Re: tank bred vs. wild (was inbreeding) spawning

[Frauley Elson <fraulels@minet.ca>]

> Sylvia,

I think there are a couple of issues operating here, and it is hard to comment
without more information. I'll give a couple of examples.
With veijita in tapwater of 140ppm, clutches ran at about 10 to 20 fry at my
place. Once I softened that to 50-60ppm, I got up to about 50 fry. I've seen the
same general pattern with other species, whatever their origin. Veijita is a
softwater apisto.
In tanks that are too small, a charged up fighting male often won't calm down
without harming the female. I've always seen a "reverse trio" as a recipe for
disaster in anything smaller than a four foot tank. You can keep a big group
together, or a group with one male. In between usually goes wrong for me.
Water quality can affect things too, even beyond pH and hardness. If your female
were eating the eggs from hunger, then feeding close to the eggs might be a plan.
However, the reason for eating the eggs isn't old-fashioned recreational
cannibalism.
They eat eggs from generalized stress, if the eggs are decaying or unfertilized,
or if they can't hold their territory. Putting food close to the eggs would
create conditions two and three.
Causes for egg loss you might want to investigate before looking at the wild vs
tank-raised debate are polluted tankwater-overfeeding, snails, no light at night
(I increase viable clutches radically with a cheap little night-light on the
shelf beside the tank - cichlids defend visually), water hardness, temperature or
fish-predators.
In my experience, the key to apisto breeding is to keep your fish alive until you
figure out how to stop making mistakes in your set up. There are few things
easier to do than to mess up a perfectly functional breeding pair of apistos.
Good luck.
-Gary





-------------------------------------------------------------------------
This is the apistogramma mailing list, apisto@listbox.com.
For instructions on how to subscribe or unsubscribe or get help,
email apisto-request@listbox.com.
Search http://altavista.digital.com for "Apistogramma Mailing List Archives"!