Re: L. CURVICEPS

[Beverly Erlebacher <bae@cs.toronto.edu>]

> From: "Antonio Alcántara Peyres" <antoine@serconet.com>
> 
> I've bred L. curviceps and realized some curious behaviours I'd like to
> share and some questions about it:

Very interesting observations!

>     The B. Rerio attacks the fry, until parents realized, so they become
> fish food instead of dither fish, they were dead and eaten in less than
> 24 h., I thought Curviceps were a peaceful fish.

Sounds like your fish are very serious about their parental responsibilities.

>     Parents are eating sand snails, the big ones, I think they try to
> catch them when snail is out, as they can't break the shell.

Are these the narrow conical ones?  Malaysian trumpet snails - Melanoides
tuberculata?  I haven't found anything that will eat them.  My loaches
won't do it.  I like Laetacaras, perhaps I should try them again, this time
as snail-hunters!

>     Yesterday I decided to take the fry's (they are quite big and with a
> bit of colour already) to other tank, for I want to put the fishes I
> removed first, but I had two problems, first, I couldn't catch every fry
> (there are still a lot, more than 200), and in second place, they have
> spawned again, in the same place, so I left the fry's I hadn't caught
> and took of.

Here's a recent posting I made to rec.aquaria.freshwater.cichlids on how
to make a fry trap.  I realize that many apistos are small enough that these
traps will catch adults, too, but you can always just put them back:

= Make a pop bottle fish trap.  Take a plastic bottle of suitable size
= for the tank, cut off the top part just below where the bottle becomes
= cylindrical, turn this top part upside down and push it into the bottom
= part of the bottle.  Punch a small hole in the side of the bottle a
= couple of inches below the cut edge to let air out.  Bait with something
= tasty.  Place in tank.  The fish swim in but they (usually) can't figure
= out how to get out.  Only fish small enough to get through a pop bottle
= neck can get in.  Check the trap every 10-15 minutes, because the water
= circulation is minimal and the fish can suffocate in there.  Also, if there
= are many fish in the trap, it may inhibit more from going in.  
=
= One can build a better fish trap by cutting out a window in the bottle
= and covering it with fiberglas window screen to allow better circulation.
= With good bait these traps are amazingly effective.

>     This morning I've seen the fry's I've left in the tank swimming
> round the eggs, and eating the unfertilized ones, their parents allowed
> them. Any idea? There is (I think) food enough for the fry's, so I don't
> think it would be any kind of supplement food like in Chana orientalis,
> besides, there are a lot of (apparently) fertilized eggs.

This is a remarkable observation.  Let us know what happens next!


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