# Apistogramma Algodon ii "Roca Eterna" breeding



## NiagaraTap (Jan 28, 2012)

I posted a thread a few months ago asking questions about these fish as I had come accross 6 wilds ones at a LFS. They said they had only been there a week. I took all 6. 
At the time I could not tell the difference in sex and the fish were mislabeled. they were all dark and stressed. turns out i had some Apistogramma Algodon ii "roca eterna". 1 female and 5 males. pretty rare fish in the hobby and not well documented. I sold off 3 males to a guy who put them with Discus and we keep in touch. I kept the 2 smaller males in hopes that they would still be good to breed with the female. The one male paired up right away with the female that night. that was 2 weeks ago. 
today I came home from school and got to doing a water change when I noticed 20-30 fry swimming around the female. Great! but what the hell do i do now? I have no experience raising any type of fish. 
I have the 3 adults in a 50 gallon sand bottom tank. canister and 2 sponge filters. (I have been using the canister to help establish and support the new sponges for the past few weeks). I use 8 gallons RO water to 1 gallon treated tap water. plus peat in the canister filter. 6.2-6.4 pH, tank temp. 80F. i do a 20% W/C during the week and a 30% on weekends.

Below Left to Right: Female with Fry. Smallest Male. Paired Male

Any suggestions or helpful info on these Apistos would be much appreciated!
potential buyers are welcome to keep in touch and be updated.


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## hornell (Oct 27, 2011)

Those are some lovely apisto's. Can't help with breeding help, but would l be interested to hear about the fry when they get a bit bigger  

Best of luck.


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## Tropicana (Feb 15, 2009)

Get a hold of some Banana worms or hatch some baby brine shrimp. Use a pipette to squirt the food at the fry on the ground, and make sure there is no water movement when you feed them so they get all the food.

The female will be the main guardian of the fry and should take good care of them. Just keep feeding the fry 3-4 times a day minimum for fast growth.

If you want to try a different approach then you can remove the fry into a 5 gal tank that has the parents tank water and same temp and raise them in that with an established sponge filter.

If they are new parents and have never spawned they could eat the fry. Males don't partake in fry care. They mainly guard their territory.


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## NiagaraTap (Jan 28, 2012)

I've separated the remaining 8 fry into a 20 gallon breeder tank. the mother was doing a fine job and paps did his best keeping the smaller male away; but, slowly the smaller male has picked off a bunch and the rest perhaps have died from other causes. especially in the last few days since the lot of them started free swimming. its hard to feed them in a 50 gallon tank too. the 8 i have left seem to be healthy and are eating baby brine shrimp. i think i'll know in a month how many will survive. 

the parents are already showing behavior to breed again now that the fry have been removed. so far 6.5 ph give or take .1 and a temp of 80-82F and normal apisto care has been perfect for these guys. 

i will update you in a month Hornell. cheers!


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## NiagaraTap (Jan 28, 2012)

thanks Tropicana, much appreciated.

i don't have a smaller tank on hand than the 20 gallon. is it still possible to raise them in this?

I don't have any live food on hand either. ive been feeding them frozen baby brine. i think these 8 were the ones smart enough to eat it and NOT die. i will purchase a food culture this weekend for the future batches of fry.


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## Tropicana (Feb 15, 2009)

It is possible, just hope they are good parents and dont see them as a food item after a few days lol. Live food is a must for apistos, they will definitely eat it. The frozen bbs is a good attempt, rare for fry to eat it though.

Good luck!


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## matti2uude (Jan 10, 2009)

Any update on your fry?


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## NiagaraTap (Jan 28, 2012)

all 8 are doing good and growing. very active bunch and grazing non stop along the bottom. 

ive started feeding live baby brine but they also dont seem to have mind the frozen baby brine before. i was told i will get better results with live food. so i have done so. the difference doesnt make sense to me... in the wild these fish usually stay near the sand and sift it through their gills for food (alive or dead) as a main source. the fry seem to do the same. they'll eat any food small enough once it hits bottom. although, with the live baby brine they will swim up into the open to get. 

will be ready to go around August im thinking.


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## NiagaraTap (Jan 28, 2012)

April 06, 2012. my cam isn't clear.


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## NiagaraTap (Jan 28, 2012)

April 13, 2012.

A second batch of fry have been produced. i managed to get 20 or so into the breeder tank with the 8 slightly older fry. they seem to getting along fine. one tried eating a small guy and failed but it still died. the others dont seem to be bothering them. hopefully they will grow quick enough to not become dinner for the larger fry. only about a months difference in age i think. looks like come August I will have a bunch of these guys ready to go.

these fish breed like rabbits!

*Question:* is weird that both males paired up with one female? i mean both seem to be around her and both seem to protect the breeding pot and fry when they aren't chasing away each other.

the smaller male is more colourful and is not shy at all when im around the tank. i hope he has successfully gotten himself in there . if not i will use a female from the fry to pair with him so i can keep the strains longer from inbreding. is it possible to pair a younger fish with an older fish?


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## george (Apr 11, 2009)

I don't think that its not impossible for a female to pair with 2 males. The same thing goes for a male to pair with 2 females. In the end, it survival of the fittest.

It is possible to pair a parent with a children, in fact many breeders do that if they look to accentuate a specific treat in one of the parents.


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