Oh my -- BABY APISTOS IN MY TANK! Need a game plan...

[kindafishy]

Good Lord, I was NOT expecting this.

It seems that Twinkie and Ding Dong are indeed IN LUV because today, much to my surprise, I saw tiny baby apitsos (apisto baenchi) swimming in my tank, next to mom.

There's a bunch of them. My tank is only 17 gallons, and it is my only tank! How long before this little population explosion is going to be a problem? What do I even feed the little buggers? I think they were born today 'cause they are waaayyyy tiny. HELP ME, I NEED A GAME PLAN. Do I need to get another tank?

 

[kindafishy]

P.S. Any advice, of any sort, is welcome!!!!!!

 

[Robert123]

I would get another tank

 

[maestromad]

Can't offer any help but got any pics!??

 

[kindafishy]

Nope, no pics yet. They are seriously tiny so not really showing up (I am a crappy fish tank picture-taker)

 

[kindafishy]

I would get another tank

Any ideas on optimal tank size ?

 

[mfdrookie516]

One thing I can tell you from my experience with apisto cac fry is that getting them some baby brine shrimp or micro worms (or some other really small live fry food) is going to be essential to survival. You'll also need another tank for them (a 10g with sponge filter works great). I started with well over 70 fry. I thought I'd just crush up some food and they'd be fine. Learned my lesson. Once I got some microworms, I was able to keep 4 alive, which I still have today. Now they're eating .5mm NLS grow pellets.

 

[Mouth-Brooder-Fanatic]

if i were u, id net a lot of the babies and put them in a clear floating breeder box and feed them either fry powdered food, finely crushed flakes, baby brine shrimp/ micro worms or finely crushed egg yolk. that way, they have a chance to survive, eat, and u get to watch them grow

then later on if u want to keep some of them, get another tank. but thats a lot of babies and it may be worth selling off/ giving away this batch and only keeping a couple of cacs x

 

[kindafishy]

Thanks for all the suggestions -- very much appreciated. I think I am going to sleep on it, and decide which route to go tomorrow morning.

One question : starting when do they need to be fed? I think they were born today -- can food wait until tomorrow ? It's 9:30 pm here , so I'm a little stuck ...

 

[kindafishy]

Another question : how can I get a rough idea of how old they are? Today is the first day that I saw them, and they are microscopic. I didn't recognize them as fish at first, and actually thought I had some sort of weird outbreak of some sort of worm or something. They stay with the mom, pretty much just hovering over the gravel in a group. They do move around the tank with the mom occasionally , but does this mean that they are 'free swimming' and were likely to have been born a few days ago? Trying to gauge what stage they are at.... anyone?

 

[Mouth-Brooder-Fanatic]

maybe they would have a yolk sack - that would last 3 days. if they dont have this then they probably are 3-4 days old minimum x

 

[mfdrookie516]

Here is a video of mine at about 3-4 days old -

 

[kindafishy]

maybe they would have a yolk sack - that would last 3 days. if they dont have this then they probably are 3-4 days old minimum x

Ok really newbie question -- how would I be able to tell this?

Here is a video of mine at about 3-4 days old -

That's awesome, thanks! Mine look pretty much like this, maybe a little bit smaller. And hey, your mom fish is way less witchy than mine! She does not tolerate the presence of the male around the babies.

Were they old enough to be fed (and if so what) at that stage in the video?

 

[mfdrookie516]

I didn't have anything to feed them at that point. Unfortunately, it was about a week before I had any microworm cultures shipped to me. I can't say with certainty that they would have eaten them at that stage, but I would have tried if I'd had some food for them other than crushed up NLS.

 

[Mouth-Brooder-Fanatic]

yolk sacks are very cute - bright orange balls on their bellies. when their bellies are no longer orange, it is time to feed

and those are some cute babies!! x

 

[kindafishy]

yolk sacks are very cute - bright orange balls on their bellies. when their bellies are no longer orange, it is time to feed

They are so tiny it is impossible for me to tell! They are really microscopic. Are the orange bellies obvious? Because I can't seem to make anything out on those teeny tiny critters. I do see big old eyeballs, though (not that that helps or anything...)

 

[Mouth-Brooder-Fanatic]

go with the safe thing and atempt to feed them then :L

they are unbelievable epically catacalismically cute at that size x

 

[jetajockey]

I would not put them in a breeder net, the parents will suck them out through the little holes. As suggested, a separate tank is best.

 

[stone1269]

I have a breeding pair of convicts in my 150g with several other fish and now I have about 100 fry in my tank they r teeny tiny at 1st I bought sum liquid fry food from my lfs and started feeding twice a day when they were 4r5 days old now they are about 3wks old (I'm guessing) so I'm goin this wk end and buying sum powder food called first bites I've had lots of luck with it in the past so u could try this approach hope it helps an good luck lol I never really bother seperating the fry from the parents sure u will lose sum throughout the process but I think the fry grow faster an are more healthy the parent cichlids are very good at defending their babies lol so good luck again

 

[kindafishy]

I have a breeding pair of convicts in my 150g with several other fish and now I have about 100 fry in my tank they r teeny tiny at 1st I bought sum liquid fry food from my lfs and started feeding twice a day when they were 4r5 days old now they are about 3wks old (I'm guessing) so I'm goin this wk end and buying sum powder food called first bites I've had lots of luck with it in the past so u could try this approach hope it helps an good luck lol I never really bother seperating the fry from the parents sure u will lose sum throughout the process but I think the fry grow faster an are more healthy the parent cichlids are very good at defending their babies lol so good luck again

Thanks very much! I have decided not to remove the parents either. The female is taking her mom job quite seriously and I can only guess that it would stress her out if I removed them. The male sort of doesn't seem to pay them any attention, but mom keeps him away in any case.

I seriously have no idea how old these are. I have tried several times today to see if they have orange bellies, but they are so darn small it is hard to see. I mean, I *think* I see an orange speck, but then again maybe I am imagining it because I want to see it.

I did try and feed them today -- the only thing I had on hand was some Infusyl (IIRC), which are these pink tablet things which dissolve slowly into a sort of cloud of food for fry. That went over like a lead brick -- not a single one paid any attention to it. Mom fish did peck at it though, and it did a great job polluting my frigging tank.

I am a bit worried because NOW I find out that I have to go away on business, last minute, leaving tomorrow morning and returning Friday evening. It is 8 pm here, so nothing is open to try and find another solution. I am going to have Mr. kindafishy attempt to feed them with my pink tablets, but I don't have a very good feeling about this. If that doesn't work, hopefully they can wait until the weekend to be fed.

Needless to say, baby fish were an enormous surprise and I am totally unprepared. It is so weird, I did absolutely NOTHING on the list of things you are supposed to do to get apistos to breed. Yeesh.