A.huascar & Fry

[Hassles]

Ladies & Gentlemen it gives me great pleasure to announce the emergence of Apistogramma huascar fry on this day November 7th 2009.
An image of the (hopefully proud) male has been posted with the dwarf cichlid photos elsewhere on this forum.

I acquired these fish on October 15th so I am a little surprised as you can imagine. More details later - I gotta go celebrate :-)

[Barracuda]

nice :)

[Hassles]

The Apistogramma huascar fry that emerged today were bred in water with the following parameters:

PH 4.75 Approx.
KH <10mgL
GH 5.6
Temp: 25 degrees

The tank is 750 x 400 and 300 high. A fine white sand substrate is used with a few pieces of driftwood (no longer leeching tannis), a few rocks, a couple of short length of PVC tubuing, a pair of pencilfish, some water-sprite and an annubia. Filtration via 1 (original air-driven) Aqua-Genie filter and 1 sponge-filter, a water pump for circulation and a single tube of 39 watts of passive lighting over-head.

Other than the GH I am happy with the parameters. I did want softer water and will need to fine-tune their environment to ensure the longevity of the fry.

The 2nd female in the tank is now commanding my attention and is apparently attracting the attention of the male, who dare not venture to the other end of the tank at this point ;-) The brood is rather large, by my reckoning I would say close to 70 which is a great outcome. All I need to do now is keep the little buggers alive. Mum has them coraled beneath a sponge filter which has captured many a microworm.

The mother has been guarding a small ceramic cave for a number of days and it was from here the fry emerged.

It was these fish I acquired during the recent Bayfish order from Glaser. Unfortunatelty my wanted A.resticulosa didn't make it through quarantine. I did at least get the huascar, 3 females and a single male. I female is close to death in an alternate tank and is being treated - my fingers are crossed.

[Robdog]

Congrats on the spawn Hassles.

Any ideas as to what is wrong with the crook female?

[Eleocharis acicularis]

Great to hear you have fry!

Just spent the last 6 hours cleaning my tanks and was having some late dinner ... makes all the effort worthwhile!

Congratulations...

[Hassles]

Congrats on the spawn Hassles.

Any ideas as to what is wrong with the crook female?

Firstly thanks for the kind words.

The 2nd female has one half of her head very discoloured - chocalate brown. I have seen referencesto this condition called stress stroke. My fish disease book suggests otherwise. I have seen this condition once before in a hongsloi which died. I am treating the female husacr with a solution of .05g iodine and 5g of iodide. 1ml per 10 litres added directly to the tank. Fate will play her hand, all I can do now is keep my fingers crossed and the tank in subdued lighting.

take care

[steph]

Hi Hassles

Congrats on the fry !

Sometimes those fish come out of quarantine just itching to lay eggs, I think its possibly something to do with a drought/flood scenario. They spend so long in poor conditions with probably poor food that when they reach a good environment with top water quality and food they think the rains have arrived and its time to lay!

Well done

Steph

[Hassles]

Hi Hassles

Congrats on the fry !

Sometimes those fish come out of quarantine just itching to lay eggs, I think its possibly something to do with a drought/flood scenario. They spend so long in poor conditions with probably poor food that when they reach a good environment with top water quality and food they think the rains have arrived and its time to lay!

Well done

Steph

G'day Steph

hmm, you could very well be correct. Spawning triggers are employed by many when attempting to coerce their fish to breed, especially amoung the catfish community. We Apistogramma breeders I think just need to get the environment right and I consider that many of us struggle to achieve that. I have generally found Apistogramma an easy fish to keep and to breed, establishing ideal water for a specific specie on the other hand is not such a simple task. Establishing the soft water needed for many Apistos ain't that hard, we can use Peat, employ Indian Almond or Oak Tree leaves to lower PH and then the tannis from driftwood etc all paly a hand. However when a specie such as the huascar does not like the presence of humic acids these methods will fail so we must then use filtered water which is what I have done.

The investment of a few hundred dollars in an RO filter may very possibly be beyond that which many may find justifiable. Suitably filtered water purchased from a supermarket can do a great deal of good when establishing a softwater habitat. However when considering the water changes that would be undertaken this method also has its financial drawbacks. Personally speaking, I purchased my RO filter purely to allow myself to keep specific Apistogramma species that I would struggle to keep otherwise. I didn't consider the investment great in terms of costs, but this filter has provided me with a wonderful opportunity and the huascar fry are proof of the pudding to coin a phrase :-)

I have just ordered some Apistogramma hippolytae so I now need to establish a blackwater habitat for them. Fortunately I have such a tank close to ready so only a little fine tuning will be necessary to keep them happy :-) I'll keep you posted.

re: huascar fry. This sizeable school is energetic and gaining weight nicely with their microworm diet. They and also beginning to, under their dutiful mothers guidence & protection, explore the tank.

oh yeah, happy birthday

[Hassles]

Today I proudly announce the emergence of the 2nd spawn courtesy of the 2nd female. The fry are in being protected in a rather secluded area beneath a large piece of driftwood rendering photographic opportunities close to non-existent. At this point I shall keep a close eye on the male (for his own good) but both females appear to be accepting of his presence - to degrees.

The first spawn fry are continuing to consume microworms but are now also being fed ground 'dry' fish food which is little more than powder.

take care

[gingerbeer01]

Would love to see pictures of Dad

[Merrilyn]

Congratulations on the fantastic result Hassles :)

I tried my hand at apistos with varying degrees of success, so I take my hat off to you.

I'll be watching this thread with great interest, as the fry continue to grow. Keep posting those pics please.

[Hassles]

Would love to see pictures of Dad

http://www.discusforums.com/forum/files/a-huascar_male.jpg

I snapped a quick image some weeks ago posted in the Photo Album section dwarf cichlid photos -he's a pretty boy :)

[Hassles]

Congratulations on the fantastic result Hassles :)

I tried my hand at apistos with varying degrees of success, so I take my hat off to you.

I'll be watching this thread with great interest, as the fry continue to grow. Keep posting those pics please.

G'day Merrilyn

thanks for the kind words. I found the huascar pretty easy actually. I opted for sand substrate as this is what huascar are accustomed to. Sand is also inert so it won't react with filtered water. Water is a blend of Melbourne's very own tap water and filtered water to get the PH below 5. The fish did the rest themselves. The huascar are also the first time I have attempted to breed in a harem and the warring betweenn the 2 females was pretty nasty. However things changed when the 2nd female (added later) emerged with her fry. The male & the 2nd female so severly harrassed the first female that I divided the tank and now all is fine. Each female is caring for about 70 fry so.... if you're keen I would be happy to give you some - as sort of belated xmas gift in thanks of your kind and generous advice of the past.

take care