How Much Time Between Broods?

[doubledee]

Hi,
My Apistogramma Baenschi regularly spawn but I haven't had any success getting the fry past 10 days or so. However, I was away for a few weeks (no water changes) and came back to a brood of fry. They were much bigger and more developed than I had ever seen so I can only presume that they were 2 weeks old or so. Unfortunately I only had a day at home so I did a small water change then headed off on holiday for a week. I have came back and they're still there (10 or so) but the female looks like she's laid more eggs in her cave as she constantly returns to it. On occasion she does scoop up the fry and take them with her but most of the time she doesn't.

So, my question is, do you guys think she has laid again and if so, will she chase away the other fry? They're still tiny (4-5mm in size but some are quite developed in that they look like mini apistos and not fry i.e. pair of eyes and tail!! I don't have another tank to move them to but the breeding side of the tank (community) is very well planted with lots of stones, pebbles, plants and tonnes of java moss. The male ensures that no fish cross into that half of the tank but I can't help feeling that if they're left to themselves they'll venture too far!

Cheers

 

[Ludwig Venter]

If you have to remove the eggs, and hatch them artificially, (mild aeration with a little methylene blue in the water,.... The parents will give you a batch every week. (for about 8/9 weeks)

If left with the fry and for them to raise it, it can be up to 8 week intervals....... (but if they are successful in this, it's better to leave them)

 

[doubledee]

I don't think its the parents fault that the fry are not getting past 10-12 days, I'm either over-feeding or they're sensitive to the water changes. This time, I did nothing (as I wasn't there) and they seem to be doing fine. They usually have about 30 fry. I'm going to try and feed BBS again and keep the water changes to a minimum for now. The tank is pretty clean anyway and it's well filtered. Strange how you do nothing and you seem to have more success. It's all a learning curve I suppose and I'll see what the next week or so brings. I'm pretty sure the female has laid more eggs though, so it will be interesting to see what happens with the older fry once they new ones venture out. The older fry are very small anyway due to their current diet of err, nothing, so I doubt they would pose a threat!

 

[Ludwig Venter]

I don't think its the parents fault that the fry are not getting past 10-12 days, I'm either over-feeding or they're sensitive to the water changes. This time, I did nothing (as I wasn't there) and they seem to be doing fine. They usually have about 30 fry. I'm going to try and feed BBS again and keep the water changes to a minimum for now. The tank is pretty clean anyway and it's well filtered. Strange how you do nothing and you seem to have more success. It's all a learning curve I suppose and I'll see what the next week or so brings. I'm pretty sure the female has laid more eggs though, so it will be interesting to see what happens with the older fry once they new ones venture out. The older fry are very small anyway due to their current diet of err, nothing, so I doubt they would pose a threat!

Also just safe to check the obvious...... like the inlet ports of your "well filtered"...... You may be filtering out some of the fry.

 

[bricko]

I have a fluval external filter and every time I clean it out I find britslenose fry, guppy fry, krib fry. You name it, they have got sucked up into the filter, not sure now they survive but they do. Just thought I would add to this as you should always be careful when servicing your filters to ensure you don't 'throw out' any babies.

Cheers,

Bricko

 

[doubledee]

The filter inlet is at the opposite side of the tank and the female never goes anywhere near that so I don't think I'm losing them to the filter.

 

[doubledee]

Yup 30-40 wrigglers lying in the sand tonight, so mum is having to tend to two broods now!