Apisto breeding need help

[bir123]

So about a month ago i recived my first pair of apisto cacatuoides double red.They are housed in a 24 by 12 by 12 inch aquarium with drift wood plant coconut caves and clay pot .They are about 2 to 3 inches and have not bread yet .I feed brine shrimp daphina tetra color bit and nls.The temp stays around 25 to 28 .Any advice on how to get them to breed.

Pic soon

 

[regani]

A picture of the tank might help to identify potential problems. Are you sure you have males and females? Can you test the water for pH, GH, KH? Nitrates and conductivity/TDS might also be useful to know

 

[bir123]

Thank you very much for your reply.I would like to apologize for my late reply.But the ph seems to be around 6.5 don't have a test kit to test GH or KH

Here are the pictures

 

[regani]

Thanks for posting the pictures. The ph is good for your apistos and cacatuoides are not really too fussy about the water parameters.
From the pictures can't really say if they are a pair, but there are a couple of other potential problems the pictures point to.
One problem are the cories. They are bottom dwelling fish too and will have constant run-ins with the apistos. Both sides will be stressed out, you may get injuries or deaths, especially when the apistos decide to breed. On the other hand the apistos may not think the environment safe enough to breed with the cories being close all the time.
The next problem is the very coarse gravel. Apistos feel more at home on a layer of fine sand which they will sift through for food and move around to dig out caves. The coarse substrate is also not good for the cories, it can damage their barbels which can lead to infections.
The caves are still a bit too open. An easy way to get a better cave is to just enlarge the drainage hole in the pots you have enough for the fish to just pass through and the put them upside down on the sand. Or you can make a hole in the rim and put the upside down.
It is also better to caves and hiding spots on opposite sides of the tank with some structures between them to block line-of-sight. This will give the pair a chance to get out of each other's way when either the female is not ready to breed and the male wants to chase her away, or when the female starts breeding and doesn't want the male close.
hth

 

[bir123]

Thanks alot i am working on chqnging the substrate and the cories are just tempory i am wating for some plants to rooth in my discus aquarium.I will make sure to turn the pota over and thinking about putting a next piece of drift wood on the other side of the tank with a next coconut cave.

 

[bir123]

The only problem is when they breed how would i know if th3 pots are turned upside down.

 

[rr16]

Interestingly, when I had A. cacatuoides as my first apistos it was on gravel and the female excavated underneath some bogwood to make a cave. I had three females with fry at the same time in that tank but unfortunately I had too many fry predators!

 

[bir123]

So it is possible to keep them with gravel

 

[regani]

It is possible, as it is possible for humans to rest on a bed of nails. Not very comfortable, though

 

[rr16]

Sorry, yes, I should have mentioned that I now keep my Apistos on sand! I was inexperienced in those days. It was, as I said, interesting.