A. Caucatoides Fry Help

[TexSun]

Hello,

Just noticed my two apisto had spawned. I have been breeding CRS for awhile, but am new to breeding fish. I really have no idea where to start. I've had these two for about 3 months. The fry are free swimming, I can count atleast 10! I will try to get some good pics up later. Any advice on this helps. Thanks guys and gals.

[Complexity]

I believe apistos are great parents. If you have any fish in the tank that are likely to snack of the fry, you may want to remove them. Otherwise, you can probably leave the fry with the parents and let them raise them naturally. Sometimes new parents aren't successful on their first try, but if you're not trying to breed them for a profit, then let them be, and they'll usually try again.

[eklikewhoa]

+1 to what Complexity stated.

I've had the same experience with them.

I would let them be and give the parents a chance to learn parenting/brooding skills.

[TexSun]

Okay. The female seems to be doing her job with the fry. These are the only fish in the tank, so Ill leave them alone. What about food for the fry? I'm not trying to breed them for profit, but it would be cool to have some survive for me. Thes guys are so tiny, its hard to get an image in focus. Ill have to try some more tomorrow.Thanks for the help!

[eklikewhoa]

You can crush up some of the food where it would be troublesome for the adult fish to get and the fry will feed off that.

[TexSun]

Ill try that. Apparently they may be picky eaters. After some research, it seems like I need to find some baby brine shrimp. I know where to get frozen BS but what about live? Does city pets carry these?

[eklikewhoa]

Hardly anyone carries live brine and baby brine I think some places you can find frozen.

Or look into some of the other selections but frozen brine should work.

[SunnyHouTX]

I would still try to feed them finely crushed NLS. Call Aqua Zoo as well about the baby brine shrimp, and maybe even Pets Place on Scarsdale at Beamer.

[eklikewhoa]

grinding up any food would work, Sinking foods like NLS would probably work better. just noticed your location so probably not worth the trip into town. You can also go as far as soaking it in water and then using a straw or something to bring the food down closer to them.

[SunnyHouTX]

Forgot about Fish Fanatix. Check them too.

[nacra99]

Congrats!
Although chances are they will eat the spawn if this is their first spawn.
But if they survive, they will tend to hover around the parents. Make sure you cover your filter intakes or switch to a sponge filter. Otherwise the fry may get sucked in.
You'll need to hatch out some baby brine shrimp and squirt it in to the cloud of babies.

Shameless plug:

http://www.ventralfins.com/livefood_BrineShrimp.html

Marc

[TexSun]

Just picked this up on the way home. Updates to follow.

Sent from my DROID2 using Tapatalk

[SunnyHouTX]

Cool!

[Complexity]

If you have any java moss or other plants in the tank, the fry can start eating the infusoria that grows on it. It's a very good first food for them. That can give you time to get whatever other food you want to feed them as they get bigger.

You can also try Hikari first bites or decapsulated brine shrimp eggs. I have a ton of decapsulated brine shrimp eggs, but we're not very close to each other. Both of these foods are dry powders. If you grind up NLS, make sure you grind it up to a very fine powder. The grains need to be tiny for the fry to be able to eat them. Soaking powder food in tank water for a few minutes can help it sink before putting it in the tank.

Some people like to use syringes with various tubes to help direct the food closer to the fry, but watch the parents to see if this upsets them, and if so, the drawbacks of doing this may outweigh the benefits. If the parents feel too threatened, they may get too excited and eat the babies. As long as the tank has good filtration, most tiny food like this gets blown all over the tank and finds its way to the babies just fine.

Keep us updated on how the fry grows! I hope everything goes okay, but if not, it's just part of the process. I currently have one tank with pelvicachromis fry that's going well while another tank the parents either ate their fry or failed to protect them from others eating them. But the unsuccessful pair will breed again. Knowing that it doesn't always work out is part of what makes it so much fun when it does work out!

[TexSun]

Fry pic. Everyones doing great. I can count 15 of the lil guys. The female has done a great job. I have a tank ready for when I pull them from the parents. The biggest is probably 3/8". Here's the male, also.