Breeding Advice - Aggressive Female
- Thread starter Filsby
- Start date
Its really important that you introduce them properly. They should be in the same tank but separated with a divider that they can see each other through. I will often leave them separated until I see a tube on the female drop. Sometimes this only takes a week or two but other times it can take much longer. When I first introduce a male and female I keep a very close eye on them for the next 12-72 hours making sure any aggression they show to each other ends quickly. If the female is paired with the male you should see them getting along and eggs fairly quickly. Its worth mentioning, your male is really close in size to your female. This is often not a good situation. In the perfect world your male would be at least two or three times the size of your female. If the male can't take the dominant role then your female might not breed with him OR she might just kill him. If i were you I would give these two time to get accustomed to each other and also allow your male to get larger in size.
I have a seven inch King Kamfa female that was a glass banger for the last owner and nearly killed two of his males, so I put her with my eleven inch big boy male and she has dropped eggs for him twice already.
Nice looking fish!
Thanks for the advice. I do not want anything unfortunate to happen to either of my fish, so I think I will take your advice and wait to put them together until my male is larger. When I do introduce them I will also ensure they have plenty of time to get to know each other safely with a divider in place.
Any recommendations on how to build or where to get a sturdy divider? I have a couple I have previously made out of eggcrate/lighting diffuser, but I have heard acrylic dividers may be a better option.
Thanks for the advice. I do not want anything unfortunate to happen to either of my fish, so I think I will take your advice and wait to put them together until my male is larger. When I do introduce them I will also ensure they have plenty of time to get to know each other safely with a divider in place.
Any recommendations on how to build or where to get a sturdy divider? I have a couple I have previously made out of eggcrate/lighting diffuser, but I have heard acrylic dividers may be a better option.
Always best to have a male larger than the female. Here's a little fish psychology I've experimented with: I've had an overly aggressive female that was close in size to the male and I didn't have the patience to grow out the male so I used a rod to poke & pushed the female around (no harm done) and put a little scare into her. This went on for 3 days where I would remove the divider and each time she became the aggressor, into the tank went the poking rod. She eventually tired and succumbed to the male. Once rested, I reintroduced the rod and the pair attacked it...that was when I knew they had paired.
Warning, must have patience and keep that divider nearby until you know for sure the pair get along.
Warning, must have patience and keep that divider nearby until you know for sure the pair get along.
I use egg crate but I wrap it in screen and use hot glue around all of the edges to seal in in place I also use a dremel to sand down any kind of sharp edge on the crate. I just buy the screen (the same used for screened in porches and patios) from my local hardware store. I get the stuff that has a very glossy/silky feel to it that way I know that if my male and female are rubbing against it, trying to get to each other, they won't injure themselves. I had a bad experience a few years back when I was using just egg crate and an aggressive male attacked the crate and broke it which fatally cut him, and almost caused me to lose a precious female. Since I started wrapping the egg crates with screen I have yet to have any problem ,even with insanely aggressive males. I then use rock and shower suction cups to keep the devisers in place.
We're all waiting for his response.
I can't upload pictures from phone but in comparison to how he does his dividers (which is smarter/more work to put together).
I use the same egg crate light fixtures. Mine come from Home Depot. I did not sand mine down so unfortunately, there are jagged edges. I use suction cups from heaters to hold in place.
None of my males have been big enough to break the dividers. I slant the upper part of divider so the female can swim over top of it.
At most the female is 3/5 male's size.
Forget what you read about a male not liking a female.
You may need to take one out of the tank for a week or two due to aggression. Despite that I go straight to the slanted divider method even if the male goes biserk, she'll go back to her side.
Her space should be no more than 20-25% of the space the male gets.
That tempts her to come to his side more. Ime. The greatest seducer for this method is a blood parrot.
Best results manifest from introducing once her tube comes down.
Most recently, I had my 7 inch male KK and 4.75 inch female Thai Silk in a 55 for a week.
She was too scared to eat. I put her in my 40 gallon for a week. Introduced him once her tube showed. Gradually, he allowed her on his side of divider more and more. After 3 days they are together doing the breeding shake.
