Taeniacara Candidi

[Matt2609]

Well the coloration of my female has gotten more intense, for sure. The blue markings on face and tail has become more intense. And on both my males and female I can now see the red outline on the dorsal fin and caudal fin. My female also spends a lot of time in a coconut cave with. But so far the male has just been aggressive towards her.
And my trio is 2 males and 1 female. It was suppose to be 1 male and 2 female, but the fish I had to choose from was very young, and barely any of them had developed any elongated fins. So was wondering if the submessive male was causing any kind of disturbans. Both the dominant male and female are very aggressive towards him. And tends to "team up" against him.
But thanks for the extra info. Won't be looking for spawning signs before my conductivity is lowered, as it currently is 382.

 

[Matt2609]

So did a large water change with pure RO water a couple of days ago, and now the female's colors have really lit up. And since the lights went on this morning they've stood head down in front of each other flashing at each other and just slowly floading around each other.. Is that what you were talking about Mike?
Also been feeding them with a lot of mosquito larvae lately as well as some freeze dried australian black worms, which I got recommended by a fishbreeder here in Denmark.
So far none of them have shown aggression towards eachother while floading around with their heads down.

 

[Mike Wise]

It appears that your fish are beginning to get interested in spawning!

 

[Matt2609]

So now I think there might be something going on in the tank. The female and male have been doing their dancing a couple of times now, and now the female is really territorial towards EVERY fish in the tank. Her coloration is still very dark and intense, and a lot of the time she is sticking to a specifical area of the tank. And every time she meets the male, she flash in front of him and in some kind of way whip her tail towards him. I have been feeding them newly hatched siberian artemia the last couple of days, along with live white mosquito larvae. And I've raised the temperature slightly from 26 to 28 (°C).

 

[Matt2609]

So the females chasing of the male has gotten a little out of hand.. She's been so rough on him, that he has lost a tiny bit of his tail fin, and he was lying between two leafs with pretty much no coloration and his gills were just constantly going up and down.. So I turned the lights off on the tank (1 hour before the normal time)... Even when I feed them she's flashing at him and whipping her tail at him.

 

[electric eel]

are you sure she hasn't spawned in the tank somewhere.maybe thats why she's being so aggressive towards the male.i have'nt kept these guys but thats how my dicrosus would get after spawning.the female did her best to kill the male always had to pull him.

 

[Matt2609]

It does seem like they have spawned, but since she's in the back of the tank where I can't see her I didn't want to make any asumptions. All though I feel pretty sure that there's a spawn But we'll just have to wait and see. She's really aggressive for the third day in a row and maintaining the dark and intense coloration.

 

[wethumbs]

They have obviously spawned. Before they have spawned, male will chase female or female will flee in the presence of male. After they have spawned, the role is reversed. Experience male will learn to stay away from a female guarding her brood. If the male continues to poke his snout where the female is guarding the clutch, he will get a good 'beeatch' slapping. Eventually, he will learn to stay away. It is best not to disturb the female's hideout, or she will eat all the eggs/wigglers. The eggs will hatch in 3 days and another 5 to 6 days before freeswimming. If you must disturb her, be ready to pull them and hatch/raise them artificially.

 

[Matt2609]

Does anyone know if the fry can take brineshrimps when they are free swimming (believe it's a siberian strain from Kulundinskoe Lake)?
Or should I start getting some infusoria ready?
The fry will stay in the tank, so they can possibly pick off some microorganisms on the decor.

 

[wethumbs]

I feed mine with newly hatched artemia (Salt Lake). They are more than big enough for it. Fry grow very slow for the first 8 to 10weeks, after that males will start to grow faster than the rest.

 

[Matt2609]

Great thanks !

 

[Matt2609]

There's now free swimming fry in the tank !
I've spotted two so far, and they were hovering over some of the leaves in the tank protected by the male. Don't know if there's more than the two of them, but I'm hoping for it, of course.
Is there any good way to make sure that they get the newly hatched brine shrimp? Or should I just drop it in like I usually do?
Btw.. Haven't seen the female since the lights went out yesterday, so hoping that the male hasn't killed her.
Edit:
The female just came out. Her coloration is entirely different from before, and she has gotten that really yellow body, and she has maintained the coloration in her fins.

 

[Matt2609]

So anyone knows of a way to make sure they get some of the brine shrimps?
I'm not really sure if the fry is able to get the brine shrimp, thought of trying to use a syringe. But not sure if it's possible to get the brine shrimps in a syringe..

 

[dpien]

Congrats on the spawn!
I usually just switch off the general circulation in the tank temporarily, then squirt a small amount of PRE-TANK WATER WASHED baby brine shrimp (filtered and washed on filter paper) onto the group of fry, using a simple plastic drop pipette.
After a while (after allowing them to eat), switch on the tank circulation again!

 

[Matt2609]

Will get a couple of pipettes as soon as possible then, and then I'll try it out.
Thanks for the answer !

 

[Racine Vice]

I just use a dedicated turkey baster.

 

[Apistomaster]

I just use a dedicated turkey baster.

I think that is what most of us do. A dedicated fish room baster is the easiest way to feed brine shrimp to fry. They are usually only about US$3.00, at least those on sale.

 

[Matt2609]

Got a couple of pipettes yesterday, and it worked perfectly fine. So thanks for the suggestions !

 

[Matt2609]

Afraid that the fry is dead..
The female is swimming around the tank like she normally would and she's being chased around by the male..
No clue what could have done it.. They always had little orange bellies so they didn't seem to starve.
But of course it's also her first spawn, even though she took really good care of the fry.
The weird thing is that she is still in the broodcare coloration. The two pelvic fins and the anal fin still has the dark outter markings, and she's still quite yellowish...

 

[dpien]

Sorry about the bad news. It could have just been a sudden water chemistry change and this can sometimes happen. There's plenty of hope though: you now have a breeding pair of a v precious species. They will spawn again given the opportunity (even within 2-3 weeks) - just keep doing your water changes, feed them well (baby brine shrimp is always good) and observe them carefully.
Good luck!