Cacatuoides female with eggs?

[ming]

After a day, the BBS might die, but they're still fresh and will be eaten by the babies. Granted that more of them might end up on the floor, I have a powerhead and a filter causing plenty of water movement which keeps them circulating for a bit so more can get eaten before they reach the floor. I sometimes see them pecking at the floor for food as well, so some of those fallen BBS are probably eaten as well. They probably will live longer in salt water, but I don't want to know the effects of added salt to these babies. Just rather be safe then sorry. Also, I've heard that having a high PH, such as my own, makes most of the babies male while lower PH goes towards female babies

 

[mikewang]

awesome! how big is your female and male? were they kept 1m, 1female tank? or sevral females

 

[mikewang]

ming and astrid, what water parameters did you breed your apistos in. thanks.

 

[Astrid]

Mikewang:
My male is app. 6 cm and female 3 cm long. First I had one male and two females in 66 litres tank, but one female died when the fry appeared.

Ming wrote his water parameters above.
Parameters in my tank: kH 4, pH 8-8.5 - I know, it should be lower, but I dont know what to do with it. But important is, that the fry dont mind it and is growing well. Some photos:

 

[ming]

mikewang: I had them 1m and 1f
Astrid: Awesome photos!
All my babies are pretty much safe to swim about well above the floor now. Seen couple of them swimming above a driftwood 6" above the floor. They pretty much each claimed their own territory in my 10G tank and staying in the same place each day. I'm sure its a bit crowded but I'm waiting for them to get just a bit bigger and I'll let them take over the 29G tank. Also need to get more hiding spots in the 29G tank as there is only plants. (I want some slates to make caves) Once that happens, I'll get an accurate count of how many there are as its almost impossible to count them when they're scattered all over. I'll get more pics soon and post them here

 

[ming]

this last one gives a size comparison to a penny

 

[mikewang]

awesome. when will my pair breed! what food do you guys condition your apisto with.

 

[ming]

I actually didn't do anything to condition them. I had a bunch of black worms in the tank living in the substrate so the female picked them when they popped out and the male would eat dried blood worms from my fingers in the top of the tank. The female seems too scared to come up and I found it kinda cool that the male would eat right out of my fingertips. Once I saw the eggs, I went to get BBS eggs asap though. She ate the BBS as well.

 

[Astrid]

Wonderful photos, ming! Especially the fourth one from above.

what food do you guys condition your apisto with.

I feed them with frozen food. Im not sure about English name of it, but I think that they are bloodworms. They look like worms and are red like blood . The female is a little spoiled now, she doesnt eat anything else, only the frozen food or live artemia (bbs). The male eats some dried food too, but she not.

 

[Astrid]

Hey ming, how is your fry? My is growing quite good, although I was away on holiday for a week and during that time they were fed only once a day by my friend.
Some photos:

 

[ming]

They're doing great!

 

[ming]

just wanted to add, heres a pic of my largest baby which is a male from the looks of it and showing color already. only 9 weeks old!