Spawns in a community tank

[steph]

Hi all

I have 2 spawns and some eggs in my community tank (must be spring!!)

My trio of A. baenschi have both spawned, the dominant female is on her second or third spawn, but this time has successfully defended some fry to the point they are 4 - 5mm long. The secondary female has fry - she dug under a rock in the far corner of the tank - cant tell how many! and my A. agassizi tefe has eggs - whether or not she produces fry is another story!

I have too many other fish in the tank so I dont think my survival rate will be high.

Unfortunately i dont have anywhere to set up another tank at the moment for raising the fry so they will just have to be tough! Survival of the fittest in action.

CHeers

Steph

[BigDaddyAdo]

What else is in the tank?

[steph]

Hi

Its a standrd 4 ft, heavily planted with crypts and java fern. Other occupants are some tetras, sperpae, black neons, congo, 2 large siamese algae eaters(real ones), 4 rainbow fish. The algae eaters, the rainbow fish and the congo tetras are all on me "must get rid of" list - when I find some time.

On the interesting side, I have a trio of A.baenschi and a pair of A.agassizi tefe. The three females have divided the tank, the tiny aggie gets about 1/5th, the dominant baenschi gets half and the other baenschi gets the rest. The males have plenty to do chasing bigger fish and I dont see any undue aggression between the girls, except the aggies really arent as aggressive as the baenschi. THe dominant female bosses EVERYONE..

Steph

[Robdog]

Long time between posts Steph! Good to see you still in the apisto habit.:thumb

Must be good seeing all the action in your tank. :shock: Can't beat those nijsseni species for tank dominance :lol:

[Hassles]

Steph

I want / need / require, beg for (crawl grovel plead wimper) some of your baenschi - pleeease

let me know, My girl has been much too lonely for much too long.

sincere regards

Hassles

[steph]

Two weeks on and both female baenschi are still escorting fry in the community tank.

I finally saw the sub-dominant females brood tonight and she had at least 10 at a quick count. The dominant female has only 2 or 3 that I can see but looks like she is digging in the pots again - she is still in spawning colours. Has anyone ever seen Apisto's do the generational thing ? I would say the fry are still a bit too small to make it on their own yet.

ciao

steph