Apisto fry!!

I'm so stoked! My Apistogramma cacatuoides double reds have fry. I have 1 male and 2 females in my 3ft guppy tank. Both the females had eggs in there caves and then this morning the one mommy came out of her cave with her fry. This was her third attempt!
I immediately removed the guppies to other tanks!
I have left the male and other female in the tank.

I'm hoping the fry will still be there when I get home tonight!

Should I let nature take it's course or should I remove the fry and try and rear them seperately?

When should I start feeding them? At the moment they are just hovering over the gravel.

I'll try and post some pics tomorrow - getting off at 13:00!

 

Congratulations Irma, I know you would have wanted to play sick today, but at least you get of early to go and look at the fry, take photos, and keep us updated!

 

Congratulations Irma, best of luck.

 

Butcherman - the only other fish in the tank is the male and the other female. She has eggs in her cave so I'm not keen on moving her. Should I just remove the male?

 

Congrats Imra, it might be a good idea to remove the male but I have had a few successful batches from my Apisto's and I have never removed the male they were great parents. if you can try and feed them BBS but if not I found crushing quality flakes to work just as well.
Good Luck I hope you can raise them all to be awesome looking fish.

 

I wouldn't remove the Male at all. Caca's are excellent parents and the male should also help with this! Only take him out if you notice him actually eating any of the fry? But be careful here, as sometimes the male and female will take a fry or two in their mouths, and then 'chew' on them a little before spitting them out in another place. Its quite fascinating to watch! What they are doing is actually cleaning them, and moving them from harms way!

The other thing to watch out for, is when the other female has her fry, that the dominant female may well steal the others fry, so will be swimming round effectively with two broods!

You may well see some hostilities between the two females, and the male will probably just keep out of it?

Even if they do eat up all the fry, you are another step down the line, and they will eventually learn not to eat them!!

Can I ask what size tank you have them in? Are the females able to see each others nesting sites easily, or are they out of site from each other? Are there lots of plants for the fry to hide in, or is the tank pretty bare?

Hope that helps?
Regards
G!

 

Hi Big G,

They are in a 3ft tank. The females have there own caves on opposite sides of the tank with a nice piece of driftwood between them. The tank is moderately planted. I could add some more plants to help them?

The female with the fry keeps chasing off the male and will not allow him near the fry. That is why I'm considering removing him??

I do not think the other females eggs will hatch as this is her first attempt but I could be wrong.

Any help is appreciated!

I have reared Orange Chromide fry before but I was forced to remove the fry when they were free swimming as they were in a community tank and the parents were stressing out badly.

I'm leaning towards leaving things as they are and see what happens. If the fry get eaten then at least I know that next time things should go better.

 

Leave both the male and famales. I have agizisi fry and these are the best parents ever!

 

YAY at last Congrates... I was looking at my 4th batch last night that has just hatch and I was thinking about you....

As far as I know, from experience you don't need to remove the guppies...I did not, and my tanks a lot smaller than yours, The mother will fed them for the first 3 days or so, and then it is up to them. What have you got to feed them?

I use a Hikari Red Discus food because it is easy to crush and sinks nicely, if you have any other ideas let me know, my first batch in now 1cm in size

I would like see some pics when you post, and again congrats, guess you dont need another pair from me then? lol or maybe we swap to keep the siblins apart...

 

Lizid - thanks!
I removed the guppies because I wanted to minimise the risk of the fry being eaten. They look so small!
I have the decap brine shrimp eggs that Dolphin supplied. The guppy fry loves it.
I also have brine shrimp eggs that I can hatch so I'll probably go with that. I just wasn't sure when to start feeding so thanks for telling me.
Let's first see if this batch makes it or not but I'll open to swapping.
Just hoping they are still there when I get home. Which the day would go faster!

 

They will be there I remember when my first batch arrived I only saw them when they were around 3-4mm it was crazy all I wanted to do was get home...

where did you get the brine eggs?

 

congrats Irma!

 

Lizid - got them from a supplier. I will PM the details
Dolphin - Thanks!

 

Irma, I would not place any more plants in at this point for two reasons...

Firstly, the female with fry could become streesed and eat her brood!

And Secondly, similarly the female with eggs may eat them!

Cheers
G!

 

Pics

Could not get a great pic of mom with the fry as she had moved her babies to the back of the tank but I did manage to get one photo of her. You can just make out one of the fry at the entrance to the pot near the top, just under mom. I did get some pics of the proud dad!

 

Update

Mom and babies are doing well. She's is very aggressive now. Managed to get one pic.

2912

 

They are so Cute.Congrats Irma!

 

Irma you have a very nice specimen the I will be very keen to do a swap with you when you are ready, I nime will be good to go in about a month or two...

by the way I spoke to the guys about the Brine Shrimp I will be ordering some soon for mine...

 

Lizid - I'm open to anything because I was not planning on them breeding. Let's just hope that all goes well. This is her first batch and she seemed a little frantic this morning. I'm hoping that she doesn't panic and eat the babies.

Glad you came right with the brine shrimp eggs.