Adoption or fast-food?

[P.W.]

Hi all!

I´m new to this forum, so I begin with a short presentation. My name is Per Wigstal and I´m living in the north part of Sweden. I have been interested in dwarfcichlids and especially apistos for at least 25 years (!)
Have seventeens tanks right now in sizes from 50 litre up to 550 litre. Currently keeping only a couple of apisto-species such as: A. Borelli, A. Resticulosa, A. Steindachneri and A.sp. Red point.

I have a little story about a funny phenomena which occurred a couple of years ago in one of my tanks.
At this occasion this 200 litres tank was inhibitated by a pair of A.Steindachneri and a pair of C.Marooni. Both pairs spawned approximately at the same time, and they splitted the tank between them.
After about three weeks when both pairs had their batches of fry swimming around, the fun started!
The A.Steindachneri couple was kidnapping and adopting the marooni fry as soon as they had the oppurtunity. So after a while the Steindachneri batch was 50% Maroonis!
On the other hand the Marooni parents only saw the Steindachneri fry as some nice fast-food.
They noticed right away if there was a Steindachneri fry among their own frys.
In fact, the frys of these two species are quite different in colour and shape, so there´s no problem to see the difference between them.

So, to my questions:

Have anyone of you out there seen anything like this? Have you seen Apistos adopting frys from other species?

Why do the apistos have this behaviour? Does it fulfill any purpose, or do they do it just by mistake?

If they do it by mistake, are the Maroonis more intelligent than the Apistos then? (As they can see the difference between their own frys and the Apisto frys.)

I tried to get some comments in a Swedish forum some time ago, but no luck, nobody replied . Hoping for better luck this time :wink:

Best regards.

 

[Randall]

Fry Adoption

Dear Per,

That is an interesting story indeed!

I've heard stories from fellow hobbyists claiming that their Apistogramma species have occassionally swapped fry or that a particular species has accepted and cared for another species' fry. This is not something that I've experienced myself, however.

I don't think this behavior is done mistakingly; surely an Apisto parent can recognize his or her own fry. Although I can't explain it, there is ample precedent for this kind of behavior. Certain Lake Tanganyka cichlid species, for example, pass off their fry to other species who then care for them as if they were their own. Although behavior of this nature may seem bizarre, cichlids are fascinating fish that engage in a myriad of complex behavior.

Thank you for sharing your story with us.

All the best,

Randall Kohn

 

[P.W.]

Hi

Thanks for your reply Randall!

Can it be so that this adoption-behaviour is kind of logical from a genetical point of view?
I was thinking about the studys on A.Diplotaenia and A. gibbiceps mentioned in the book from Uwe Romer.
He have found that these species lives in colonys with a very dense population. I think I read that Gibbiceps was found at a density of 84 individuals per square meter !! With female and male-territories overlaping each other.
Perhaps it’s a good strategy for the colonys survival if the apistos protects and care for all apistolike fry swimming around, in and possibly between the different territories?
What do you think?

Hopefully we will see more studys in the future of these colony-structures and how the individuals within the colony interact.

Best regards

 

[Neil]

P.W.,

WELCOME TO THE FORUM

Interesting thread! I think that the supposition has some merit, but I tend to think that it is environmentally, as welll as genetically, it is usually unwise for a species to accept and guard the fry from another species or genera.

If they do it by mistake, are the Maroonis more intelligent than the Apistos then? (As they can see the difference between their own frys and the Apisto frys.)

Yours seem to be. IMO it is likely that the apisto pair just saw "fry" and their parental instincts were overriding everything else. The differences in the fry were probably recognizable, but less important than the desire to parent and protect them.
If your were going to attribute an adaptively appropriate behavior to the apistos, it might be that they knew that predation was occuring within their own fry from the the Keyholes. By accepting(kidnapping) Keyhole fry, they were improving their chances of decreasing the desire of the other parents to prey on that batch(apistos, as well as their own) of fry! In an overlapping territory situation, it is less likely that fry will be hunted because they may be the hunters fry. This definitely is more likely and functional within a particular genus though. But, if it is the reason that the apistos stole the Keyholes fry, they could well be more intelligent or at least showing a more complex behavior.
Neil

 

[P.W.]

Hi Neil!

You wrote:

"In an overlapping territory situation, it is less likely that fry will be hunted because they may be the hunters fry. This definitely is more likely and functional within a particular genus though"

I think that you have a point there! This could explain whats happening.
But I still think that those studys on apistocolonys may explain a lot about these fishes behaviour and lives in our tanks.

Personally I think that the most interesting way of keeping Apistos, is to keep a rather large group of one species in a large tank. And to have a mix of grown, halfgrown and fry together.

Best regards

 

[Ghazanfar Ghori]

I've used a pair of brooding apistos to take care of laetacara fry.
Seems to work well, since the laetacara parents seems to always
eat their fry 3-4 days after free swimming.

 

[cootwarm]

Towards the end of summer I was planning to set up my first Apisto tanks. I'm interested in starting with Agasizi and Cacatuoides, a 20 gal tank for each.

After reading this thread, I considering maybe keeping both species in the same (larger) tank. What do you think of this combination? Are these 2 species compatable?

I have a 30 gal tank available. I also have a 55 gal with an big ugly crack across the back that was patched by being sandwiched between 2 pieces of window glass with silicone. If I plant it densely enough I would hardly be noticable. Which would be better? The larger 55 gal? How large of a breeding population would each hold?

Michael

 

[P.W.]

Well, I would say that you can try with 1+2 Cacatuoides or 1+2 Agassizi in the smaller tank and 1+2 Cacatuoides and 1+2 Agassizi in the bigger tank.
It is difficult to advise about numbers and species in tanks without having more info. But in general I would say, try and see what happens! But always have a "plan B" ready if something unexpected happens!

Good luck and best regards/ Per