Apistogramma sp. steel blue's spawned

I bought 4 of these little fish from Big-G about a month back, all 4 are still very small, the biggest being about 3cm and the smallest about 2cm.

I recently noticed what appeared to be a pair that had formed and were guarding one of the pots in the tank. On Saturday when I was doing water changes, I saw that the little female had gone very yellow, and was in and out of her pot chasing the other 2 away (She doesnt mind the male being near or in the pot) When I looked inside the pot I was very surprised to see about 15 eggs, by last night you could actually see little eyes in the eggs and this morning there are no eggs, but she is still very busy guarding the pot, so I assume there may be wrigglers in there somewhere.

I am still amazed that such a little fish got that many eggs out, she is literally so small that she probably wouldnt be able to eat her own eggs

 

Wow congrats.

 

Congrats best of luck.

 

Yesterday I thought the eggs were gone, only to notice that the female was hiding behind a rock keeping watch over a few wrigglers.

 

Steel Blues can be quite prolific breeders once they get going, so I would expect plenty more to come!!

The mother of those was a tiny little fish at around 3cm when I first got her, and next to the 6cm male looked positively juvenile! Yet every two weeks she pushed out around 30 eggs or so! It was an amazing sight considering her tiny size, especially one time when she must have pushed out close to 100 eggs!

At first don't expect any survivors, but as they mature a bit more you can expect that they will have healthy broods regularly! Just don't interfere by removing the young too early, as otherwise the parents will not learn to parent! Only once the fry are of sufficient size to start fights should they be removed, or if they become a threat to smaller fry or the parents start attacking them.

I would also remove the other two to another tank, as when she gets a bit bigger, she WILL kill them if she feels they are going to threaten the fry or her hubby! Unfortunately with Ap. Sp. 'Steel Blue', they are a lot more aggresive to their own kind than other Apistogramma species.

Good luck, and enjoy! They are very special fish! I do miss them so!

Oh and get the Brine Shrimp going... You'll need to start feeding them a day after they are free swimming (being gaurded and eagerly watched by the mum!)

G!

 

Thanks @Big G , The other 2 have already been moved into the community tank with the other rams and harlequins, they seem very happy and it looks like it might actually be another pair.

 

Nice! What can I say, I was very blessed with the Apisto's I got! They all spawned on regular intervals, but the Steel Blues were something else! Like Clockwork from about 3 days after they arrived at me! I had two pair, and one pair even spawned on the second day after delivery!

Just keep an eye on the Steels with the Rams, just incase any fights break out! The Steels would most probably win coming head to head with a Ram three times its size! They should hopefully be good together though, but just keep an eye on it, especially if they starrt breeding!

Cheers
G!