# My Apistogramma Cacatuoides double red just SPAWNED!



## Zapins (Jul 28, 2004)

!!!!!!!!

My apistos spawned!!!

I have a beautiful male and a colorful female in my 10g planted tank. I prepared the tank by letting mulm accumulate for the last few weeks, I let the weeping moss grow out and even let a little clado algae gain a foot hold.

Earlier this week I went to a very high end, spectacularly kept pet store in CT called aquatic wildlife and found a tank with several apistos. 

There was only one male left and several females that he was diligently shimmying and displaying himself to. For the lump sum of 32$ I picked the most colorful and ripe female in the tank, and swiftly had the male and the female netted. 

I conditioned them for only 3 days with different flake foods, and a good water change and then today much to my surprise I looked around the tank and could not see the female anywhere. I thought for sure the male had caused her to jump the tank. But it was not so! 

I fed the tank and the female shot out from behind 2 pieces of driftwood covered with the java moss. Her belly is noticeably smaller then yesterday when she was hungrily eating. This can only mean she has spawned under the java!

I can't wait for the fry to hatch! I am so excited!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


----------



## Burks (May 25, 2006)

Congrats! Apisto's are some lovely fish, all species. Never seen a double red in person but the pictures I've seen they look great.

Enjoy them!


----------



## Zapins (Jul 28, 2004)

Here are some pics of the two.

Semi-crappy pictures, but there they are!


----------



## mora (Aug 16, 2005)

for the look of the pictures those are triple red.


----------



## Skelley (Mar 4, 2006)

How exciting! Those are beautiful fish. Make sure you post some pictures of the fry.


----------



## Zapins (Jul 28, 2004)

mora, I also suspected triple red, b/c all 3 of their fins have red in them, hence triple red. But the sign on the store tank said double red...

Soo I was a bit confused about that, but I agree w/ you, it does look like they are triple reds 

I will definitely post pics of the fry as they hatch and swim around


----------



## Daybed (Mar 8, 2006)

Apistos are extremely fun to watch. Just be careful when they spawn, however, because the females will stress out the males a lot. I've got a pair of A. macmasteri in a 20 long, but have to separate the two when they spawn. She stresses him out to the point of stressing me out. Cacatuoides, on the other hand, no matter what strain, is known for being the easiest to spawn. Check out http://forum.apistogramma.com/index.php for in depth threads. By the way, do your apistos change color according to their mood and/or environment? I think they all do as a species, but am not certain. It's really cool though when they change color right before your eye.


----------



## Morbida (Aug 15, 2005)

I kn ew you liked the fish! Good luck Grandpa


----------



## fantasticaqua (Jun 20, 2006)

I'm sure they will be beautiful kids their parents are gorgeous!


----------



## Pseud (Oct 19, 2005)

Nice fish! You didn't have those fish when I came up to meet you, right? I definitely don't remember seeing them!

I'd like a pair of A. agassizi one day... and that aquatic wildlife store, might have to check it out!


----------



## Zapins (Jul 28, 2004)

Good news everyone! I have seen the wrigglers! She moved them from behind the driftwood into one of the two clay pots I put under the crypts. I can see that she has about 50-80 babies and they look good so far! I expect they should be free swimming by this friday!!!! I think I will try setting up that baby brine shrimp automatic feeder hatchery gadget again. Apparently it sits inside the tank and hatches brine shrimp, then they swim out and get eaten  muahah.


Daybed: So far the female has been quite nice to the male when he gets near. She turns sideways and shimmies backwards to show off to him. I think I got lucky so far with good parents! I hope I won't need to remove the male later 

Morbida: Ewwww noooo I'm devoted to my plants! I only got the fish because um... err... they provide an essential service to my plant's health that cannot be substituted! Yea that’s it! Its just for their use in keeping my plants healthy.... 

fantasticaqua: Yup can't wait!!! Pretty babies just like their DEAR PAPA!

Pseud: Yup, I didn't have them when you came up. Plus they are in my room, and we didn't have time to see those tanks. I got them about a week and a half ago and they sure spawned pretty fast . 

Aquatic wildlife is really a GREAT shop, they really know what they are doing and have very very very good quality fish/plants/supplies. They hire people like us with planted CO2 tanks and fish breeders to work there. Also I noticed that in a good many of their tanks fish were spawning! Even huge 6+ inch German discus fish!



I'm not a grandpa!!!!!!!!!!


----------



## houseofcards (Feb 16, 2005)

Zapins,
Congrats on the fry. What kind of setup do you have for the double/triple reds? I've seen both at my LFS and yours do look like triples. I was thinking of purchasing a pair of double reds I recently saw.


----------



## Zapins (Jul 28, 2004)

I have them in a 10g, that has a lot of mulm built up on the bottom from the last few months. Water changes have been minimal before adding them and during spawning. I just top up the water when it gets low.

I have lots of drift wood and different plants, including some moss (under which they spawned).

I can post some pics of the tank later on.


----------



## houseofcards (Feb 16, 2005)

Me bad, I should have read the beginning of the the thread. Anyway, yeah I'd love to see some pics.


----------



## Zapins (Jul 28, 2004)

Today is the first day the babies are all swimming around!!! She has about 50-90 of them. They are sort of hopping up off the substrate nipping at things. Seems like they are just learning to swim!

She is a realllllly good mother considering this is her first brood. She goes around the tank gathering baby brine shrimp and spits them out for her babies to eat. Its the neatest thing. 

The father sort of wanders aimlessly around the tank eating brine shrimp babies... D'ohhh.

I will try get some close up pics when they start swimming around more.


----------



## Zapins (Jul 28, 2004)

Hmm... well it seems she has just spawned again. She now looks like she is either eating the first spawn, of sucking them up and spitting them out violently away from the nest. 

What do you think about this? Will her violence escalate or remain the same? Will the new fry blend in with the old fry? I do not think the first batch is big enough to eat the second batch.

Do you think feeding daphnia to them vs. bbs is doable? If so, any tips on how to raise daphnia cultures would be great.

Also, there seem to be millions of green hydra living in the tank now, they must have eaten all the baby brine shrimp I fed the fry and multiplied. The hydra are small, about 1cm long, and a hair's thickness. Will they hurt the new spawn?

So am I headed for no babies? Or more babies?


----------



## DJKronik57 (Apr 17, 2006)

I'm not sure about your fish, but I know with Blue Rams, if the female spawns again, she will eat the old fry. Best thing to do is separate the parents and the new spawn from the old one (which sounds pretty tough in your case). The hydra are a problem too, they will eat the smallest fry if given the chance. Feeding less is the only way I know how to get rid of them.

Also, frequent water changes often do wonders for fry growth.


----------

