Tips on raising fry in community setting?

[mooman]

I have a pair of A. panduros in a 29g community (see sig below). They are showing some very strong prespawning behavior in the form of "shopping for real estate", driving off dither fish, "tail spanking", and the like. Unforunatley my second tank is occupied by bolivian rams at the moment. Eventually I will have a breeding tank for the apistos alone, but for now they must defend against hungry tankmates. I'm looking for tips or tricks to raise a small number of fry should I be lucky enough to get any. Help from experienced breeders is appreciated.

ps should this have gone in the breeding forum?

 

[fishboy20]

If you want to save the fry perhaps waiting until you know the female has eggs and then removing the cave to a seperate tank would be best. If however you want to watch the interaction between the fry and the parents then obviously leave the eggs with the female. Most if not all will be eaten in a community tank. Perhaps after a little while if you decide to save some of the fry, then you might remove the fry with a brine shrimp net or siphon to a seperate tank. Hope that helps, anybody else?

~Jeremy

 

[aspen]

the only interaction between other tankmates and new fry is dinnertime. the parents can't watch every one every second. some fish are absolute artists at grabbing fry. depending on the pressure and the skill of the parents your luck may be somewhere between 50 % and 0 % ime, unless the other tankmates are oto's. leaving a small light on will greatly increase their chances though. i can't think of another fish beside the oto cat that wouldn't relish a feed on new baby fish.

rick

 

[Joost S]

PS. Mooman show us some pics of your tanks (in the Member photo galleries )