Baby apistogrammas

[Mtl Parrothead]

Hi

I am not new to the hobby but have never actually bred apistos. At the end of March I setup a 36 gallon bowfront for my daughter. We used seeded material and plants from my tank. We slowly added some neon/cardinal tetras. After a while and much water testing I let her choose what the next addition would be, she chose 3 APISTOGRAMMA SP. VIEJETA GOLD (1 male 2 females).

All of a sudden today during our routine water change we noticed at least 3-4 babies swimming around. We are excited but I have no clue what to do.

Her current stock is

5 neon/cardinal tetras
2 amano shrimp
3 adult apistos
Mts snails
? Babies (I assume apistos)

Any advice would be much appreciated!!!!

Here is what the tank looks like today I couldn’t get any pics of the babies

 

[Brookster123]

Pretty cool, you can get some frozen baby brine shrimp or hikari first bites to feed. Grab a breeder box if youd like to raise them, the Male may eventually try to eat them.

 

[Mtl Parrothead]

Pretty cool, you can get some frozen baby brine shrimp or hikari first bites to feed. Grab a breeder box if youd like to raise them, the Male may eventually try to eat them.

Thanks I’ll run out in the morning and grab some. I finally caught one for a pic don’t think there are more than a couple in the tank. Hard to see exactly dad was photo bombing

 

[Brookster123]

Dont really see anything resembling fry? Im sure they're tiny. All that moss will provide grazing and nourishment for the fry at this point.

 

[Mtl Parrothead]

It’s the orange little fish at the bottom of each pic I’m going to try and get a better pic later. It resembles a fully developed apisto not like a fry at all

 

[Brookster123]

See it now. Those are atleast a month old. They've been doing well in your tank. Now that's it's on your radar, look for them making a little pit in a cave, you'll see eggs and free swimmers, they follow mom around. You can remove and raise out yourself if you choose.

 

[Mtl Parrothead]

Great sounds good.

If you think they’re about a month old that explains a lot. The mom seems completely disappeared somewhere in the tank for a couple weeks. My daughter and I gave up hope that she was still alive and then magically reappeared. There are a lot of hiding places in the tank.

I will keep an eye out for free swimmers, I assume she will possibly lay eggs again soon. How soon after seeing them should I try and remove them from the tank?

Thanks

 

[Brookster123]

Same thing happened with my first set of apistos. It's been a while since I've raised fry but I'd say if you want to take on the brunt of feedings and get the most fry, suction them out using a Turkey baster after they've been free swimming for a couple weeks. Put them in a tank with main tank water and a bunch of that moss. You'll need a cycled sponge filter and frozen baby brine (live is better) for 4-5 small daily feedings. Small daily wcs. And remove uneaten food. You can skip all that and just get a hang on breeder box/net. Or you can let mom do the work and get a few from each run. Throw something in there with a hole large enough for only fry to hide in case dad gets jack nickelson, shining mode.

 

[Mtl Parrothead]

Same thing happened with my first set of apistos. It's been a while since I've raised fry but I'd say if you want to take on the brunt of feedings and get the most fry, suction them out using a Turkey baster after they've been free swimming for a couple weeks. Put them in a tank with main tank water and a bunch of that moss. You'll need a cycled sponge filter and frozen baby brine (live is better) for 4-5 small daily feedings. Small daily wcs. And remove uneaten food. You can skip all that and just get a hang on breeder box/net. Or you can let mom do the work and get a few from each run. Throw something in there with a hole large enough for only fry to hide in case dad gets jack nickelson, shining mode.

Love that mental image from the shining!!

I noticed a cave or well a hiding spot under the driftwood and one baby coming out. I figure for now I’m going to see what happens. If there is another batch I might try and setup another tank for them. The issue is the wife is not happy with me spending more money on tank stuff. I’m already planning a shrimp tank, and the kids really want a puffer. We have MTS bad in our house without my wife we would have dozens.

 

[Brookster123]

I'm the wrong person to talk to. I have multiple puffer tanks. The issue with raising fry is what to do with them once they're salable?? If you have an lfs that will take them for credit? Selling them on Craig'slist is a pain. Just letting them do their thing is fun to watch but you will have to intervien at some point as males will start challenges and females will only tolerate so many females. Luckily you have a desirable fish. Heck.. I'd pay for a troop if you shipped them. I'd even trade for puffer food..

 

[Mtl Parrothead]

Oh I had a feeling seems most of us are kindred spirits with many tanks.

I have had that issue with livebearers fry. Any o that survived to adulthood I always had room in my tanks or friends who wanted. I also had a cousin with a pet alligator that always needed feeder fish.

The main reason I’m really looking at what to do is that they are so desirable. I would love to put a few in at least 2 of the other tanks I have now. My lfs would give me credit or even pay for them once they grow. They also went crazy when they saw pics of my cockatoo apistos wanted any of their offspring. They haven’t successfully bred, I am not a breeder at all.