PVAS BAP
07-02-2021
by Dave McGrew
Last year, we bought four young Electric Blue Acaras for a good deal at our LFS. They were a few months away from spawning size, but we enjoyed keeping them and watching them mature.
It turned out that we had the good fortune of coming up with two pairs. One pair finally spawned, and Ben pulled the eggs, and earned his BAP with a lovely batch. We grew the fry out, selling them off as soon as stores would allow them to move. Eventually, we gave the bonded pair to a highschool class room.
They grew out there and by the school year’s end, they were moved on to a massive 120 gal. aquarium at our local hospital Cancer Treatment Center that I helped plant and stock.
Now, the remaining pair looked like they were readying to spawn a number of times, but we never seemed to find success. Meanwhile, in another tank, a violent drama was beginning to unfold. Our Threadfin Acaras (Geophagus / Acarichthys heckelii) were maturing to breeding size, and suddenly a switch filpped and they turned on each other. One was severly injured before I could isolate and treat in a quarantine context. Long story short, after a few weeks of treatments, it was moved in with the Electric Blue Acara tank. Unfortunately, fungus was setting in on its injuries. So I began a treatment of API Fungus Cure — which treats with active ingredients acriflavine and malachite (Victoria) green. And suddenly, as if on cue, the EBA pair started spawning.
On May 16, 2021 I pulled the shell they spawned on, and suspended in a Lee’s large specimen container, hung inside the tank with an air bubbler. The fry hatched and were free-swimming by May 23, 2021.
But the adult Acaras spawned again, and I pulled a second time. Long story short, I had a double-header of free-swimming fry by May 31, 2021
I set up the specimen containers with sponge filters and added java moss and water lettuce to help stabilize the environment. By June 9, 2021 they could take finely crushed flake food.
Regular water changes were vital. I replaced 16 oz. of water every other day or so with clean, R.O. sourced bottled water.
On June 20, 2021, I moved all fry to a 55 gal grow-out aquarium cleared just for them. Here is a video of moving the 1st batch...
The fry soon began to grow, and really took control of the large space. They share the aquarium with a newly hatched batch of Bristlenose Pleco fry (with parents).
Their current grow out tank parameters definitely reflect heavy stocking:
pH - 6.8
Ammonia - 0.25 ppm
Nitrite - 0 ppm
Nitrate - 80+ ppm (yikes!)
The Nitrate was a swift prompt for water change, and more frequent changes going forward. The fry eat a mixture of finely broken up flake food, pellets ground to powder with a mortar and pestle, and live baby brine shrimp. I forsee the ned to divide portions of these EBAs into separate tanks in the not too distant future. Fortunately, I am learning how to effectively ship fish. I assume I’ll need to move most of them using online auction sites. They sure are a show-stopping fish!
Thanks!