easy does it Posted June 20, 2007 Share Posted June 20, 2007 Hi All, Picked up a pair of Cacatouides a week and a half ago, yesterday I find the female looking skinny and "Ta-Da" there's a bunch of pinky-red eggs on a piece of shale. Today she has moved the eggs into a small terracota pot, tho there seems to be significantly less of them. I've read a lot online about them being poor parents and the eggs being prone to fungus, and other dangers to the fry. I have a Ehiem 2213 on the 2 footer, and the tankmates are 2 blue rams, 1 Oto, 1 Bumblebee Goby, and 3 Guppies (tho the guppies are leaving shortly). They don't strike me as being the most preditory of tankmates, and the cacatouides are pretty militant in keeping the others away, so I struggle to explain the decreased number of eggs. Contemplating introducing some Panda Cories and Peppermint BN's, wondering about opinions on this? Any recommendations on the breeding or raising of the fry, such as food, etc, would be most appreciated. Thanks heaps, Cheers Adrian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simonauv Posted July 6, 2007 Share Posted July 6, 2007 Good to see some things never change... dwarfs??? Caca what? LOL How's things Adrian? Did you have any luck with the cocky fry? If not this time, maybe some things will help you next time around Is you water a little on the acidic side? If so, this will help minimise fungusing of the eggs. They seem pretty tolerant of water chemistry but I would tend to go softish and a bit acidic. The corys and the bristle nose will help themselves to the eggs and they will do so at night when Mum and Dad are alseep so maybe not the best addition to breeding tank. The guppies will also help themselves to any fry that stray too far from Mum and Dad. If you really want to raise some fry maybe looking at a species only tank, heavily planted would help. Have you got a good healthy growth of java moss growing in the tank? I find this is a huge asset in a fry tank because it tends to house a lot of small food items and you will see fry graze in it a lot. A lot of people will feed their newly hatched apistos BBS. They are pretty small (the fry that is) and so will need small foods. A culture of microworms is good, some of the prepared fry foods/pastes are worth a try and an infusoria culture would be handy too. A few people keep them as a harem of one male to two or three females. Good to see some dwarfism here for a change Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Th0mas Posted July 7, 2007 Share Posted July 7, 2007 Hi Adrian, Welcome to the world of dwarf cichlid. As per Simon's advise, it's best not to add any catfish in the tank as they tend to remain active during the darker hours and raid the nesting site. One thing I've found extremely unusual in your situation is the female moved her egg. This is something I've never experienced or heard before. Are you certain these are eggs she's moved or they are newly hatched fry? (mum will move wigglers around). The 2213 is a bit too strong for a 2 ft tank especially you've got fish breeding. Probably best is to fit a course sponge over the inlet to avoid fry accidentally sucked into the filter. As for food, live BBS is the best you can offer for young apisto. (mine are fed with BBS). Once you're certain there's wigglers, it'll be time to start a BBS hatchery (as it takes 48 hours to be ready for harvest). Keep up the good work! Cheers, Thomas. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CThompson Posted July 9, 2007 Share Posted July 9, 2007 Good replies above. I would add that I raised mine when they breed on micro worms. In addition, I would point out the discrepancy on ideal water conditions for the cichlids and other fish such as guppies and bumblebee goby which if I remember correctly require alkaline water. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
easy does it Posted July 9, 2007 Author Share Posted July 9, 2007 Thanks for the replies, As an update on the fry, their now almost 20 days old and from the original 20 or so fry there is only 3 left. The tank is very heavily planted and I have covered the inlet for the filter. No other fish have been introduced and the goby and guppies have been removed. They were moved as eggs from the shale to the pot , I turned the lights on the morning after they were laid and they had been moved. I decided not to target the fry with any particular food, as I was interested to see how they would do without. Next time I'll use a fry saver and feed them specifically. My problem is that I'm in an apartment and my girlfriend is unlikely to be happy about the fresh smells that some cultures make. I have been feeding frozen and live brine shrimp and bloodworms and I have seen the mother chewing food and spitting it out over the fry, but otherwise they are now at a semi-scavenging age based on their behaviour. I am confused as to how the fry have dissapeared. They kind of go missing in bunches of 5 or 6. and it has happened over the last week. Over this period the mother is noticibly less militant in her defense of the fry, and I think she may be ready to breed again as she is letting the male hang around a lot more. Is this breeding behaviour frequent? Cheers Adrian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Th0mas Posted July 9, 2007 Share Posted July 9, 2007 I decided not to target the fry with any particular food, as I was interested to see how they would do without. Next time I'll use a fry saver and feed them specifically. My problem is that I'm in an apartment and my girlfriend is unlikely to be happy about the fresh smells that some cultures make. I have been feeding frozen and live brine shrimp and bloodworms and I have seen the mother chewing food and spitting it out over the fry, but otherwise they are now at a semi-scavenging age based on their behaviour. I am confused as to how the fry have dissapeared. They kind of go missing in bunches of 5 or 6. and it has happened over the last week. Over this period the mother is noticibly less militant in her defense of the fry, and I think she may be ready to breed again as she is letting the male hang around a lot more. Is this breeding behaviour frequent? Hi Adrian, Fry saver is not particular useful, you either remove them to an isolate tank or leave them with the parent (might want to remove the male as he could be the reason for the fry loss). Microworm can smell a bit, and my wife dislike the idea of cultivating worm indoor. So the only solution is BBS, which is quite easy and don't smell (but comes at a cost). Once the fry have reached 1 month old, the parent will start to spawn again (unless she has lost the whole lot, then it's usually within 2 weeks before she's ready for the next lot). Remove all fry/juvenile once you notice the spawning activity as she'll turn hostile against them. Cheers, Thomas. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simonauv Posted July 10, 2007 Share Posted July 10, 2007 Also, despite the rams being attentive parents to their own fry, they won't treat the fry of other fish with the same respect. I wouldn't remove the fry until I had to and as ThOmas has said the fry saver is not going to be particularly useful. However, it does sound like she is gearing up to spawn again, so in this case if there are any fry left you could try and fish them out and raise them separately. I've never had a microworm culture go smelly on me so if anyone online has a culture going now they can scoop a little bit out and pop it in a film canister and post it to you so you can start your own in a take away container. All you do is half-fill the takeaway container (one of the shallow ones) with oats add warm water so they go to mush but are not overly runny, let it cool and then put in the culture starter. I use to cut about three or four lengths of dowel to lie on the oats but paddle-pop sticks work even better. The worms crawl onto the stick and then you just pick the stick up and swirl it in the water over the fry and pop it back in for the next feed. Keep the lid on and in a cool dark place and they'll grow happily. Top it up with water and fresh oats every now and then and it won't stink. Every few weeks start a new culture so you minimise the risk of a culture spoiling. Good luck with it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
easy does it Posted July 10, 2007 Author Share Posted July 10, 2007 Thanks for the input guys, I'll give a culture a go, prob put up a EOI on the classifieds. See how I can get the next batch of fry to go. Maybe I can see how long I can get away with it before she notices? Maybe start an alternate tipping comp. I do have a balcony, and if the worms are covered do you think they'll do OK in the winter climate? Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simonauv Posted July 10, 2007 Share Posted July 10, 2007 Is the tank on a cabinet? I'd put them under the cabinet (dark warm). Seriously - they don't stink if you watch them LOL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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