Can't make my pair breed again

sebasmondoux

Jack Dempsey
MFK Member
Nov 21, 2011
137
1
33
29
Canada - Quebec
Hello everyone :)

I have a pair of Texas Cichlid. December 2014 I got my first spawn. Not successful.
January 2015, 2nd spawn. didn't even notice untill I saw fry moving around near their cave.
They all died because the cave was on the glass and gravel arround it, the fry went under the sides of the cave and got stucked there. None survived. so i decided to vacum clean the gravel, so I moved the cave out. Parents still thinking babies were still alive I think since they were protecting it a bit.
Once eveything was cleaned. The temper of the male changed drastically. Mayve he wanted to breed right away but the female wasnt ready ? He was chansing he in the tank, attacking he. Back from work I found my female in a very bad state. ( see attached picture )
I then used a seperator to keep them seperate, duh. I even put the male in another tank for a while. Until all wounds were healed completely. more than 2 months has past. She's all recovered. I try reintroduce the male in her tank. She was scared of him, but curious at the same time. He chased her again, she has little bits of her tail bitten but nothing alarming. What is wrong guys ? Does the male thinks that the female killed all the babies so he dislike her (lol) ? I really don't know what to do to make them a happy couple again ! :(
You can see other pictures of them when they were protecting eggs / fry.

Aquarium -> 30 gal, two HOBs, Ac50 fluval c3, temp 75.

Thanks :)

20150311_212123.jpg 20141130_214812.jpg 20141205_171259.jpg 20150101_203647.jpg
 

YankeeJack

Blue Tier VIP
MFK Member
Mar 3, 2013
792
866
430
USA
Nice pair in that second picture. Whew, the female got whooped in that first pic, good thing you separated them.

The male is just acting normally .... and the female obviously isn't ready. The 30 gallon tank is a little small .... but can be done. I would recommend a lot of potential hiding places for the female. She needs places to get out of site and away from the male, until she is ready to spawn again. I also recommend some dither fish --- to distract the male from the female ... just one or two other fish.

What is your set up ---- is it just a bare tank with gravel and the single cave?
 

sebasmondoux

Jack Dempsey
MFK Member
Nov 21, 2011
137
1
33
29
Canada - Quebec
I changed my setup alot since. At first It was only "breeding tank" so not much effort in decoration lol. But why not make it look nice ? or try lol .
30g.jpg

Ditter fish were two silver dollar, now 4 red jewels. They are passive for now, if that change I got an 80gal.
 
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