Apistogramma Cacatuoides

[hexy]

Hi All,

I wanted to share some photos of my new Apistogramma Cacatuoides that I will be housing in my community tank.
I hope to breed them some wanted some input on them as firstly the male is massive - what type / colour of cacatuoide is this?
Secondly I am unsure if one of my females may in fact be male....

Female or is it a male?

I look forward to your comments & feedback
It's my first time breeding these so any advice would be appreciated. Currently housed with lots of cardinals and a few platies

hexy

 

[FishLover66]

I'm no help for your question, as I'm in the process of researching these guys and trying to figure out if I want an Apisto or Bolivian ram. I just wanted to say how cool those fish look! VERY nice.

 

[onidrase]

they're both male, just different morphs.

 

[hexy]

they're both male, just different morphs.

Thanks fishlover for your comments. onidrase do you know what type of cacatuoide these are? Also how old they may be? Guess I'll need a few more females as currently ratio is 2males to 1 then... Also any hints on breeding these?

 

[ApistoNut]

I do believe you have a wonderful pair of colourful cacatuoides!!!! The male is showing great colour in all fins and the female is very coloured too, she is a triple red for sure and soon if you get it right then your fry will be amazing.
Make sure you have plenty of caves for them to go and try heavily plant the area for the fry to hide.

You can tell the male from the female by size and colours, male has longer extended fins and grows around 1 1/2" bigger female grows to around 2" and has black fins under her gills after some time you will notice her change colour to a nice bright yellow

oh and for caca types male is a orange flash and looks as he has some white gold strain in him and female is a triple red with maybe a bit of white too. Very nice fish hexy

 

[hexy]

I do believe you have a wonderful pair of colourful cacatuoides!!!! The male is showing great colour in all fins and the female is very coloured too, she is a triple red for sure and soon if you get it right then your fry will be amazing.
Make sure you have plenty of caves for them to go and try heavily plant the area for the fry to hide.

You can tell the male from the female by size and colours, male has longer extended fins and grows around 1 1/2" bigger female grows to around 2" and has black fins under her gills after some time you will notice her change colour to a nice bright yellow

oh and for caca types male is a orange flash and looks as he has some white gold strain in him and female is a triple red with maybe a bit of white too. Very nice fish hexy

Thank you so much Lindsay and craig! I have them currently in a 190 litre tank, with around 30 cardinals, 3 platies, there is actually another female cacatuoide as well as these two, 2 apistogramma iniridae females which i think ill need to find a new home for? unless they can all live togehter in this tank with a male too if i can get hold of - any ideas? and also 8 young white convicts.

Do you think i have much hope of breeding the cacs? Currently the male is patrolling a cave and fighting off anything that comes near it. I havent seen the other female for a few days....

Do i need to get fry food? or can it survive? i have lots of plants too!

really appreciate your input.

hexy

 

[ApistoNut]

hmmm.... convicts are not a good mix, convicts = murderers lol as there name describes. When the convicts pair up then get ready for total warfare and deaths of others inclding the other convicts apart from that lets talk apistogrammas....

ok the 2 female inirdae will be fine in this enviroment and so will your other fish bar the convicts. If you havnt seen the other female then just keep an eye out for her wherever the male is guarding she will prob be a bright yellow like this....

If your tank is heavily planted this will be good for your fry to hide, you can also get liquifry for egglayers and start adding it to the tank where the male is patroling this will then give the fry something to munch as soon as there ready(only add a few drops per day for now) I think creating another harem of apistos would be a bad idea as they are very territorial when there are fry about as you will see the male and female work together like a pair nutters just attacking everything that comes close to the babies but no harm in trying if it doesnt work just rehome or buy your self a smaller breeding set up just for them??

I hope this has helped and if you get any problems just feel free to ask

Craig

 

[hexy]

hmmm.... convicts are not a good mix, convicts = murderers lol as there name describes. When the convicts pair up then get ready for total warfare and deaths of others inclding the other convicts apart from that lets talk apistogrammas....

ok the 2 female inirdae will be fine in this enviroment and so will your other fish bar the convicts. If you havnt seen the other female then just keep an eye out for her wherever the male is guarding she will prob be a bright yellow like this....

