a. cacatuoides Spawn and It’s Strike one

[gwand]

Three weeks after my Apistogramma Cacatuoides pair arrived they spawned and there were fry in the tank. However these first time parents were not properly “instructed” in parental care. The male did a poor job keeping marauding invaders away who were looking for an easy snack. Then I caught mom eating her fry. None of the fry survived cannibalism and the South American predators. Well practice makes perfect. We will see what happens next month.

 

[GaryE]

Th first spawn often goes wrong. Your cacatuoides type is what used to be called "an orange flash", and they are a selected form. A lot of breeders for farms separate fry from their parents almost immediately, and the instincts for parenting don't get modeled and often take a few tries to kick in, if ever.

I used to get spawns about every 6 weeks from my wild caught cacatuoides. I'd always try for young mature males but older females, to get around the learning curve in case they only spawned once.

I had an agassizi pair succeed on spawn 17.

 

[Colin_T]

As Gary said, domesticated cichlids of all types regularly eat their eggs and or fry for a few batches before they work out they shouldn't Angelfish are notorious for it and they eat the eggs a couple of times, then the babies as soon as they hatch, then the babies when they start swimming. Then they look after them.

This is all due to the breeders separating the parents from fry so the adults breed again sooner and they get more young to sell. The drawback is the babies don't get to learn their fish language or parental care and they eat the eggs and fry instead when they start breeding.