lgfelic
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Fry kid(fish?)napping
by lgfelic » Tue Sep 11, 2012 7:50 pm
I have a trio of Apistogramma cacatuoides 'Orange Flash' in a 15 gallon tank. The tank is divided into 2 defined territories to try and avoid too much infighting between the females. The smaller one spawned first and thus became the dominant one. She's been taking care of some 12-15 fry for the past 2 weeks and is doing a very good job for a first timer. She now considers the entire tank her own territory and will attack the larger (and once dominant) female without provocation.
I was considering taking the sub-dominant female out and put her in another tank until the fry were big enough to sell. Unfortunately, I just noticed free swimming fry coming out of her clay egg. I was looking into option as to what to do, when I caught the male OF scooping up the new fry in his mouth. I nearly freaked out because I thought he was eating them. After scooping 6 fry, he swam to the division line between territories and started spitting them out. The dominant female quickly gathered those new fry up and spit them into her nest. The new spawn is over 30 fry (more apparently still coming out of the egg). Now she's herding around 2 spawns that are about 2 weeks apart.
I ended up taking the beat up female out and put her in another tank. Now both parents are scooping the fry and moving them to their new home.
Has anyone ever experienced something similar? This is my first successful spawn of Apistogramma, so I am still learning a lot.
by lgfelic » Tue Sep 11, 2012 7:50 pm I have a trio of Apistogramma cacatuoides 'Orange Flash' in a 15 gallon tank. The tank is divided into 2 defined territories to try and avoid too much infighting between the females. The smaller one spawned first and thus became the dominant one. She's been taking care of some 12-15 fry for the past 2 weeks and is doing a very good job for a first timer. She now considers the entire tank her own territory and will attack the larger (and once dominant) female without provocation.
I was considering taking the sub-dominant female out and put her in another tank until the fry were big enough to sell. Unfortunately, I just noticed free swimming fry coming out of her clay egg. I was looking into option as to what to do, when I caught the male OF scooping up the new fry in his mouth. I nearly freaked out because I thought he was eating them. After scooping 6 fry, he swam to the division line between territories and started spitting them out. The dominant female quickly gathered those new fry up and spit them into her nest. The new spawn is over 30 fry (more apparently still coming out of the egg). Now she's herding around 2 spawns that are about 2 weeks apart.
I ended up taking the beat up female out and put her in another tank. Now both parents are scooping the fry and moving them to their new home.
Has anyone ever experienced something similar? This is my first successful spawn of Apistogramma, so I am still learning a lot.
