Cacatuoides female with eggs?

[Astrid]

i believe that it is important to have mild fry predators in a tank with new parents, it helps them develop good defense instincts. (others disagree, we all learn from our own exp's) i have had a couple of cases with rams where one parent was killed by the other or jumped from agression when i removed all of the fry predators. learning to walk the line on how much fry danger is too much is part of learning about your own fish. i have used a single oto for this purpose though. fish don't seem to realise that oto's don't predate fry.

Yes, Ive read about this before on this forum. Now the small xiphophorus are removed- It was not a problem at all. They could be caught to a net very easy, I was even wondering. Because catching their father to a net was an different case...

Now I think that in a role of predator for the fry is the male and the second female...

Xiphophorus helleri = wild green swordtail, red swordtail or red tuxedo swordtail, depending on the morph.

We call them similar here. Also because of their tails with "swords". These which I have are the wild green. I also have the red.

even if i returned the swordtails to the store, i would be much happier having more cac babies than those fish.

Me too. That is the reason why Igot rid of most of the swordtails which were in the same tank before. I caught most of them and cleaned the whole tank, changed gravel and cut the plants. Today it looks like this.
But the problem was, that they dont want fish from amateur fish-keepers in the shops here. They have contracts with proffesional fish breeders and some of them dont want them even when they are free. Most of them accept the fish, but wont pay you anything, you can only choose some food from their shop (also not worth of the prize of the fish). So it was not easy for me to give my own-bred fish to people like that when I knew that and when I knew what conditions they have in some tanks.

your fry won't die before tomorrow from starvation. they are eating mircoscopic things in the tank, sifting through fish poop etc, even parents slime is food for many cichlids, not just discus. even red devils feed their fry slime.

Thanks rick. I will sleep much better this night when I know they wont die for hunger

The interesting thing is, that the fry is staying on the bottom of the tank while the female is away. When she comes to them, they start to swim free and are app. 10 cm over the bottom of the tank.

 

[farm41]

In a planted tank like that, the fry will have plenty of things to eat and pick at. Nice tank

 

[Corie Dora]

Good job Astrid. Your Cacs look really nice. Your male looks much like mine does. I wish mine were doing the same thing.

Congrats on the new fry


Corie

 

[farm41]

Now comes the hard part, getting good growth rates by supplying ample food without deteriorating water quality.

 

[Astrid]

Thanks all.

Matt: My 55 gallon cummunity tank looks a little different today, but one photo which was taken few days ago can be seen here.
As you could recognise, I am also interested in plants, not only the fish

Corie: Ive read about your misery with cacatuoides fry. I hope you will see some of the lovely babies in your tank soon. Dont resign, they are worth the try!

Astrid

 

[farm41]

Still very nice tank

 

[farm41]

OK, I just watched your slide show, really nice setup 8) What do you have for lighting?

 

[Astrid]

Well, the tank was a little overgrown that time... I had to cut it down.
Or, link to my whole Photoalbum at Yahoo is here.

Ok, and the light... I use 6 tubes of special aquarium light from Sylvania: 4xAquastar and 2xGrolux, each for 25 W, so together it is 150 W.

 

[farm41]

Nice

 

[Astrid]

I finally managed to take some photos which I could be proud of.

I found out that today I have much more bbs that fry can eat at once. I fed them in the morning, then in the afternoon and in the evening I wanted to give them the rest, but there is too much of it.
I could see how they were eating it! It was a very nice experience...

Another thing is, that I could see the male swimming too close to the fry, while the female was away searching for food. He was app. 2 cm from them, but didnt eat them! He was just watching them.

 

[farm41]

I put my bbs into a small plastic container with fresh saltwater after harvesting them and keep in the fridge, they are good for 2 days like this. Then I don't have to hatch every day. I keep one hatcher going at all times though harvesting every other day. With the bbs in the fridge,it's always enough to carry me through will waiting for the next harvest.

