Laetacara Araguaiae Spawned!

[thereverendturtle]

Awesome. Watch the parents signal the fry to hide with a flick of their fins and then that its all clear with the another. Cichlids are great fun to watch when they are in parent mode. Well all the time, but parent mode is the best.

 

[Biulu]

Great! Keep us updated...

 

[magpie]

Well, they're up in hover and swim a bit mode now... the parents are both hanging out near them, trying to move them back into the general cloud of fry. I know that once they start swimming more they'll start disappearing, but next time I'll be ready with a fry tank! This is super fascinating.

 

[thereverendturtle]

Your tank is planted enough a few may survive.

 

[magpie]

That's what I'm hoping!

 

[magpie]

The fry are definitely dwindling now that they're swimming more freely. I'm sure most of them will fall victim to the kuhlis and Apisto... Next time there will be a 10-gallon fry tank and live BBS ready for them!

But I thought you still might enjoy some photos. It's amazing how much these fish change their colors on a minute to minute basis. The breeding colors are gorgeous and I wish they'd keep them all the time.

Female (i call her be-bop )

Male in front, (I call him Buck - couldn't help myself with the sp. "Bucklekopf"... I know, I know...)

This one was underexposed, so their colors are a little dark. Buck lower, Be-bop higher.

Be-bop

Get back over here!

Be-bop, in another variation of the colors, stirring things up looking for food.

 

[thereverendturtle]

Sorry the numbers are shrinking. Those are awesome pics of the parents and fry tho.

 

[Biulu]

Wow! Great pictures as usual... Yeah, move them to a separate tank for the next round!

 

[magpie]

OK, well none of the fry made it, though a few made it longer than I thought (found them swimming amongst the floating plants).

But the pair already spawned again! Is this going to keep happening or will there be a time where they give it a rest? How frequently do spawning pairs spawn?

If they keep going at this rate I'm going to have to rehome the Apisto as it's not fair to him to be continually chased. There are hiding spots, and they've done no damage, but when they are spawning they chase a lot more. When they're not spawning there's minimal problems, maybe a bit of food guarding but that's about it. If it was only going to be here and there, he'd be fine, but if it keeps happening like this he'll never get a break. I definitely did not anticipate this.

Looks like I have to get that fry tank going sooner than later...

 

[thereverendturtle]

Roughly every two weeks, if they aren't guarding fry. The female can be maturing eggs while caring for her fry.

 

[minnnt]

Wow Magpie, they are stunning!!! I have noticed a few of these in my LFS, maybe i will invest in a pair.

Thanks very much for sharing your fantastic photo's and fish.

 

[magpie]

Roughly every two weeks, if they aren't guarding fry. The female can be maturing eggs while caring for her fry.

Every two weeks?? Wow! OK.... time for a talk with the husband. The apisto choice was his - so we have to choose laetacara pair, or compromise and choose one laetacara, one apisto. I won't get rid of both laetacara and it seems like a shame to break up a happy spawning pair but we'll see. They only bother the other fish when they get near the eggs/fry - but the apisto they will see across the tank and chase when there are fry. And I can see why, as they were good at running in and stealing fry for a snack.

Wow Magpie, they are stunning!!! I have noticed a few of these in my LFS, maybe i will invest in a pair.

Thanks very much for sharing your fantastic photo's and fish.

They don't look like much in the store. Mine were small little boring looking things. Love these guys!

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

A dwarf cichlid I've never looked into before, they look superb and congrats on the youngsters!

Youngsters in communities can be dodgy in various ways, My Lionhead Cichlid parents turned into pyschos and killed tankmates (male Golden WOnder Killifish, male Humphead Glassfish, African Butterfly Fish) but at the same time I admired their parenting skills (making four ~10cm Bushfish not dare touch yopungsters bouncing within centimetres of them), while recently I've seen teenage Lionheads treat new siblings as "live lunch" and my ~4-5cm new Steatocranus tinanti pair treat Ilyodon xantusi newborns (who are ~1.75cm but still quite streamlined) as a food supplement until I saw what was happening yesterday before proptly moving the predators out.

 

[magpie]

It's hard when you have one tank - for me, the appeal is the community where you can see different species of fish and enjoy the variety and different behaviors of each. But now that these two are spawning, that is equally fascinating. So I see how the 'multiple tank syndrome' can happen. In another forum it was suggested for me to set up a breeder for the laetacara. It's a great idea, then I could keep all fish, and have both a community and get to see the breeding behaviors. But my husband would have to buy into that one.

What size would be sufficient for a breeder tank for these two?

 

[Biulu]

Normally fish will stop spawning when their population becomes too much in a too small space. So, as long as there are no fry or other siblings swimming around they will continue breeding if conditions are good of course. So, the reason why they are spawning again is because none of the fry made it.

If you would like to see eggs surviving, you would do best in moving them to a breeding tank. A 20 gallon long would be perfect, but a 10/15 would do as well.

My approach is that I have a 'breeding tank' and a community tank. If I want to spawn a certain fish, I transfer them to the breeding tank, condition them and get the off-spring. Once I am done breeding them, I put them back in my community tank. I feel it gives me the best of both worlds....