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Cacatuoides fry care

mantisfan101

Member
Messages
52
Mt female was acting off and I just uncovered about 10 wigglers. The mother is ferociously guarding anything that comes near by either tail-slapping or biting them, almost like a convict cichlid. Now she’s looking a little thin so what should I do? Do I feed her while she guards the fry or do I wait until they’re free swimming? Also, should i remove the males since they might eat the fry or do I leave them? She’s been vigorously chasing away anything(including myself) away from her fry so I think it might be safe.
 

Mike Wise

Moderator
Staff member
5 Year Member
Messages
11,202
Location
Denver, Colorado, U.S.A.
One would best not breed apistos in a community tank to start with. Let her try to guard her fry. If she succeeds then all is good. If she loses the fry then she will spawn again, but it is best in a breeding tank with only a male and maybe another female, if the tan is large enough, just to keep the male occupied, and maybe some dither fish. Feed the female and fry in her brood territory, but first add food at the opposite side of the tank for the other fish. What are you feeding the fry? Live foods are needed if you expect to save more than just a few.
 

mantisfan101

Member
Messages
52
I have a microworm culture along with bbs that I plan to use. The fry have not completely absorbed their eggsacs yet so they’re still little wrigglers. The tank originally had 3 but ine is now an onvious dominant male, one is female, and the other’s sex is undetermined. It was meant to be a grow out tank but things have taken quite a change. I’m surprises, the female with the fry is barely an inch long but she still managed to produce an impressive amount of fry. Also would it help if I removed her amd the fry to a separate tank or leave her in there for now?
 

yukondog

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Messages
664
Location
N.W. Fl.
What size tank? I dont breed Caca's but do Hongsloi and Borellii, I use a turkey baster to target feed the mother and fry. I find it easier to leave the fry and female and remove the males. Good luck
 

yukondog

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Messages
664
Location
N.W. Fl.
What size tank? I dont breed Caca's but do Hongsloi and Borellii, I use a turkey baster to target feed the mother and fry. I find it easier to leave the fry and female and remove the males. Good luck
 

mantisfan101

Member
Messages
52
Also, I have a thin layer of samd covered with pea gravel as the substrate. Is there a chance that the fry could get lost amongst th gravel or would the be too big too hide?
 

allentwnguy

Member
Messages
47
Not intentionally setting out to breed cacs, I have several generations and 100's of them! I have begun to leave the mother and fry in the main tank and let nature take its course. What I have done is used mainly the small Cobalt apisto huts (and DIY coconut huts). With the apisto huts only When the female has eggs I leave them in the main tank for a bit then when she is inside I put my thumb over the hole and move the hut, female and spawn to a 10 gallon tank set up just for her.

As far as feeding goes I spot feed. I've taken 3/16" rigid tubing cut it to length (to bottom of tank) then taken a pipette cut the taper off to fit on the tubing and put a whole pipette in the other end (tape or use sealant) Now I can suck up some baby brine shrimp (bbs) and put it right into the school of little guys. At the same time I feed the rest of the tank mates on the other side of the tank. If the dither fish are fond of bbs I give them a squirt topside away from the brood. As Mike said it is a learning curve and there's a hundred different ways to achieve the same thing.

We all go through the wanting to save every little guy/gal and going through extreme measures to save them. In the end there i a reason females have 30 and 40+ fry. There are losses. If you lose the fry feed her well and she will breed again. On the bright side you have a pair that is breeding. But again that's not a "given" either. Best of Luck!
 

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