Apistogramma Borellii

[Essjay]

I recently bought a pair of Apistogramma borellii. They came out of quarantine on Saturday, and they're now in a 125 litre tank. Last night (Wednesday) I noticed the female chasing the male away from her 'cave' (an upturned flowerpot with a hole in the rim). So this morning I had a look and she's guarding eggs!

Does anyone know how long they take to hatch?

One site says it takes 2 to 4 days, depending on temperature. Others say they're hard to breed and need a pH of 6.0 to 6.2, but this pair have spawned after only a few days in their tank at pH 7.2. I'm reluctant to believe everything I read, I've had different fish take over twice as long to hatch as some sites say!


Any info gratefully received!

 

[sswm]

Congrats,

If its their first spawn, they might not get to the hatching part, it could take a couple tries for them to get things right, but if they do hatch thats great. It should take the 2-4 days like you read. Then after a few more days, the female should then start leading the fry around the tank in search of food

 

[Essjay]

Thanks for the info. I sort of expected them to eat their eggs, cichlids have the reputation for that at the first few attempts don't they. I don't know when they actually spawned. The female has been in the cave for a couple of days. Until I found the eggs I thought she might have been stressed by the move to their new home!

I couldn't believe it when I saw the eggs. I thought the fish would need to settle for a while before they even thought about it, and with the pH a lot higher than recommended, I didn't think they would. Especially with the condition they were in a month ago. I bought them on-line as I couldnt find any locally. When they arrived I thought they were dead at first, but then I noticed slight gill movement. They spent their first day lying on their sides in the quarantine tank, they were upright the next day and they've been fine ever since.

 

[sswm]

well that was a good recovery then

can you see what colour the eggs are?

 

[Essjay]

There looked to be a couple of dozen eggs. A few of them were opaque white - I'm assuming they are infertile and/or fungused. The rest were a translucent darkish colour. I didn't spend that long looking, I didn't want to upset the female.

I'm not expecting great things from this spawning. If any do hatch, they won't survive long with dwarf chain loaches in the tank. It was just such a surprise to find them!

I've also got nowhere to put any fry, as I have my hands full with a batch of peacock goby fry at the moment. They are spawning every couple of weeks, I got them in July and they've spawned five times so far - they're not in the same tank as the apistos.

 

[sswm]

dark is good, usually redish colour I think. How big is the tank? If you get any fry would you be able to divide it? They dont need a lot of space so you could seperate them to a small end of the tank.

 

[Essjay]

I suppose I could use the hospital/quarantine tank, though I know what my husband will have to say! He's already complaining with three.

If any do hatch, when do I move them? From my reading, I gather that the mother looks after them for a few days. Do I just move the fry, or take mum as well?

 

[sswm]

When they're free swimming you can move them, just suction them out. If they're going into their own tank they can go by themselves, then the adults can get back to making more babies haha. Feed on bbs or microworms.

 

[Essjay]

I just got home and found mum in the cave entrance with some fry by her side. She hurried them back inside as soon as she saw me, but I spotted three. Since there weren't many eggs, I've decided to leave them there this time, and if they spawn again I'll do something then.

Would any future fry be ok in with my peacock goby fry (Tateurndina ocellicauda), or should they be kept by themselves? The goby fry are a week old. The apisto fry are much bigger, so hopefully the gobies will be bigger before the apistos spawn again.