Breeding Paratheraps bifasciatus?

[Plum7]

Hi

I have 2 Paratheraps bifasciatus a male at around 10 inches and female 7-8 inches. The temp is at 81 F 27 C. I'm wanting them to just get along and breed if possible, the male is very interested in breeding with her as he keeps chasing the female all over and she hides alot up in the right top corner of the tank by the filter to get away from him. Could she just be not interested in him at all so not a compatible pair? She will come out from time to time and she'll swim shortly with him but then he gets all excited and pushes her back up to her hiding spot. The male's breeding tube has dropped but her's has not so maybe she is not ready to breed? she has some fin and tail damage. Would a water change help or adding more hiding spots for the female help? Female's colors changes all the time sometimes darker with more color and loses black stripe and other times more white and black stripe comes back. Male is the larger more red and yellow one and female is the smaller more white grey looking one.

Just moved them from a 75 gallon to a 200 gallon tank about a week ago so perhaps she is not yet settled in the tank yet? Any info or suggestions would help thanks.

 

[lunsforj]

matter of time

 

[Reiner]

Both fish at least in the angle of the pic have a fairly steep head profile. Are you 100% confident you have a female. Has she been vented, ever laid eggs or ever dropped her tube. Good luck with breeding them.

 

[Plum7]

Both fish at least in the angle of the pic have a fairly steep head profile. Are you 100% confident you have a female. Has she been vented, ever laid eggs or ever dropped her tube. Good luck with breeding them.

Here is a few more pictures of the smaller one. I have no experience in venting and unsure of doing it don't want to stress it out more otherwise i would. It's profile at this angle isn't that steep like the male in the other pics?

Also the bigger more colorful male he has been displaying the typical mating behavior his tube dropped completely and its still dropped and he kisses it and does soft little nips at the small one has been circling her cleaning and moving rocks and shimmying and shaking around the small one ever since they got put in together in this tank, I'm pretty sure if the small one was a male he would not behave like this with his tube dropped but actually fight and bite try to kill it long ago. The supposed female never had laid eggs before nor its tube fully dropped only saw it drop a little once and it looked thicker and red looking but no eggs seen. They were seperated in the 75 gal because the small one would just get beaten hard as not enough room for them there. Just trying to figure out if this one isn't ready to spawn or not compatible with the male and the male keeps pressuring it and chasing it.

 

[Toiletcar]

matter of time

This. It will happen, just give them time.

 

[Patrick Calhoon]

With my large aggressive cichlids I create that perfect size “safe spot” for my girls. Only she can enter that spot, if their size is very close, like yours, I will fill the tank with obstacles, wood or rock, so the sub dominant fish can be protected from direct charges. The relief from harassment will allow her to put on weight and prepare for spawning. Females are worth their weight in gold, protect her, buy a divider so it’s available if needed. Someone else questioned the sexes, if you want to know for sure, net them one at a time, if they look different, they are a pair. Females that haven’t spawned yet can appear surprisingly male. Good luck, they are Beautiful fish!

 

[Plum7]

With my large aggressive cichlids I create that perfect size “safe spot” for my girls. Only she can enter that spot, if their size is very close, like yours, I will fill the tank with obstacles, wood or rock, so the sub dominant fish can be protected from direct charges. The relief from harassment will allow her to put on weight and prepare for spawning. Females are worth their weight in gold, protect her, buy a divider so it’s available if needed. Someone else questioned the sexes, if you want to know for sure, net them one at a time, if they look different, they are a pair. Females that haven’t spawned yet can appear surprisingly male. Good luck, they are Beautiful fish!

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Thanks for the information it really helps. Your female does look similar to mine in shape. Nice fish, When she is charged at she always hides behind the filter to get relief. Its strange though despite being afraid of the male she always seems to swim right back into his territory and just "hangout" there until the male gets all excited and chases her away and she will go hide and repeat. Its almost as if she is just asking to be chased away each time lol. Also i only just moved them into this larger tank about 2 weeks back so i think they have not fully adjusted to it yet and i believe like another poster said to just give them more time. He was more than ready to spawn with her but she was not so i think he was just frustrated and took it out on her. Another option i thought of was to add tankmates for them so it would become a community tank.