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Apistogramma cacatuoides Orange Flash Male and Female (with fry)
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| Apistogramma cacatuoides Orange Flash |
| OverView |
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This is one of the
prettiest color variations of this popular cichlid. Males are 2", females a little smaller. The first few dorsal rays become very elongated in the males, less so in the females. If you have been told these can be sexed by the dark bar on the ventral fin for female, no luck. They do not have any dark bars on the ventral fin or anywhere else. It has all been bred out. Females will take on a yellowish coloration when ready to spawn. At least mine do.
I traded for these and have had several spawns. Mine are in soft water, neutral pH, and a TDS of under 150. I do have a truly mean 'black widow' female. Every spawn gets the male killed. My pH creeps up and seems to give me extra males. Right now my first female is on her 4th male. I think this male suspects death is near. After 3 weeks he still refuses to spawn with her.
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| Housing and Breeding |
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Basic Apistogramma breeding setup
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This is a picture of my basic setup for spawning the different Apistogrammas. I use a 10 gallon tank. If I had the space I would use a 20 long to help out the fighting after the spawning. This tank has gravel, lots of plants, a heater set at 78F, a sponge filter with moderate bubbling and lots and lots of caves. My water is already soft so it is ready for the fish.
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| Foods |
| Adult fish are fed live blackworms, daphnia, lots of baby brine shrimp,
mosquito larvae, and frozen brine shrimp. Only a little flake food. Not
all at the same time, of course.I feed blackworms for conditioning breeders. Frozen brine shrimp about every other day. Mosquito larvae
and daphnia are fed when available. Live adult brine shrimp when I have raised up enough. This diet will keep them breeding on a regular basis. |
| The only way to keep the female from killing my male is to get him out as soon as the spawn is done. Not always the easiest thing to time up. And he can be tough to catch without trashing the tank When I can manage it, he will go into a spare 2 1/2 or 5 gallon tank for a couple of weeks. Once the eggs hatch and the fry get up to about 1/2" I will move at least some of them to a tank to grow up in. Takes quite a few tries to get them all caught. When I do get the female and the youngsters apart, I give the female a couple of days to eat and take life easy. Then the male goes back in. Sometimes it is easier to catch the female and move her to another tank and let the fry grow up in the original spawning tank. Whatever works is fine with me. |
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Apistogramma cacatuoides Orange Flash - checking out the camera.
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Apistogramma cacatuoides Orange Flash - Free swimming fry
Sexing out youngsters Apistogramma cacatuoides Orange Flash
Apistogramma cacatuoides Orange Flash. Male with huge finnage.
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