Apisto. Nijsseni

[Bangin]

I requested a pair of apistogramma nijsseni almost a year ago from my lfs. They arrived a little over a week ago. Five days after their arrival in my tank momma nijsseni is guarding her eggs. I can't see them in my heavily planted tank, but judging by her behaviour---they're somewhere in there. lol I'm pretty happy this happened so quickly. They're supposed to be quite difficult to breed.

I've never raised fry. Please give me some suggestions, pointers...anything. Unfortunately, the tank is shared with my other babies, rummynose tetras, so I know they'll start picking 'em off when they become free-swimming. I plan to move the fry to another tank if I'm able to. What do I feed them? The tank they're currently in has been established for a year, so they'll be able to find something to munch on. But what should I feed them in addition to the scraps lying around?

Thank you so much for your help!

 

[pnyklr3]

If the eggs make it to fry, I would say that baby brine shrimp ould be a good idea. If the plants in your tank are live, then they too will provide some nutrition.

I only said "if" to the eggs surviving because apistogramma are notorious for gobbling up the eggs on the first few tries. A female will eat eggs if she is inexperienced, or if she feels her eggs are threatened. Don't worry if she does eat them, though, she will have more!

It will take about 3 days for the eggs to hatch and become wrigglers. A few days after that (not exactly sure how long) they will become free-swimming. The female will guard them still, and help them find food. It would be a good idea to have plant cover near the entrance of caves (although if you do it now, the female is liable to eat the eggs...so remember for next time if you need to).

HTH

 

[Bangin]

They hatched! Momma nijsseni is watching after them and Papa is standing by. The LFS man said the tank will provide food for the first week, along with a bloodworm mix (the juice itself). Then I'll feed them bbs until they're able to eat other food.

The little ones are so adorable. This is my first time raising fry, so let's hope all turns out well. The filter intake has been covered with a sponge, and I had to place a partition in the tank to separate the parents and rummynose because Papa was becoming quite aggressive with the potential 'eaters'-rummynose. All seems well at this point. Let's hope some make it to adulthood! I'll keep you posted.

 

[Seb R]

good luck , really want to get my apistos to breed too

 

[lucky62]

Cool , get some pics if and when