Fish pairs, possibility of breaking their bond & nitrate questions.

Ok. I have a "pair" of WC 7-8 inch festae. I quote it because they have been on and off for about a month now, in a 265, basically by themselves (there are 4 other fish, but they pay them no mind).

They go into full breeding colors, dance, have moved all the sand in my tank from the bottom to the front, moved rocks etc, yet havent laid eggs. I do weekly water changes, temp is kept between 79-82 and parameters are exactly where they should be, usually. Doing a water test Sunday, the nitrates were between 80-100, so I did a 70% water change and brought them down to about 30 and will be (possibly) doing a water change again tomorrow to lower them even more.

I have no explanation for the sudden rise in the nitrates. the tank has a 5 inch pictus, 5 inch syno, 5 inch dovii, 4 inch convict and 2 7-8 inch festae. They are fed once a day, alternating between earthworms, market shrimp, mealworms, cichlid gold, bloodworms, peas and more. Never enough to last even 30 seconds without getting eaten. The tank has a 40 gallon sump with a 1400gph pump, 1 wek old filter pads and bio-balls filling both corner overflows and the sump.

Since the water change, the male has been pissy and chasing the female violently. They went back into breeding colors and were dancing a little, then a few minutes later, the male had her pinned back in the top corner.

My questions:

Did doing the water change "break" the bond, or can it? or do the fish pair for life?

if they pair back up like they were, should i wait until the eggs are laid (if they are) to change the water again? will 20-30 nitrate keep the eggs from living or hatching?

Sorry for the long winded explanation, I was just trying to think of everything I ask people when they have questions or anything you guys might need to know to answer properly.

Thanks for any help.

I forgot to say that she was flaring when I got in front of their little section they hang out in. She normally doesnt look like that unless they are flirting with each other. I have pictures from right then of her literally banging the glass trying to get at me. When she isnt pissy like that, she is normal looking. Yes, she did have somewhat of a sunken stomach when I got her (which was about a week before these pictures), but she is plump now. Ill post some more recent pics. These are from about 3 weeks ago.

steelayer;3108222; said:

Im sorry I cant anwser your ? but wow those are really nice looking fish thanks for posting the pictures!

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Thanks!

Modest_Man;3108393; said:

My mentality is the more water changes the better, even with eggs/wrigglers/fry.

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I agree, I just noticed that their "bond" seemed to break when I did the change and stressed them out...because they began fighting, lost all the breeding colors and havent been the same since. Think thats a possibility?

Otherone;3108660; said:

I'd test the tap water for nitrates - your water company may have started using chloramine to help the chlorine fight bacteria. Chlorimines put high doses of nitra in your tank. You'll need to switch to a chloramine/chlorine conditioner- it's the future for all of use. Another possibilty is the water you add is not the same temp as the tank. I've known some people to fill 50% of large tanks with outside hoses, the temp of the outside water was 55 degrees this huge temp drop destroys the cycle colonies.If non of the above and your sure there's no dead rotting fish in the tank it's mechanical failure- you'll need to fix your filtration system.

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Yep, it was none of the above. Tap water is under 5 ppm, water is from faucet at the same temp as tank temp, filtration system is running perfect and if anything, might be a tad to strong, pumpwise. Your suggestion about a dead fish might be what it is, but I cant see how, if so. Im missing a jag from about...3 months ago. He was about 3-4 inches long and just disappeared. I wrote it off as him being eaten by a larger trimac or carpintis I had in the tank with the festae until they started trying to spawn. Maybe hes in the bio-balls hidden, because Ive looked and dont see him. I would think if it were in the bio-balls, it would have been broken down by now with the amount of water that goes over them hourly.

Thanks for the responses. Ill post some newer pics tonight when I get home!

Ive had the male for over a year and just got the female...so she might still not understand or be happy shes in a tank now.

I know Im rushing it, just trying to get fry to put in a 1/2 acre pond by themselves to let them grow until Sept 1st...and Ive got about 2 weeks for it to happen. Already have about 1500 RTM fry (F2) going in a pond by themselves and possibly Dovii, just dont know if I want to have that many big Dovii since they get so large and not many have the tanks big enough to keep them happy (at least around here).

Consensus seems to just go ahead and do the water changes, so I guess I will when I get home...and get those nitrates down to 0 or close.

If youre interested in some RTMs or festae (if they spawn) in september, head south to the coast and ill hook you up. The supposed rate of survival for fry in these ponds, according to the schools aqua tech program, is about 50% (the other 50% to predation, natural occurrences etc). At least for the koi, brim, trout, catfish and bass they raise. My buddy just filled the ponds Monday...and by September, the should be at least 3 inches, rtm's probably bigger.

Thanks again for the help!