Dither Fish

[pinkdolphin_113]

i am going to be trying to breed apisto cacatuoides in the very near future and would like to know if there are any dither fish that A. cacatuoides prefers?
i understand that apistos are pretty stubborn fish and may require a good confident dither fish.

i was thinking about some sort of tetra, going with my amazonian biotope, but i'm trying to keep my stocking levels to minimum because of the breeding issue. so, what i have is some corydoras. i am also trying to breed these guys in the same tank anyway, would these C. sterbai be a good dither fish?
they are not timid at all and always come and give me a sniff when my hand is in the tank.

thanks

 

[Colin_T]

don't worry about dither fish for them, they don't need them.
Cacatuoides make great parents and will breed readily in a tank on their own.

I used to breed cacatuoides in a 2ft tank with a sponge filter and half a flower pot. If you have sterbais in the tank make sure the tank is at least 3ft so they don't disturb the cichlids.

 

[pinkdolphin_113]

my tank is 2.5 feet, will this be big enough for both species to spawn?

i've heard that cory eggs are hard. would this prevent the cacatuoides from eating them?

i was planning on removing the eggs from both species and putting them in a growing/raising tank if possible. but as dwarf cichlids tend to make good parents anyway, would this be wise?

 

[Colin_T]

2.5ft is borderline. They will probably be ok together but you might not get many cory eggs.
The cacatuoides will eat cory eggs if they are hungry. If you keep the fish well fed they will be less inclined to eating the catfish eggs.
It's preferable to leave the eggs with the cichlids so they can rear the young up naturally. If the cory lay their eggs on plants or rocks you can move them however, they quite often lay them on glass and the eggs can be damaged if you try to scrape them off. Sometimes you can get them off the glass but not always.

 

[pinkdolphin_113]

right, so when the fish spawn, both species will need to be fed just that little bit extra. got it!

if both corys and apistos spawn at the same time, will the cichlids be more inclined in keeping their eggs and fry safe rather than eating the corys eggs and fry? just curiosity that question really lol

 

[Colin_T]

Yep if both species spawn at the same time the cichlids should spend most of their time guarding their own eggs and fry and will be less inclined to getting rid of the cory eggs. If there are cory eggs near the cacatuoides nest then they will probably eat them but if they aren't too close then they will probably ignore them.