Following the loss of my female betta, I acquired 2 weeks ago a couple of Apistogramma Borelli Opal for my 60l tank.
I'm still a pretty inexperienced fish keeper and I have a ton of question.
First of, for info, the tank is heavily planted ; pH 7,5 at rest but injecting with dyi yeast CO2 so pH around neutral during the photoperiod ; kH 3 ; gH 5 ; 23° C ; The tank has been running for a year now, the only other inhabitant are 5 big amanos and Ramshorn snails and there is a half coconut hell in the tank.
Right now I'm only feeding dry and frozen food plus they are constantly hunting baby snail and small organism ( cyclops and really small flatworms from what I've seen ). I want to start culture Grindal worms and I'm gonna try to hatch brine shrimp for the first time, do you have other suggestion of easy livefood culture ? I've tried daphnia without success.
Now first thing the male's body has started to change from maybe 4-5 days ago. For the first week, he did take a lot of weight but now his belly seems less round. Moreover the top of his head as started to become a lot more angular. You can see it in the pictures at the end of the post. I'm maybe paranoiac from the death of my betta but I afraid it could be the first symptoms of a disease, or is it just normal growth ? Sometimes ( rarely ) he shake his dorsal fins really fast which is weird. Except for that they are feeding well and acting very active.
On the other hand if everything is fine, I'm planning on breeding them. I don't want to do it optimally but if I could have some offsprings survive, I would be really happy.
This is were I have a lot of question :
They are somewhat still small, he is maybe 4cm maximum and she is something like 3cm, are they already in age to reproduce ?
Even if she is a lot smaller than him, she is bullying him to which he rarely respond and he even seems to grow a bit afraid of her. Is it possible that she never accept him ?
The bullying is not constant. Sometimes they seem ok together but as soon as there is food in the tank or he tries to display to her ( which he does a lot), she submit him by nipping and tail whipping him.
On the other hand she is really yellow and I've seen her lay on her side to show him her belly one time.
If I get some breeding going, do you think some of the fry could survive on the microfauna of the tank ? I could maybe try culturing infusoria which seem easy.
If I could not go through the hassle of hatching brine shrimp constantly, it would be nice.
What do you think of fry powder ? Is there some that you can recommend ?
And lastly, should I prepare myself to remove the male from the tank when the fry are born ? Or is it possible to let him live his life in the tank ?
Thanks in advance for your responses and as always sorry for the quality of the pictures.
I'm still a pretty inexperienced fish keeper and I have a ton of question.
First of, for info, the tank is heavily planted ; pH 7,5 at rest but injecting with dyi yeast CO2 so pH around neutral during the photoperiod ; kH 3 ; gH 5 ; 23° C ; The tank has been running for a year now, the only other inhabitant are 5 big amanos and Ramshorn snails and there is a half coconut hell in the tank.
Right now I'm only feeding dry and frozen food plus they are constantly hunting baby snail and small organism ( cyclops and really small flatworms from what I've seen ). I want to start culture Grindal worms and I'm gonna try to hatch brine shrimp for the first time, do you have other suggestion of easy livefood culture ? I've tried daphnia without success.
Now first thing the male's body has started to change from maybe 4-5 days ago. For the first week, he did take a lot of weight but now his belly seems less round. Moreover the top of his head as started to become a lot more angular. You can see it in the pictures at the end of the post. I'm maybe paranoiac from the death of my betta but I afraid it could be the first symptoms of a disease, or is it just normal growth ? Sometimes ( rarely ) he shake his dorsal fins really fast which is weird. Except for that they are feeding well and acting very active.
On the other hand if everything is fine, I'm planning on breeding them. I don't want to do it optimally but if I could have some offsprings survive, I would be really happy.
This is were I have a lot of question :
They are somewhat still small, he is maybe 4cm maximum and she is something like 3cm, are they already in age to reproduce ?
Even if she is a lot smaller than him, she is bullying him to which he rarely respond and he even seems to grow a bit afraid of her. Is it possible that she never accept him ?
The bullying is not constant. Sometimes they seem ok together but as soon as there is food in the tank or he tries to display to her ( which he does a lot), she submit him by nipping and tail whipping him.
On the other hand she is really yellow and I've seen her lay on her side to show him her belly one time.
If I get some breeding going, do you think some of the fry could survive on the microfauna of the tank ? I could maybe try culturing infusoria which seem easy.
If I could not go through the hassle of hatching brine shrimp constantly, it would be nice.
What do you think of fry powder ? Is there some that you can recommend ?
And lastly, should I prepare myself to remove the male from the tank when the fry are born ? Or is it possible to let him live his life in the tank ?
Thanks in advance for your responses and as always sorry for the quality of the pictures.
. It's not on the part that's heating and the heater is only running a bit a night right now.
