Separate pregnant females!

[Thekid]

I'm reading my original post and I'm coming across like an alarmist. I was a bit "emo" when I shared. It's not a written in stone rule to separate but I think we should always keep a close eye on pregnant females. A couple bites here and there are business as usual, but when the males are outright trying to breed with pregnant females (trying to flip) that's when I suggest you divide when possible. I think Vamp lost a litter from this also. This pair has been fine together in past breeding. but the last two times the male has been impatient and trying to breed during late stage pregnancy. I actually think the female wanted to breed. they would bang the divider together, one pushing high the other pushing low. Smart creatures indeed.



Jim please tell us more if you're comfortable. this gives me some concern. I'm sorry if I missed a thread about it. I've had some males get so into breeding that they quit eating while they are attempting.



Dave just something to keep an eye on. Females are tough, I'd just keep an eye out for direct breeding activity. I travel so much for business between our homes that sometimes it's just my lady sending me videos or brother taking care of things. not keeping a direct eye on things or paying enough attention to changes in behavior. Plus, they don't have the "eye" for things that I do. I"m working on setting up some webcams. Anybody know about wifi underwater webcams?

vincentwugwg has some webcams.

 

[Dieselhybrid]

On a brighter note we had the first nice day in a while here. Did some hiking in Nisqually refuge. The deer are from the woods out front of the house

 

[Dieselhybrid]

Males sure can be tough on females, no doubt about it. My one male is relentless going after my females but luckily in the past, once they were pregnant he would leave the females alone. Once I saw movement in the females back I would separate her. This last time he bred her, which was about a month and a half ago, he did the same exact thing. He left her completely alone after the deed was done and they were acting fine. Out of no where he started going after her again non stop to the point where she stopped feeding so I separated her. It took her about 10 days for her to start eating again. I have no idea why he just started going after her out of the blue like that. Do you think that her going off her feed for 10 days or so has made her abort the pups? She didn't give birth to anything and she is still fat but I haven't seen movement and really didn't expect to see anything until another month or so.

I think that you would see the fetuses if she aborted. Did you see anything abnormal in the tank?

 

[jim barry]

Hi mate
I lost my male in a normal breeding attempt. The female was not pregnant at the time. Just one extremely horny male that got unlucky and was stabbed in a vital organ. He lasted a week and sadly passed away.
I have always divided females apart from 2 times. First time the female gave birth sooner than expected, the week I was going to separate her she had 4 healthy pups ( worth noting that the only male in the tank had just died at this point so only females in the tank). Second time I did not separate as the male was dead so I did not bother as the other female had just given birth ok. But this other female gave birth to 6 pups and only one survived. I can't say for sure if she was stressed by anything (no male in the tank remember) and it was this females first pregnancy. But I will deffo separate from now on.
The female and male definitely sulk when separated though, go off food and spend the entire time nudging at the divider trying to be with each other, but it is for the good of the mother and pups!