Apistogramma Babies

[balajake]

So they are nearly 3 months old now and getting so much colour. I have around 10 of them and I believe they are almost really to go. 2 are really small which could be female and 7 are huge which I believe are male although I would appreciate advice on sexing them at this age and if my suspicions are correct ? They are Agassizi fire red and are still with mum and dad. Now I have to decide what to do with them. I think fish shops would be interested because I have only seen these sold in abyss in Stockport. I really don't want to part with them but know I don't have the room and mum and dad will want to breed again soon. I wouldn't like them to go to inexperienced people who don't have an established cycled Tank because they are my babies and I fed them around the clock when they were very small and spend loads of time with them . I'm sure every breeder has this dilemma . I will probably advertise them in classified on here when I feel they are ready to go. Here are pics

They are so cute. Any help with sexing and when they will be ready for new homes is greatly appreciated. They have been lovingly raised by two amazingly gentle parents and have been a real adventure for me.

 

[Alex.]

I've got apistogramma fry at the moment, about 3-4 months old but no way near as big as yours look. What do you feed them?

I can definitely tell between males and females due to size, but they don't look as big or colourful as yours! They're cac's.

 

[balajake]

I've got apistogramma fry at the moment, about 3-4 months old but no way near as big as yours look. What do you feed them?

I can definitely tell between males and females due to size, but they don't look as big or colourful as yours! They're cac's.

They have been on tetra pro colour for the last 6 weeks and they like jbl novo tabs too.i think I have 7 males and 2 females. The smallest 2 a less than half the size of the others

 

[thereverendturtle]

Keep the two small ones to increase the harem, move on the rest. If you're not ready to part ways, move them to a 10-20 gallon aquarium for further growth.

 

[balajake]

I won't be allowing the females to breed with their father. I'd rather they were paired with unrelated males

 

[minnnt]

Being paired back to the father is ok and better than brother sister pairings, but yes, unrelated would be better. But in reality when you come to sell them it isn't going to happen unless the person is a serious breeder.

Great pics btw, you really have brought them on well.

Alex, JMC high protein will increase their growth rate.

 

[balajake]

Being paired back to the father is ok and better than brother sister pairings, but yes, unrelated would be better. But in reality when you come to sell them it isn't going to happen unless the person is a serious breeder.

Great pics btw, you really have brought them on well.

Alex, JMC high protein will increase their growth rate.

Luckily they came from Scotland so it woukd be a small to zero possibility they would end up breeding with a sibling or parent

 

[minnnt]

How do you mean?

 

[balajake]

How do you mean?

Well I don't think any of the local stores would have got them from the same seller as I did and since I have mostly males I don't think they would end up being bred back to to a sibling. Especially I I keep the two girls and put them in a different tank. I could buy another male locally for those two to breed with. I wouldn't want them going back to their father and mate

 

[minnnt]

Why not?

 

[balajake]

Why not?

It would want to overbreed and get in a muddle with inbreeding and I wouldn't want any weak deformed fish. Would that happen if I kept inbreeding them ?

 

[minnnt]

Off spring back to parents is fine, its siblings that can create problems. But like I said, a lot of fish these day will all be brother and sister pairings. How do you know that the pair you have aren't brother and sister?

People buy a group of fish and wait for a pair to form then rehome the rest, which will usually mean they're all from the same brood.

 

[balajake]

Off spring back to parents is fine, its siblings that can create problems. But like I said, a lot of fish these day will all be brother and sister pairings. How do you know that the pair you have aren't brother and sister?

People buy a group of fish and wait for a pair to form then rehome the rest, which will usually mean they're all from the same brood.

Thanks for the advise and you're right I don't know if the parents are related and I feel silly that It didn't cross my mind.

 

[minnnt]

Lol. I used to get hung up on all this stuff, and like you it never entered my head, but then pondering a pair of something in a LFS it dawned on me that they were brothers and sisters. I can't say I have ever had any deformed fry though.

Colouration is usually better when unrelated parents are sourced so maybe save a female and source a new male and see if there are any differences in fry to the ones you have.

 

[balajake]

Thanks minnnt.