Re: Slow growers (was: Aggie "Alenquer")

[IDMiamiBob@aol.com]

Dave writes:

> The aquarium is not the wild. So we must treat it diffrently at times.
>  It has been my experience that females that have their eggs taken away
>  are disoriented and easily beat up by their tankmates. 

That hasn't happened for me because I tend to keep them in breeding tanks.   I
also am not prone to pulling eggs, though I have done it on occassion. 

>I prefer to sit
>  and enjoy her raising her young and giving her some time to rest and
>  recuperate, my opinion. Do you have data to prove this or is this your
>  assumption? 

It is pure assumption based on observations of a number of cichlid species.  I
have seen gravid female angels keeping their tummies round for very long
periods of time.  But when conditions in the tank fall out of their
parameters, the roundness disappears almost overnight.  It takes only a couple
days to get it back again when the tank is corrected.  And I've had them lay
400 eggs every 8 days for months.  Not long enough for them to "rest and build
up" their egg supply.

>This is how i do things it works just fine for me and i
>  produce a fair share of healthy Apisto's. I have a surplus of fish so
>  by resting my females I am also getting more blood and genetic
>  variability into my line, because i use another female who is just
>  waiting in line. Dont be so quick to judge how others do things we
>  must use this list to learn from each others experiences.
  
If I came off as judgemental, I apologize.  I have been a vehement defender of
every person on this list whose practices are not what someone else thinks
they should be.  I'm not saying you can't do it that way.  That would be
ludicrous.  It works for you and gives you the quantity and quality of fish
you desire.  Not to mention the satisfaction that keeps you at it.  But when I
watch how much more twitchy and nervous my  females are while they are tending
fry, I can't see any advantage for them being compelled to do it for a month
without a break.  It seems to me that separating them after a week or so is
more consistent with nature and easier on the females.  Separating the parents
that soon does not mean I am forcing them to spawn again.  I don't immediately
return her to her male.  However, I think (operative word here is think, not
know beyond a reasonable doubt) that long separations are hard on the 'loving
couple's' pair bond.

As for my fry taking longer to mature, I credit ot to raising them on a
limiting diet of BBS almost exclusively.  Some day I will buy a house and set
up a serious operation complete with five or six live cultures, including
vinegar eels, micro worms, and whatever else I can think of that is small
enough for feeding fry.  I also think (there's that operative word again) that
they will take the better part of a year in the wild.

Bob


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