# Apisto.Cacatuoides Golds!!!!!



## eklikewhoa (Jul 24, 2006)

Just got these in for my 30g planted tank from Raymansrams on aquabid and wanted to share some pictures I took of them. I got 7 total thanks to Ray throwing an extra one in to make 2m/5f.


































































they are in my 30g planted with......
10 gold white clouds
6 koi angel fish (soon to be thinned out)
3 dwarf puffers
12 amano shrimp


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## goalcreas (Nov 20, 2006)

Very nice, I will be getting some shortly.
Notice my avitar, it is his pic I copied off of Aquabid.


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## eklikewhoa (Jul 24, 2006)

hahaha, that picture looks like the ones that steered into them! I got these from Raymansrams which is where that avatar photo came from, great guy to deal with!


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## JanS (Apr 14, 2004)

Congrats! I like the cacs too.

I'm glad to hear you're going to be thinning out some of the Angels, since you have quite a load in there right now.


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## eklikewhoa (Jul 24, 2006)

Yeah the load is somewhat high but at the end of the week nitrates are still no where near 10ppm's with dosing and after that the tank gets a 50-60% water change. Also not all the Apisto's will be staying in this tank, I'm thinking after they settle they will sort out hierarchy and the ones that don't make it will get moved to another tank.


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## goalcreas (Nov 20, 2006)

That was my concern, IME the dominant male will force the submisive into hiding, the submisive will barely get any food, and will get very skiddish.
You should find the two females that the dominant takes a liking to and get the other two and the submisive male into their own tank.
you could safely set that trio up in a 10 gallon of their own with no other fish , or a small school of very small tetras and breed them there. Of course as always a 20 long would be better, but not necessary.
If you set them up in a breeding tank, I reccomend using sponge filters with very little flow, about 1 bubble per second.
I have read you can get them to spawn by draining most of the water in the tank for an hour or two, then fill it up with cool fresh water, simulating the drying out then the rain, and they should spawn willingly.

I never tried specifically to breed these fish, yet anyway, getting a project together now, but I do have fry in my 30 gallon community tank, orange flash var.


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## eklikewhoa (Jul 24, 2006)

Thanks goalcreas, I have a 20g long that they could go into once the dust settles or I could part with them to some of the local apisto fans. 

I have been reading a lot over at apistogramm.com but don't plan to breed them purposely.


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## goalcreas (Nov 20, 2006)

If you part with them, I would be interested in taking them.

And even though you don'e plan to breed them, with a healthy happy trio, you will get fry, the mothers are very,very good at keeping track of them so there will be some survivors.

If you see her dissappear for a while and she is showong breeding colors, start being careful when siphoinig (sp?) water during changes, you will have some free swimmers in a couple of weeks.
Don't know how evident the breeding colors are on the golds (albinos), but watch the behovior.

I found my fry durring a water change, they hid out inside some rocks that I removed, luckily into a bucket with some water, when I was getting the rocks to clean and replace I saw two little fish. didn't think they were Rams, which was what was laying eggs at the time, I thought they looked more like apistos, and after a week I could sure tell that they were. Well only 6 made it to size, they are all around 5/8 to 3/4 of an inch now at about 5 weeks.
anyway, good luck.


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## K20A2 (Aug 12, 2006)

WOW Those are beautiful fish. Very cool man, very cool.


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## eklikewhoa (Jul 24, 2006)

Thanks goalcreas and k20a2! I will keep you in mind when it comes time to.

Hey k20a2 what's that k20 sitting in?


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## K20A2 (Aug 12, 2006)

Its in my 03 RSX Type S. You a fan of the K series engines?


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## ed seeley (Dec 1, 2006)

Those Apistos look great!
I think you'll have great fun while they do settle down before you have to remove a trio, can sometimes be a couple of months, other times days!
You'll have lots of little babies soon, I'm sure some will make it!
Keep us posted.


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## eklikewhoa (Jul 24, 2006)

K20A2 said:


> Its in my 03 RSX Type S. You a fan of the K series engines?


I would pick a B motor first but the K has endless potential! I have friends who have them in ek's/eg's and thought that you had the same. Hondas are fun cars!


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## eklikewhoa (Jul 24, 2006)

Thanks ed seely!


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## eklikewhoa (Jul 24, 2006)

Took some better pictures of them today but only the males wanted to have their pictures taken and the ladies still seem to be shy.


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## eklikewhoa (Jul 24, 2006)

While checking them today I found a female protecting eggs!!!!!!


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## Steven_Chong (Mar 17, 2005)

Nice fish cacatoides . . .


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## K20A2 (Aug 12, 2006)

They surely didn’t waste any time getting down to business. Is the tension rising now between her and the other apistos?

Oh, and I wanted to ask how the shrimp are doing. Are they eating them, or are the amano shrimp to big to become snacks?


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## eklikewhoa (Jul 24, 2006)

The amano's are doing fine and none have gone missing. 

The aggression between the protecting female is limited to the little area she has her eggs at but all the others aren't showing much of any aggression. The fathering male is showing aggression towards the smaller male though.


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## goalcreas (Nov 20, 2006)

congrats, that is sweet. Hope you have a sponge pre filter on your filter intake, lots of baby fish go missing that way.
Actually female cac's are really good at keeping tabs on the little ones, but with all the other fish, she will only really be able to bring 6 to 10 to a size where the other fish won't eat them.
you may want to pull her and her eggs, if you can, if they are not in the substrate or another place that will be really hard to move them. then get her in a 5 gallon or so and just let her mother them until they are free swimming and eating well. then you can put her back in and see if she can get more eggs.

BTW, I will be interested in getting some of those fish from you.

Good luck.


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## eklikewhoa (Jul 24, 2006)

She actually laid the eggs on the side of a big piece of driftwood that is heavily planted with lots of ferns so there will be no moving them. Also the breeding spot is right near the intake of the filter since I used the dw/fern to cover up all the hardware in the tank. 

I'm gonna let her do her thing and if they survive by summer time they should be ready to go. I have never shipped before but willing to give it a try.


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