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Apistogramma Cacatuoides, First Spawn!

Fish Folk

New Member
Messages
23
Very pleased to report that our Apistogramma cacatuoides -- indeed a pair -- have spawned for the first time in our tank. We changed the sponge filters, and performed a 60% water change. Same day, the female lost her lateral line, yellowed, up, and started vigorously luring the male to spawn. It seems to have taken him a few hours to warm up to the pressure, but the deed is done! The eggs are quite pinkish in coloration due to the high amount of BBS in their daily diet. Three photos below: (1) Pre-spawn / pre-change -- the male dominant, female showing defined black lateral line. (2) The female coaxing the male, sometimes bending over backwards to display her tube (3) The female guarding her clutch. No, no, no she didn't choose the cave we put in there for her . . . no matter. At least they've done the deed!
A Cacatuoides, Pre-spawn Coloration.png
A cacatuoides, Female Courting.png
A cacatuoides, Guarding eggs.png
 

Pseudotropheus

New Member
Messages
10
Wanted to follow up to see how the fry are doing. Did you leave them in with the parents or take them out. Post some pictures if you can.

Thanks
 

Fish Folk

New Member
Messages
23
Sadly, we never saw any fry hatch. If they did, they were eaten. The female abandoned the nesting site early. We're holding on, feeding well, doing good upkeep and water changes on the tank. Hope they decide to spawn again. We put a black backing on the tank to eliminate stress, and give them something to back up too. Added just a few oak leaves to tank for tannins.
 

Pseudotropheus

New Member
Messages
10
My Apistogrammas had Fry April, May, and June, but none of them survived. I have since move them to a bigger tank (40 Gallon Breeder) with more plants and dither fish. I plan on keeping the male in the tank to see how things go this time.
 

Fish Folk

New Member
Messages
23
Sounds good! If you get some fry that survive, let us know. I have heard that sometimes you just have to let nature take its course, and let them try and fail a handful of times before they learn to be good parents. Part of our problem may be poor choice of dither fish. We have about six silver-tip tetras that dart around the tank. I've heard pencil fish are a much better choice.
 

Ade205

Active Member
Messages
172
Location
Swadlincote, England
Sounds good! If you get some fry that survive, let us know. I have heard that sometimes you just have to let nature take its course, and let them try and fail a handful of times before they learn to be good parents. Part of our problem may be poor choice of dither fish. We have about six silver-tip tetras that dart around the tank. I've heard pencil fish are a much better choice.

In my experience they do learn considerably. I have a colony of Cacatuoides in a 4ft tank in my hallway. The original parents were popped in there as a intended retirement as I wanted to use their old breeding tank for A.Elizabethae. I assumed that as this tank housed many Tetras, Rasboras, dwarf rainbows, and my 10 year old grumpy asbo Discus Jeff, the Cacs would not successfully breed. This was infact the case for the first few spawns, but slowly the female has improved and now she is managing to hold around 20 to 30 fry for about 2 weeks every spawn. Many of these are managing to survive tong enough to become to big to be eaten and the tank is now getting choked with Cacatuoides of all sizes which I'm having to shift to a local lfs very frequently!
Interestingly, her choice in spawning site has changed many times and she now sticks to a piece of bog Wood she's dug under in the sand. It's located in the strongest flowing part of the tank going against the slow flow requirements usually associated with Apistos. Also of note, dispite the Temps the Discus requires, and the fact it's very much survival of the fittest, I'm getting pretty even sex rations with males only just the majority.

Ade.
 

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