First Apisto Spawn!

[ericbullock]

There must be something in the air...or the water?

I recently received the new Romer book, and after reading up on my fish (Apistogramma baenschi) I decided to change out the substrate to something finer, as well as lower the PH and alkalinity. I've had these fish for six months now, and two days after changing their environment around a bit I have eggs!

The interesting thing was watching the fish raise a little "wall" around the flower pot I recently added to the tank (along with the finer substrate). They seemed to have hollowed out the inside of the cave, building up a little wall at the entrance...like a little fish fort! Prior to that I had been using half of a coconut shell with a hole drilled in it.

I guess my next question for the group members is what do I do next? This would be the first time I've had fish spawn, so I'd like to do it right. Specifically I want to know what I should do about water changes, removing the fry, feeding, etc. The fish are alone in their own 5.5G tank. There is a sponge filter, a big piece of driftwood, and a sword plant. Oh and the cave obviously.

I'm excited...this is fantastic!

-eric-

 

[Theresa_M]

Congrats on the spawn!

My apisto pair is in a similar-sized tank. Is the female bothering the male? Not sure if this is the case with all apistos but I was told the female would make a great parent, and that they male might help. There's a chance he might try to eat the fry though in order to spawn again.

Whenever I've had eggs with other fish I continued with regular water changes. I feed fry 3-4 times a day; depending on the species I use Hikari First Bites, hard-boiled egg yolk, or a mixture of regular flake, spirulina, and freeze-dried blood worms that I crush into a fine powder.

Keep us posted!

 

[Laxison]

Hard boiled egg yolk? No kidding! I've never heard that used before! How interesting! I'm guessing you've found a lot of success using it?

 

[Theresa_M]

The fish love it and it's essentially all protein. It can get very messy so I usually feed it before I'm planning to do a water change. A little goes a long way.

How are your apistos? We are currently eggless again, seems the female ate them for some reason...

 

[Laxison]

The ones I just picked up from the last meeting are super, super small so I think it'll be quite some time until I get a spawn. I have another group of all females that I picked up about 4 or 5 months back that I'm looking for a dashing male for!