 

[fishboy20]

Are those wild caught cacautoides? They at least look like they have the coloration of them. Nice pictures of the fry and proud parents. Good job! Keep us updated.

 

[Astrid]

Coloration of the males

Are those wild caught cacautoides? They at least look like they have the coloration of them. Nice pictures of the fry and proud parents. Good job! Keep us updated.

Thanks.
I dont know if they are wild caught. They may be, but I am not sure.
Only the two males have this coloration. The females are double red (I bought them in another shop).

 

[Christine-FishGrrl]

CONGRATS!!!!

They are absolutely adorable! Kudos on the photographs.

 

[ming]

Any update on those baby fishes?
How long does the mom take care of the babies?
I have the same type of fish with babies.
My baby has been free swimming for about a week now.

 

[Astrid]

Thanks for your interest, ming. And congrats to your fry.
Im sorry I didnt write earlier, but I was very busy and I could hardly find time for the tanks, not even to write about it here.

The fry was doing fine for about three days but then I suddenly didnt have the bbs. I still dont know what happened- I prepared it as ussual, but no bbs was ready in two days. Only after app. 4 days. But it was too late- by that time I fed the fry with the Sera Micron, but it may have not been enough and they died.
I also didnt change water for a week, so it also could cause their death.

But the parents have spawned again and this monday I found 30 small fish swimming around the female. Of course, I didnt have any bbs. But till it was ready in about 2 days, I fed them with the Micron and I think they were eating it, because the number of them didnt decrease.
I really want them to survive, so I feed them as often as possible: 5-6 times a day and I change 1/10 of water every other day. I hope it is enough.
Ive taken some photos of them on monday:

Yesterday I found a big surprise in the big, community tank. I could see one of the Apistogramma female attacking all the fish that go too close to one place in the tank. I looked closer and I found some small Apistos! Also in the hard water, which is in that tank, some eggs hatched. But I dont think they will live long, because of the other fish and absence of food in the tank.

 

[ming]

wow, it looks great
Unfortunately I have bad news on my fish. The mother of my babies died for no apparent reason. The babes were 3 weeks old at the time so they've grown to a decent size so far. Its the 4th week now and they seem fine. They just hide out in the thicket of Rotala Indica I have. Its grown dense enough that no other fish can easily swim through it except the babies. I think about 20 babies are left as thats all I can see popping out grabbing BBS when I feed.

heres one that went out exploring

heres the father

 

[Astrid]

Hi ming
The fry on the picture is nice, it starts to look more like its parents.
The male is wonderful!
Thats really bad luck that the female died, but you can be glad that it happened in the time when the fry was independent enough to survive also without their mother.

May I ask you few questions? How big is your tank? How often did you feed the fry when they were smaller and how often now? Whats your water hardness and pH? And how often do you change water in the tank?

I will have to leave home in two weeks time. It will be the weekend February 28-29. That time they will be three weeks old (I hope they will be) and I am wondering if they will be able to survive if I feed them only on saturday morning and then on sunday afternoon/evening, when we come back home. I know, it may be too early to think about it, but what do you think?

 

[ming]

They're in a Standard 10Gallon tank
I've always fed them twice a day since birth, once in the morning, once before bed. Every now and then I might forget so at least once per day. Not very common that I forget though.
My water is 7KH and 7.4PH
I change 30% of the water/week

My suggestion is, a few days before you leave, start feeding them a little extra and let them fatten up and they should be just a little hungry when you get back. Unless you can get someone to feed them, you can hatch some BBS, put it in a testing vile and store in the fridge and let them just dump it in. I usually hatch enough BBS for 2 days and store the next day's food in the fridge as I'm too lazy to hatch everyday. The stored BBS is already rinsed and put in fresh water.

 

[Astrid]

Thanks ming, you really helped me.

If I understand you correctly, you catch the bbs, but it in fresh water and in the fridge it is alive also after one day? Doesnt the bbs die, when it is not in the salt water for so long and when there is no adding air? Or, is this neccesary only when hatching them and then they can live also in fresh water, without adding air?