Comparability Lose For Parachromis

[Roger Mcfish]

Grew out a group of parachromis multifaciatus and re-homed all once the dominant male found his female. Never bred but would swim side by side.

Now I've tried experimenting with adjusting pH in comparison to rainy seasons with lowering temp and not really active between the both. Tried raising temps to 82 degrees as a few breeders have had success and even watching and hearing GuapoteMels old videos how his cichlids would spawn at 82-84 degrees. This is a no no as the male would aggressively chase the female and I would have to gradually lower temp to 78 degrees and he would calm down.

They seem to tolerate each other and eat a pretty high protein diet and get 80% weekly water changes in a 125 gallon.

They don't seem interested in trying to breed. Is this a possibility that they aren't compatible as a pair?

 

[HUKIT]

How old and what size are they? It’s been quite a few years that I kept them as they were loisellei back then and the male was close to 6” and the female was under 5” so I was surprised they were relatively small when they started. I’m in the northwest suburbs of Chicago with hard water, PH is 8.2, KH and GH are around 300ppm. You mentioned PH what is your coming out of the tap at? All my tanks are 79.5-82F. I did have to have a hide for the female to escape the male. I kept mine in a 150g and the male never killed her but he could absolutely be rough so the hide was a safety precaution.

 

[Roger Mcfish]

How old and what size are they? It’s been quite a few years that I kept them as they were loisellei back then and the male was close to 6” and the female was under 5” so I was surprised they were relatively small when they started. I’m in the northwest suburbs of Chicago with hard water, PH is 8.2, KH and GH are around 300ppm. You mentioned PH what is your coming out of the tap at? All my tanks are 79.5-82F. I did have to have a hide for the female to escape the male. I kept mine in a 150g and the male never killed her but he could absolutely be rough so the hide was a safety precaution.

If I had to guess, the male is about 6.5-7 inches and female is 5 inches. Got them in April 2025.
My tap water source is 7.2 ph, and barely readable gh and kh (2 drops using API liquid kit for kh/gh test tube) and TDS is 65ppm.

I use buffers that keeps the tank at 7.8 ph, 8 gh and 8 kh plus TDS at close to 200ppm.

I've tried less buffers to soften water with lower temps at 74 degrees and even tried at 82-84 degrees but the male would get aggressive with chasing at higher temps. Temps under 78 degrees, he's chill.


The female has her hide also. She utilizes the left side of the tank.

 

[HUKIT]

How was their bond before you pulled the other fish? I try to wait until I see breeding behavior or eggs before I remove the other fish. This has positive and negative results as leaving the others too long could result in deaths of fish but the bond is typically very strong.

The temperature change along with large water change using slightly cooler, softer water could trigger them but sounds like you’ve tried that.

 

[Roger Mcfish]

How was their bond before you pulled the other fish? I try to wait until I see breeding behavior or eggs before I remove the other fish. This has positive and negative results as leaving the others too long could result in deaths of fish but the bond is typically very strong.

The temperature change along with large water change using slightly cooler, softer water could trigger them but sounds like you’ve tried that.

They started stressing out the last female with aggressive chasing to a point the unpaired female would hide behind the outlets of my fx6.
Right the male and female are calm because the temps are sitting currently at 74 degrees and the male isn't chasing and they're just regularly swimming together. He's even dug 2 pits and she'll lay in the pits but no eggs and no breeding.