My Apistogramma sp "steelblue"

[beleg]

I got this pair from my friend Volkan. Currently the female is guarding her eggs/fry. however the tank is inhabited by H.bentosi so the survival chance of the fry are minimal if not separated. His pair had also bred and this one was in the tank only a week or so and they bred almost right away. He took good care of them

Not as pretty as some of the Apistogramma species and pictures on this site but this is what we got here

 

[beleg]

Here are some bad photos of the fry;

 

[beleg]

The mother and father turned to be excellent parents. They have not lost much fry to H.bentosi. They still protect more than 30 fry. Feeding with bbs , today if they are still alive when i go home , i will separate the fry to an incubator which i make after Ted's design.

 

[beleg]

Ok this is where i keep the fry and the mother. I initially thought keeping her with the fry is a good idea to make the fry feel safe. And it really does. They constantly try to eat something when she is around. However its not good for her. she keeps trying to chase away the tetras she cant reach. I will set her free tomorrow.

The incubator is an acrylic box , the white pipe on left lets water in (sealed with pantyhose..another reason to love them) and the sponge filter lets the water out. This way the baby have some food to munch on the sponge filter too..

 

[beleg]

The surviving fry are out growing their grow-out tank and will have to be moved soon. They are quite aggressive and starting to show colors. They share the same 10 g tank with 5 cherry shrimps. The shrimps are not as good as blueblues but thats all we have here

 

[georgedv]

Great lookung group. I have a question and a request. Question first. I noticed some cabomba plants in your tank, and I know these plants require lots of light for atleast 10-12 hr periods. Do you think the strong light might be reducing productivity of your steelblues?

My request is, I like the little incubator you made. I was wondering if you could explain li a little more, maybe explain how you made it.

Thanks beleg, those are good looking fry.

g

 

[beleg]

Hi georgedv,

The pair was in my 150 l planted tank with high CO2 levels and high light levels , yet the pair bred constantly every week or 10 days until ,i don't know why, the female lost her appetite. I gave them back to my friend from whom i borrowed them from, and she is back to her healthy form again.

The incubator i made is similar to Ted's idea. I went to an acrylic shop and have it made for me. Then i installed a sponge filter inside and let the water exit into the main tank. The white thing on left is the entrance of freshwater from the tank into the incubator. Hope this explains.