Apistogramma Cacatuoides Breeding Project

[Tizer]

My Kribensis were like that, i would see 80 off fry swimming about then a week later be down to 40, another week down to 20. Never managed to work out what was causing it, lack of food, over feeding, other fish...I've got 4 males from my first spawn then 1 male from the second all growing nicely. Second spawn was disrupted by my newly introduced apple snails taking a liking to the eggs inside a coconut! Currently mooching around fish shops looking for 5 females in the hope i get a few pairs out of them in a few months with seperate blood lines. Found one female, 4 more to go!

Trouble with removing them is that they never learn how to be parents...so in the long run, not the best idea if you want to breed them for profits.

 

[L_Plates]

You do have a point there Tizer. If my rams spawn i was planning on leaving the fry in the tank until they spawn again or until the fry are a few weeks old.

How often to Kribs spawn ?

LP

 

[Tizer]

Left alone they spawned every 10 weeks, when disrupted on the 2nd spawn by the snails, with no fry bar the lone lost one, they spawned again about 3 weeks later. But i didnt feed them up or try and induce spawning as they were in my community tank.

Actually i was probably wrong to say its bad for profits, if you can remove the fry and grow them out yourself, you could get a regular production line going, but for me thats not what the whole breeding thing is about. I'd rather be able to have half a dozen successful spawns with good parents, sell them on as a breeding pair and let someone else enjoy them while having a crack at another species. Given the time and space, which i might have in a few years time when i move house, i think i'l have a propper crack at a few species. For now its just my big tank and my 90 litre i get to play with That said i'm still pondering some shelves in my office, i'll see what my xmas bonus is like

 

[BigbruiserAl]

Im only breeding the appisto as a project, Ill prob only sell them on here to some locals not make any money.

Apples snail one
Dart frogs: Done
Wife: Done
cacatuoides : In progress
lol

Ill prob only sell them on here to some locals not make any money.

After i done apistogramma cacatuoides think ill try some borellii

 

[L_Plates]

Im only breeding the appisto as a project, Ill prob only sell them on here to some locals not make any money.

Apples snail one
Dart frogs: Done
Wife: Done
cacatuoides : In progress
lol

Ill prob only sell them on here to some locals not make any money.

After i done apistogramma cacatuoides think ill try some borellii

 

[moochy13]

whats the smallest tank you can have a trio in for breeding purposes ?

 

[BigbruiserAl]

Well 75L is the min for a pair a trio is 100L+

I have a trio in my 75L and am having problems with two females fighting so prob best to remove 1 female and fry afetr spawning if doing it like me

 

[BigbruiserAl]

Update in the breeding tank we have 15-20 fry left more then i thought, dad was moving the fry not eating them, i knew the females did it but not the males.
Just feed them some home hatched brine shrimp and they love it their bellys go bright pink when their full. A tip i got was when feeding fry turn the filter off for an hour allows the fry to learn to hunt before it goes works very well for me

 

[Tizer]

I've known people to breed these guys in 25 litre tanks...

 

[BigbruiserAl]

For a pair it is doable but not something i would advise someone trying raising them for the 1st time, a small tank would need daily water changes and would need to get the male away sharpish when he turns on them as he will turn it just when(approx a month old so i hear)

 

[Overload]

Well done on the fry!

Its a same you live so far up north. Once tanks are sorted and cycled I am giving real thought to a trio of apistogramma cacatuoides, might have looked at taking one or two from you.

 

[BigbruiserAl]

Well here the update peeps there coming on nice i think out of 50 or so i have 20 left so far. finding hard to get pics of fry they have been re homed in the 60L shrimp overflow tank. (waves bye to cherrys)

 

[Aqua Tom]

Well done on the fry!

Its a same you live so far up north. Once tanks are sorted and cycled I am giving real thought to a trio of apistogramma cacatuoides, might have looked at taking one or two from you.

Great little fish.

 

[BigbruiserAl]

Thanks Tom, i just need to find out when they will get their colours now

 

[minnnt]

Brilliant!

It looks like you have done what i normally do. If i use a light substrate then the fish's young are usually white, then if i use a darker substrate the fish's fry are usually black which makes life awkward when trying to catch them. lol. Typical eh?! lol.