. the right people will want them. i believe there are lots of posters here in washington. you might get lucky. don't give up, try the local fish clubs etc, and if it is like here, you will go to your lfs's and see tanks FULL of males, with no females to go with them. so maybe they DO want them.

btw, what ph are you breeding in?

rick
 

R-S

New Member
5 Year Member
Messages
20
Location
Washington State, USA
Aspen, I've recently been reading about potential pH effects on sex ratio, and I presume that's why my little swimmers are mostly girls. But what I wonder is whether it's the pH at spawning, or while developing that matters most?

PH at time of spawn was 7.4, (on it's way down with gradual water changes to 7.0--they didn't wait until it dropped that far :) ) But, future water changes after fry were hatched were with regular tap, as I didn't want to be messing with chemistry with fry in the tank, so by the time they were really actively free swimming it was back to city-water-standard 7.8. It probably wasn't such a dramatic difference that it would have changed anything significantly.

Ted, I'd gladly share, but I have never shipped and have no supplies for that. With my inexperience at long-distance transport, I'd probably kill them trying to get them to you :(

The LFS I wanted to trade them to doesn't carry dwarf's regularly yet, as they are a very small, selective LFS that has specialized in African Cichlids and prefers to offer locally bred stock. Mine were to be the first apistogramma cacatuoides they were going to sell and they have no males to put with them. The other LFS is one of the "Big P" pet stores and doesn't take home-bred stock (and I wouldn't entrust my babies to their care anyway!)

I will just have to join the closest aquarium club to find some good takers, huh? Or maybe there's someone close by lurking on the forum who needs a few good fishettes to liven up their tank. :p
 

tjudy

Moderator
Staff member
5 Year Member
Messages
2,822
Location
Stoughton, WI
:) Shipping is pretty easy. Let me me know if you want to give it a shot when the weather warms up a bit. I can guide you through it.
 

Nermal

New Member
5 Year Member
Messages
19
Location
Omak, Washington state
There does seem to be quite a few of us from here on this forum. Seems kinda unusual as the east coast or so-cal usually has the monopoly. Aspen, are you from here also? Your profile says Toronto, Canada.

I'm over on the east side. "Omak". I might be interested. I have a 10 gal. that is sitting empty I could set up, and I think I know just the place.

A male would be nice eventually, but my space is limited for breeding right now anyway.
 
L

lotsoffish

Guest
R-S, I would start thinking about learning to ship fish. I say this for two reasons, you need a outlet for your fish and if your husband is giving you the evil eye you are surely addicted, let the disease take its natural course which naturally involves shipping fish all over the place!!
Pete
 

R-S

New Member
5 Year Member
Messages
20
Location
Washington State, USA
Yes, well, "surely addicted" would be correct. I kept consoling the hubby that "all these little guys will eventually be worth trade credit--you know, honey, like free fish food". He bought it for a while but now he thinks it was all a ruse to get more fish. :lol: :mrgreen:

Also have rhinogobius wui fry growing out, so I guess you all are right that I'll have to learn to ship.

I come through Omak once per year on my way to an annual biker get-together in Osoyoos in May. Would be fun to meet you then, Nermal.
 

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