A. cacatuoides - Do I have eggs?

[Griz]

Here's the scenario:
10 days ago I purchased 3 A. cacatuoides (1m/2f) which were added to a recently cycled 33 gal tank which also houses 16 neons and 4 corys. Lots of plants, bogwood and rocks. The fish are young, about 1 1/2 inches. One of the females (1) immediately (I mean within an hour) became bright yellow and within a few days I observed coutship behaviour. Two days ago the female took up residence under a large piece of bogwood and the male is strutting around protecting the entrance, chasing off the corys. He displays for the other female (2) but eventually he chases her to the other end of the tank. The second female (2) shows no yellow coloration at all. The female (1) has only made two very brief appearances in the past two days AFAIK. She is still yellow, much more than her sister, but not as bright as a few days ago.

I think I have have unwittingly provided an excellent spawning site under the bogwood. There is a chamber under it about 3"x4"x2" which leads upward into a cone shaped area that extends up another 3". The only access to this chamber is a small slit about 1/2" tall by one inch or so long where the wood rests on the sand substrate. The pair should be able to defend it reasonably well against the corys.

So, what do you think? Eggs already? I don't want to disturb her. The wood is rather large to be moving around and even if I did it would be difficult to see up inside it. I had hoped for spawning at some point down the road but wasn't prepared for this so soon!

Water parameters are:
Temp 25C
pH 7.5
GH 8
KH 5
Nitrites 0
Amonia 0

 

[pnyklr3]

You probably do have egss..congratulations! I had my females turn yellow a few times before they guarded any caves, but 2 of my 3 females just began guarding caves last week. I'm not sure if you know how the eggs amture, so here is a run down: The female lays the eggs on the top of the "cave". After about 48 hours, the eggs hatch and the babies fall to the floor. They are now called wrigglers, and they do just that: sit there a wriggle. After about 5 day total (since the eggs were layed) the fry will become free swimming. The best part about having apistos is watching the female parade her fry around looking for food. You may actually see her get some food in her mouth, and spit it into the cloud of fry. For best growth, you should feed baby brine shrimp. If you have any live plants in there, they will also provide goodies for the young ones. If more than one of your females has fry at the same time, the fry may actually intermingle, and one female will raise the other's fry as her own. At this point, the females sometimes violently drive the male away, but other times they don't care if he's there. He will protect his territory (that includes the female's territories inside of it). Don't be upset if the females eat their eggs, or wrigglers; it can take a few trys before they get it right. The fry will also become lunch to anything that can catch it. Good luck!

P.S. If after 2 days, the female is not paying attention to the cave at all, the eggs are probably gone. You may notice females "redecorating" by moving the rocks near a cave around....they are just getting ready to spawn. Also, the first 3 weeks of the fry's life will determine the sex. Higher temp=more males, higher pH=more females. The breeder I got mine from had high temp and high pH. Out of 134 fry, only one was male (but her pH (tap water) was over 8.4).

 

[Dwarfs]

I'd have to say pnyklr3 is completely right That's exactly what my Dad's Cockatoo apistos did, and you have a very good tank set up for them Good luck with this batch and future fry

 

[Griz]

Thanks for the well wishes, pnyklr3 and dwarfs !
And for the information anyklr3.

Looks like I have enough time to get some BBS going. I've just been reading up on it. I haven't done it before but it seems straighforward enough. Even if this batch doesn't make it, it will be a nice treat for my fish and is something I had planned to try anyway. Just not this soon! Is there anything other than BBS that the fry would eat? Seems that BBS is pretty standard from what I have read, at least in the beginning.

This is pretty exciting! What great fish these are! I'll let you know how it goes.

Cheers

 

[Ben]

congrats! keep us updated

btw,(sorry to hijack) wont the neons eat the fry after theyre free swimming?


DD

 

[Vip]

Think the neons would be killed cause they wouldnt let them get near the babies, you know what cichlids are like.

 

[Griz]

congrats! keep us updated

btw,(sorry to hijack) wont the neons eat the fry after theyre free swimming?


DD

Yes, the neons will pick them off. I'm really not interested in keeping the fry, not this batch anyway. I'm more interested in observing the behaviour of the fish. The tank is planted, has bogwood, rocks and oak leaves. Lots of hiding places so a few fry might make it. Down the road I may try to raise a batch, this happened way too quick!

 

[Ben]

Think the neons would be killed cause they wouldnt let them get near the babies, you know what cichlids are like.

yeh but we're talking about a Cockatoo here, not a convict


oh okay, well i hope it works out well

 

[pnyklr3]

I was going to say the same thing, Dwarf! The females seem to defend their eggs more than the fry. I have even heard of some that just give up interest on the fry! If your tank is well planted, you may have some make it. I have also heard of people using microworms (or was is black worms...I don't know, I can't get them here so I stopped remembering) to raise their fry. But bbs is really all they can fit in their mouths at first.

Instead of raising bbs, you could always try frozen. If you have any sort of water current in your tank, it will cause the bbs to look alive, in my opinion. Just defrost the buggers first.

 

[Griz]

Think the neons would be killed cause they wouldnt let them get near the babies, you know what cichlids are like.

The neons shouldl be fine, there is plenty of room for them to retreat. The tank was set up with this scenario in mind. Dwarfs can generally coexist with small tetras just fine. I'm more concerned about the corys but given enough room (the tank is way understocked IMO) all should be well. Dwarfs have a tendency to harass corys while protecting the eggs but I doubt they could chase down a neon.

 

[pnyklr3]

My female will sit in the cave for long periods of time. One of my clown loaches came cruising by, nose to the gravel, looking for food. Well, he hasn't done it since, because the female bolted out and gave him a peck he won't forget! She doesn't chase anyone down. I have, however, been able to witness two breeding females size eachother up for a bout. They stood there, nose-to-nose, like pro boxers before a fight!

 

[Dwarfs]

The male cockatoo will sometimes but in if he sees the female having trouble I've seen my dad's male doing this, the other fish fly off

 

[longhorn13]

i'm getting excited reading this (no not in that way! ). my 33g long finished cyclying about a week ago, and i should get the chance soon to go pick up my cockatoo's in the next few days or so. i'm going to probably get three females and a male. i just have to figure out which male i want. they've got a couple males that are amazing...i just have to decide whether i want the yellow, orange or red.

edit:ops, sorry if i'm hijacking your thread!

 

[Griz]

You won't regret it longhorn. This is my first time (no, not that way ) with Cockatoos and I find them to be fantastic fish. They not only look great, they have tons of personality and exihibit really interesting behaviour. Cheers!

 

[pnyklr3]

You guys have no idea how great it is to finally hear people talking about apistos! I am currently trying to cycle a filter for my 10 gallon grow out tank, because my community tank, unlike yours, is not suited for fry-raising...they would all get eaten! That is unless my aquabid plants that I ordered a week and a half ago come in Then I'll be all set! *sorry about that; had to let off a little steam! *