If your tank is heavily planted this will be good for your fry to hide, you can also get liquifry for egglayers and start adding it to the tank where the male is patroling this will then give the fry something to munch as soon as there ready(only add a few drops per day for now) I think creating another harem of apistos would be a bad idea as they are very territorial when there are fry about as you will see the male and female work together like a pair nutters just attacking everything that comes close to the babies but no harm in trying if it doesnt work just rehome or buy your self a smaller breeding set up just for them??

I hope this has helped and if you get any problems just feel free to ask

Craig

Thats really helpful of you thank you. I will try to get another smaller tank to home the convicts in. I would love to have these breeding, are the cardinals and platies not a problem then? Do you know other fish which would go to complete this community tank but kind of provide a harlem and allow the fry to grow? I think i need something to stop the algae growing too....

What plants do you have in your set up? The picture looks lovely, very beautiful fish.

Oh I have just seen both females out of the cave, with the male still guarding it. Now the one I thought may have had the fry is in another cave? The male is still guarding the original cave though.... is it unlikely i have any fry this time as male is guarding alone and female may hvae abandoned?

thanks
hext

 

[ApistoNut]

The female will be bright yellow is she??? just got to keep an eye out and let them do what they gotta do just keep feeding parents good food like frozen brine shrimp and daphnia and you will soon spot the little ones. They take a bit of time to pick a place and lay eggs. Your cardinals and platties are fine Any community fish will be ok, my female protected her fry against medium sized angels, small firemouths and guppies!!they are very good parents.
As for algae growth dont over feed if anything under feed to reduce waste and algae growth keeping water quality in better condition also only keep your tank light on for around 9-10 hours per day and try to keep out of direct sunlight. you can use stemmy plants to prevent algae growth as they take the nutrients for algae to grow and stop algae growing on them i also use amazon swords as part of my set up but this does encourage algae growth on the leafs and just keep up together with water changes. A few corys will help keep the leftovers under control and bn plecs are good for cleaning the glass but you must also feed them wafers etc as the algae on the glass isnt enough for a healthy diet

 

[kribensis12]

It wont take much to get them to breed. I have a pair of wild caughts in a 10g and they've bred twice. The pH here is 8.4 and they are getting no special treatment. Just give them caves and wait it out. If you want to rad my post about the wild caughts, it's labeled "Wild Caught Apistogramma Cacatuoides" in this forum. You might find it helpful.

 

[hexy]

Unfotunately still waiting for some action to happen! Actually the females havent taken to any of the caves since the first encounter. I am moving the white convicts this week which should help, and have added 3 x otocinclus affinis to help with my algae problems. I was wondering if you had any suggestions on other tankmates? I really would like a community tank whereby i dont have to do much and the apistos breed and then also have lots of other nice fish in there.... I have also the cardinals and a few platies.

Would any cichlid fit in there too? Like a peaceful pair, maybe also one i could try breeding?

thanks
hexy

hmmm.... convicts are not a good mix, convicts = murderers lol as there name describes. When the convicts pair up then get ready for total warfare and deaths of others inclding the other convicts apart from that lets talk apistogrammas....

ok the 2 female inirdae will be fine in this enviroment and so will your other fish bar the convicts. If you havnt seen the other female then just keep an eye out for her wherever the male is guarding she will prob be a bright yellow like this....

If your tank is heavily planted this will be good for your fry to hide, you can also get liquifry for egglayers and start adding it to the tank where the male is patroling this will then give the fry something to munch as soon as there ready(only add a few drops per day for now) I think creating another harem of apistos would be a bad idea as they are very territorial when there are fry about as you will see the male and female work together like a pair nutters just attacking everything that comes close to the babies but no harm in trying if it doesnt work just rehome or buy your self a smaller breeding set up just for them??

I hope this has helped and if you get any problems just feel free to ask

Craig

Thats really helpful of you thank you. I will try to get another smaller tank to home the convicts in. I would love to have these breeding, are the cardinals and platies not a problem then? Do you know other fish which would go to complete this community tank but kind of provide a harlem and allow the fry to grow? I think i need something to stop the algae growing too....

What plants do you have in your set up? The picture looks lovely, very beautiful fish.

Oh I have just seen both females out of the cave, with the male still guarding it. Now the one I thought may have had the fry is in another cave? The male is still guarding the original cave though.... is it unlikely i have any fry this time as male is guarding alone and female may hvae abandoned?

thanks
hext