New Geo Tapajos Fry

[Dave62]

Woke up this morning and my wife says 'what are all those little things in your aquarium?' Lo and behold unbeknownst to me my Tapajos had laid eggs which have hatched. Now I have about 50 little free swimming fry. I had always thought when my Tapajos reached maturity I would try this, but am totally unprepared for this. I guess I shouldn't be surprised, I raised the temperature a few weeks ago to around 84 for my new discus. That probably put the Geo's in breeding mode? Anyway, I have some reading to do now! Any suggestions would be appreciated. See pictures of the little cuties below.

 

[tlindsey]

Woke up this morning and my wife says 'what are all those little things in your aquarium?' Lo and behold unbeknownst to me my Tapajos had laid eggs which have hatched. Now I have about 50 little free swimming fry. I had always thought when my Tapajos reached maturity I would try this, but am totally unprepared for this. I guess I shouldn't be surprised, I raised the temperature a few weeks ago to around 84 for my new discus. That probably put the Geo's in breeding mode? Anyway, I have some reading to do now! Any suggestions would be appreciated. See pictures of the little cuties below.

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Congrats!
Just let the parents take care of them and crumble up some flake or pellet for the fry to eat.

 

[neutrino]

I bred mine in a community with Heros rotkeil, wild scalare, congo tetras, and an L200 pleco and the parents took good care of them. Eventually they leave the fry on their own, once they get a certain size. At that point I'd siphon them out to go to a grow-out tank. Once they started, mine spawned every few weeks, so I didn't grow out every spawn. Like tlindsey says, I'd crush up some flake or pellet for them-- or freeze dried brine shrimp. Freeze dried brine shrimp easily crushes to powder when it's dry, I've used it for fry of various species-- sometimes after storage for a while it can absorb humidity, so I had a way of drying it out over a toaster for a few seconds to make it powder up again.

Looks like they picked a good spot in your tank.

 

[Dave62]

OK, it's pretty cool watching the parents taking care of their brood (is that the right term?). The male will herd them and sometimes suck them into his mouth. The female also chases down stray little guys, sucks them up, and then spits them back out at the male. Sadly over the course of today the brood has decreased from around 50 or so to maybe 10-15. There are two other Geos in the tank constantly badgering the pair so I think they've picked off some of the fry. They are in a community tank so thinking I should move the fry. I've got a 5 gallon setup now and am going to try to siphon them out. Also picked up some freeze dried baby brine shrimp, and have started some infusoria. I would love to have a couple of these grow out to add to the others.

 

[duanes]

pureeing food and shooting it into the school of free swimmers with a turkey baster or pipette, helps bring food to them and may increase the rate survivors. I often mix flake food with thawed peas, tank water and some algae

 

[Dave62]

Thanks Duanes! I will try that out. Just an update - last night after setting up the fry tank I went to transfer the fry and they were no where to be found. The parents were swimming around eating without any fry. So I was pretty sure all of the fry has been snacked upon. Then about mid-morning today I see a swarm of fry around one of the parents! WTH? So, either the fry were very well hidden or maybe more eggs hatched? Now I'm off to transfer as many as I can catch into the fry tank.

 

[duanes]

Many of these geophagines are mouth brooders, and share duties holding fry. I've had G altifrons parents each take half a spawn in their mouths.
They also are usually pretty good at sequestering fry in pits or other hide outs.


The photos above are Gymnogeophagus but you get the idea.

 

[neutrino]

The red heads will move their fry ime, and the parents sometimes take turns holding them, also. That would be awfully quick to lay a new batch and already have them free swimming. They typically more or less abandon the earlier spawn at a certain size, then begin the cycle again, pre-spawn, spawn, taking up wigglers, etc. Pretty consistent ime and the new cycle doesn't always begin immediately. When I think about it there were also times I'd not see the fry for a while, even a day or so, then have them reappear.

 

[Dave62]

Neutrino There are several rock caves on one side of the tank. Now that I think of it several weeks ago I recall one of the RH digging mouthfuls of sand out of one cave. They hid in their little cave for days, maybe a few weeks. I bet they cleaned the sand down to the glass to lay their eggs. That’s probably were they sequesterEd the fry last night. I setup a 5 gallon tank for them with a sponge filter and siphoned out probably 30 fry today. Feeding them frozen baby brine shrimp from a little plastic medicine syringe. It’s perfect, I inject a fine myst of food right on top of them and they go nuts! Will try mixing in crushed flake and peas tomorrow. how many times a day should I feed them? Somewhere I read as much as 10 times a day when they’re new.

 

[Joshuakahan]

Woke up this morning and my wife says 'what are all those little things in your aquarium?' Lo and behold unbeknownst to me my Tapajos had laid eggs which have hatched. Now I have about 50 little free swimming fry. I had always thought when my Tapajos reached maturity I would try this, but am totally unprepared for this. I guess I shouldn't be surprised, I raised the temperature a few weeks ago to around 84 for my new discus. That probably put the Geo's in breeding mode? Anyway, I have some reading to do now! Any suggestions would be appreciated. See pictures of the little cuties below.

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Congrats!!