# Please help breeding Blue Acaras! (Aequidens Pulcher)



## cichlidiot75 (Feb 22, 2005)

Hi,

Yesterday my Blue Acaras had layed some eggs, and this morning they were all gone, probably eaten by my Sailfin Pleco. I need some advice on how to prevent this from happening, there's a couple of options I'm considering:

1. Remove the eggs. Is this safe, eggs without the parents in an empty growout tank (with water of course :lol: )? Does this need any special care?
2. Remove the Pleco. Shouldn't be a problem if Blue Acaras are both a good parent.
3. Anything else?

Population of my tank:
1 pair of semi-adult Apistogramma sp "Opal"
1 Cardinal tetra (will probably be eaten later this month by the Acaras  )
1 Sailfin Pleco, 8 inch
1 pair Blue Acara, a.k.a Aequidens Pulcher sp. "Orinoco"
1 female apistogramma agassizii


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## TheFishGuy (Apr 21, 2005)

Pairs in community settings rarely succeed. If you want the fry then they need their own tank. A 20 long should suffice.

You've listed the stock of your tank but not the size.

And most definately the sailfin got to them, they can be pushy. I've got a "dog tame" 13 incher who loves fresh eggs.

You can incubate the fry but the parents will do a much better job :thumb: So if you're willing to do all the work involved with raising the fry, then why not set up a small tank for the pair... Less work, more fish!


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## cichlidiot75 (Feb 22, 2005)

Thanks! Well it was Pushy Sailfin vs. Aggro Cichlids indeed. Are there Pleco types will not eat eggs or try coming close? Bristlenose maybe?

I will not incubate the eggs then, and sell the sailfin and get a smaller vacuum cleaner fish. The footprint of my tank is 45" by 18", around 30 gallon. The Acaras won't have any trouble protecting fry against the Apistos, that's for sure.

Another question: What color have fertilized eggs of the Blue Acara?


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## jcushing (Apr 6, 2008)

im sorry, i know this is OT, but why the 1 cardinal tetra? were the others eaten? as you already mentioned that one tetra is living on borrowed time.


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## saorsa (Nov 29, 2007)

You could always leave a LITTLE light on in the room with the tank, so that the acara's can protect the eggs at night.
I leave the blinds in the room with the tank open at night, it lets a little light in from the street to stop the eggs being eaten from the plec.


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## cichlidiot75 (Feb 22, 2005)

saorsa said:


> You could always leave a LITTLE light on in the room with the tank, so that the acara's can protect the eggs at night.
> I leave the blinds in the room with the tank open at night, it lets a little light in from the street to stop the eggs being eaten from the plec.


Good tip, thanks!


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## cichlidiot75 (Feb 22, 2005)

jcushing said:


> im sorry, i know this is OT, but why the 1 cardinal tetra? were the others eaten? as you already mentioned that one tetra is living on borrowed time.


I had a group of 8 tetras, a pair of Agassizii and 5 juvenile Geophagus Redhead, and a juvenile Sailfin Pleco. All was fine. 
When the Geo's grew to sub-adults, two tetras were missing. I decided feeding them more often and all was fine. 
Since no pair of Redheads were formed before they outgrew the tank, I sold all 5 of them. I bought two juvenile Blue Acaras, 1.5" in size and a pair of Apistogramma sp. "Opal" . Within two minutes after introduction, the male Acara started bullying all other fish except the Tetras. The male Agassizii put up a huge fight and died two weeks later. 
Nothing serious happened after that until the Acaras were sub-adults and started picking off the Tetras one by one. The sales rep at the fish store said that the Acaras would leave the Tetras alone, but no. They don't. Fortunately the Acaras get along really well with the new Apistos because they were introduced together.


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## jcushing (Apr 6, 2008)

sorry you got such crappy advice, im thinkin of making my spare tank a blue acara setup but wasnt thinking at all about it being "community" this just confirms that.


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## cichlidiot75 (Feb 22, 2005)

Oh well. A community tank is possible, no problem. But with Blue Acaras there's a couple of rules to stick to: small fish = food and small cichlids = toys :lol:


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