Wow my P Acei is holding!

[yhbae]

75 days ago, I purchased 5 "juv" P Acei which were only at most 2 inches long. I never thought it would be possible for them to breed so I never paid attention until today. I accidentally saw one of them holding - clearly the bottom part of their mouth is really full, and she is circulating the eggs in her mouth. Now I understand why I only saw 4 Aceis active during the feeding time! I have no idea how long she has been holding.

She is barely over 2 inches and this is the first holding. What would be the best action? I do have a 5.5g tank which I was going to use it to raise bristlenose fries (which are due in at most few days). I also have a breeding net, but I never used them for platies, so I can't imagine using them for P Acei. Stripping fries off 2 inch female seem very cruel...

I suspect since this is the first holding, if I stress her she will probably swallow. Perhaps the best thing to do is to let the nature take care of them (i.e. all will probably get eaten) and wait until the next chance (which will probably happen pretty soon).

What would you do?

 

[fish_r_great]

Yeah I'd say let nature take its course. Since this is the first time she will probably eat them but hopefully will raise some.

 

[yhbae]

I guess I'm going to find out! Last night, she even tried to eat some food while she was holding and she wasn't very successful! Today, she isn't trying to eat so I guess she is learning how to hold (i.e. she found out she cannot eat and hold at the same time!)...

 

[Zippy]

Congratulations If you have nowhere to raise the fry then the best course of action would be to let her spit the fry in the main tank when she is ready, shortly after spitting them her parenting duties are over and then its up to the fry, some will survive but only the strongest, possible about 5.

If you wanted to raise the fry the a small rearing tank would do, at night when the lights are off, cup the holding female out and place her into the rearing tank, leave her to spit her own fry, which usually takes approx 3 weeks. Leave her to re-cuperate for a day or so after spitting the fry, or until she starts to be a threat to the fry which will be soon after, then place her back into the main tank.

Feed the fry on baby brine shrimp to start off with, then when they are a little bigger you can feed them finely crushed spirulina flake, they should be big enough to place into the main tank when they are about 6 weeks old. You can expect 20+ fry from a clutch, but it's doubtful that they will all survive, though alot more will than if raised in the main tank.

HTH

 

[yhbae]

Thanks for the feedback...

Out of curiosity, how big are the fries? Or more specifically, how fat are they? Perhaps I can build a breeding net that can be placed back into the main tank. Depending on the size, I could build one that is close to 1ftx1ft in size - would that be enough as a temporary holding place?

I am already hatching BBS to condition panda cories which I am trying to get them to breed, so I guess I can feed them the same thing...

 

[Zippy]

Hi, the fry when spat are about a centimetre in size, they are not as small as egg laying species like Kribs, due to the fact that they are incubated in the females mouth for so long.

I wouldn't hold the female in the net as that might stress her enough to swallow the babies, personally i would either have a holding tank with shelter for her, or let her spit in the main tank.

 

[yhbae]

I was having this crazy idea of building a large (plastic) net that fits in the top half of the tank, and put some rocks in there to mimic the main tank... That will give me some 30-40% of additional bottom area. I thought about this since this will allow me to keep the same water parameters as the main tank. (I currently add chemicals to maintain their water parameters).

Probably was a crazy idea - I'll stick to the conventional kind...

 

[yhbae]

I've decided, I'm gonna get rid of the platy breeder setup and turn the 10g into a temporary tank for the holding female Acei until she spits. I guess the fries can stay there for couple of weeks until I get a larger tank for them to grow in.

May be this is the execuse I was looking for to get rid of all platies once in for all! (yeah, finally I can convert that 15g into the shellie tank as well!) I never thought the very first 3 fishes I purchased will end up with this many...

Question: Can I feed P Acei fries baby brine shrimps or is this too rich in fat for their own good? I never feed these to larger mbunas...

 

[Zippy]

Hi, BBS is fine to feed to the fry, as they get a little bigger try feeding them finely crushed algae flake.

 

[yhbae]

I just spent almost an hour catching that female! I have too much rocks so I had to remove 2/3 of them, and even then I think I was lucky to catch her...

She is now alone in a 10g with some rocks, no substrae. Fortunately, she is still holding so looks like I'll experience my first ever fries of mbuna! Yeah!

 

[Zippy]

Great, keep us updated

My Red Zebra has started releasing her fry, so by tonight i'll hopefully have 20+ babies

 

[yhbae]

Great, keep us updated

My Red Zebra has started releasing her fry, so by tonight i'll hopefully have 20+ babies

Good luck!

What do you plan to feed? Crushed adult food?

 

[Zippy]

Great, keep us updated

My Red Zebra has started releasing her fry, so by tonight i'll hopefully have 20+ babies

Good luck!

What do you plan to feed? Crushed adult food?

Hey, i plan too yes, but at the moment BBS, though at the moment i don't have any and i got 19 Brichardi fry aswell as 17 Red zebra fry to feed so i am using Liquifry no 1 until i can get to an lfs that sell it.

 

[yhbae]

Great, keep us updated

My Red Zebra has started releasing her fry, so by tonight i'll hopefully have 20+ babies

Good luck!

What do you plan to feed? Crushed adult food?

Hey, i plan too yes, but at the moment BBS, though at the moment i don't have any and i got 19 Brichardi fry aswell as 17 Red zebra fry to feed so i am using Liquifry no 1 until i can get to an lfs that sell it.

Its good to know they eat BBS - I hatch them anyways for other fishes, so it won't be any more work than it is right now... Although it is sometimes a bit of a pain, I have to admit, this is one of the cheapest food available on the market, and it happens to be one of the best as well!

I guess Red Zebra fries will have no problem eating crushed adult food, but what did you feed Brichardi fries? Did you feed them Liquifry #1 as well?

 

[Zippy]

The Brichardi fry hatched yesterday and i have moved them out the main tank into a fry growing on tank. I fed them today for the first time.