Spawning Question

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
S

sbrady5pts

Plecostomus
MFK Member
Jun 7, 2008
416
63
61
long island
I want to start off by saying that my festae pair is driving me CRAZY!:irked:

My female has been displaying for the male over the last few days and the male has been showing minimal interest. He usually stays in his cave and occasionally swims by her and puffs up his gills.


All day today my female has been displaying her oviposter and going crazy. And now she just laid a few eggs(Maybe by accident?) and the male is still only showing minimal interest. He has not displayed any vertical bars and does not stay by her cave. He just swims by lightly bites her, puffs up his gills and swims away.

Has anyone ever had a male not interested like this? Any suggestions on what to do? I am guessing she is going to lay a ton of eggs tonight and nothing is going to come of it.
 
Yea, good luck with that. It took my 2nd pair 3 yrs and 6 wild females before I had any fry...and every single time they acted like they were about to.

Better get comfortable, find something to do for the next long while and just forget about them. Thats when it will happen...when you just dont care anymore.:nilly:
 
So do you think I do not have have a true "bonded" pair? Should I find comparable sized males and females and reintroduce everyone? MY LFS has a few females that are same size, but I think my problem is that my male is a dud. Do you think he just does not like this female? or should I try to add additional males
 
It is hard to get festae to bond. Many people are fortunate with just two festae and they bond over time. Most festae do not like to be forced to be a pair. One should always start out with a good number of festae and let them bond on their own. What I do is take three males and 12 females and place them in a 125 with diters. The average person may not have that many festae. So, depending on your tank size and the amount of festae you want, Adjust the male to female ratio. You can try to add more now. However, The problem you may run into is that she is full of eggs now. She will be in a killing mood towards other females. She may try to kill other males that she is not interested in as well. Also your male may not be a dud. He just may not be interested in that particular female. I hope you have a lot of patience. Your going to need them. Happy Spawning!:)
 
I started out with 6 juvies and they seamed to pair off because they were less tolerant of the other 4, but now he has just become less interested in her. I am thinking about adding the other females and maybe searching for a male as well.

By adding additional fish, do you think I could ruin the "bond" they have so far?
 
How big and how old are they? The way you described your male's behavior towards her doesn't sound like much of a bond anyway. Also he may not be sexually mature yet. Are they siblings?
 
they are 7-8 inches, maybe 2 years old. (not 100% sure, i have a bad memory) I am not sure if they are siblings as I bought 3 Juvies from 2 different vendors. I think I am going to add 3 Females and a few other mid sized cichlids and see what happens. I figure if they are a pair they will kill off everything else
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
MonsterFishKeepers.com
Top Bottom