Tetracanthus Nandopsis (Cuban) breeding help

[chevylife]

Good evening MFK, I have pair of cuban cichilids that have done some serious courting (breeding dress, tubes down, fat bellies, chasing, lip locking) but she has yet to lay her eggs! These two seem to be getting along great dispite the aggressive courting, but what could be the reason for her not laying eggs? They have been digging and making nests, I've added strawberry pots for them to hide in and a 50% water change. A friend of mine, told me to try and follow the 50% WC with 10% WC daily to simulate the flood season and see if that helps. Any other suggestions?

Here's some additional info on this particular tank:

Tank size - 6 foot 140 gallon

Tankmates -
4 small african cichilids 2-3"(sorry can't remember the name), 3-4" Red Devil, a couple of 2-3" bristlenose plecos and of course the pair. The female is 3.5" and the male is 4".

Water quality -
Ph 7.2ish
Ammonia 0
Nitrites 0
Nitrates ? (waiting on test kit to arrive)

Filtration - 2 Marineland Emporer 400's

Weekly water changes of 40 gallons

 

[aclockworkorange]

Next step would be bumping up the temp a bit and doing the 10% water changes with cold water (to simulate the rainy season like your friend suggested). You could also add a bit of current in the tank with a powerhead, that seems to help too (hopefully you have one laying around).

Also try feeding live food if you have access to anything that's clean. If not, just try meaty food like frozen bloodworms and maybe shrimp/krill.
Sometimes these things just take time. Since they're showing all the breeding behavior it may just take a while. Hope this helps.

 

[jworth]

The best advice is to let them do their thing naturally. She WILL lay those eggs so I wouldnt advise changing too much of the environment. You should be feeding a quality food such as Hikari or NLS. You could drop the tank temperature a tad but honestly they will do it on their own in time. The pair I had spawned once a month like clock work!

 

[chevylife]

I currently have the tank at 82 degrees and don't plan to change anything else other than the frequent WC's. I guess I'll just have to wait for nature to do it's thing. I just didn't know if anyone else had a tough time getting Cubans to spawn. I'm already raising some Dovii in my 300g and the other pair just layed eggs today, so I guess it's not a bad thing having to wait since I have to watch so many kids already. lol