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Now it is sure that they breed, I saw the eggs.There are about 25 eggs and 2 or 3 of them have fungus.
I have some more questions:
The female is not staying guarding the eggs which are in a coconut cave all the time. She is swimming all over the tank and doesn't stay in the cave for a long time. Is this normal?Is it happening because she feels safe, alone in the tank?
Are the snails (Ramshorn and Trumpet) a threat for the eggs/fry?
I had some similar 'unattentive' females in a couple of species, but that behavior changed once the fry hatched and the females would stay mostly in the cave then until the fry became free-swimming.
it is difficult to say though how much time they really spend in the caves or guarding eggs. when they seem to swim around more that may just be because I am close to the tank and they associate me with food. for all I know they could be fiercely guarding the cave all the hours that I am not standing in front of the tank
the snails shouldn't pose a threat. the female will remove them from the cave if she feels they get too close to the eggs.
The female stays much more in the cave but I can't see any babys!
They are starting swimming in the 3rd day?I hope they will!
When its time I will feed walterworms.
Eggs typically hatch after 3 days. It then takes about 4 days more for the larvae to absorb their yolk sacs. They become freeswimming fry about 7 days after spawning. Then is the time to start feeding.
I forgot the thread for a while, but now I have much to tell you!
On 16/12/12 the fish spawned and the male was removed.There were about 20 eggs.On 20/12/12 the eggs hatched but female's behaviour changed and I had no sign of the fry for days.That's why I decided to remove the female on 25/12/12 and after I checked the cave and I saw no eggs I put in the tank a new couple.The couple went in the same cave and started guarding the fry that I didn't saw!I was so surprised!The next day I removed the male and I left the female with the fry.Now there are 5 babies left.I feed with walterworms and I hope they will live.They are now 9 days old.
PH 6.5
NH3/NH4 0
NO2 0
NO3 0
Temp. 25.5 Celsius
There will be more males or females?
If 15-20 fry had survived, you would probably get close to a 50/50 split. Now, it is hard to say because only a small part of the spawn (5) survives. Often, in such situations, the biggest/strongest survive. These are usually males.
Tomorrow morning I will start preparing the fish to breed.Now I know how it works.I decided to do a big WC ( about 25 litres with 70% R/O and 30% Tap Water.The water will be filtered with peat for a while.I will feed Grindals and frozen Mysis.
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Now with the 5 babies.I am really surprised with the Ocean Nutrition Instant Baby Brine Shrimp.Any opinions about it? Does it worth?I want it to feed the fry the first days of their life.I can't produce BBS daily and I was Wondering if this could replace them.
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Once I read that the females are trying to steal fry from other females to increase the amount of the survivors.And here is my question,If the couple do breed, will they take care of the old fry if I introduce it to them?
If the size difference isn't great, then yes they will raise the 2 broods together. If the older group of fry are more than 2-3X the size of the new fry, then it is likely they will not.
Do you think I have to remove the old fry till the new fry hatch, and then put it back again?
If the older group become 3X of the new fry do you think that the parents will attack them?
Do you know anything about the Ocean Nutrition Instant Baby Brine Shrimp? http://www.oceannutrition.eu/en/products.aspx?Product=instant-baby-brine-shrimp
Here is a yesterday pic of the babies:
I have many different types of apisto that raised two broods of different size in the same tank. The drawback is the earlier brood which has larger fry will out compete the later brood. If the fry size of the two broods are too great (more than 4 weeks apart), the older fry will actually 'dine' on the later brood. The only time I saw parents chasing away the earlier brood if they have gotten too big for their own good (like around 8 weeks old) otherwise they are tolerated even though they maybe eating their younger siblings.