breeding pair stopped breeding?

[lksdrinker]

So last April, I met with a local breeder and purchased a breeding pair of red turqs. Brought them home and they almost immediately started laying eggs and doing their thing. Went through eggs, wigglers and free swimming fry multiple times so I have no doubt this is a true pair. Then the summertime months rolled in and the breeding behavior stopped. The breeder who I bought them from says not to worry as his fish always stop breeding throughout the summertime. No big deal as I figured they'd simply pick up where they left off at the end of summer. So here we are now well out of the summertime months and the pair just dont seem interested in even trying anymore! The pair are alone in a barebottom 29 gallon tank that gets daily 50% or so water changes (well I do skip a day here and there). In the past month or two there have been a handful of times when I thought I saw some pre-breeding behavior. One of the fish would gently peck at the cone and/or I'd see a brief shimmy/dance and then a tiny bit of aggression between the fish. But nothing more than that.

I've tried adding in a bit of colder water during water changes but have not tried turning down the heater a bit. My only other thought is to perhaps cut back on the frequency of my water changes in this tank and/or potentially try to start using some RO/DI mixed with tap water. I'm reluctant to start altering the water chemistry though as obviously it was not essential for these fish to breed in the past so why alter what used to work?

Is there anything I should be trying to do differently to wake them back up? Am I just being too impatient and need to keep waiting? Am I foolish for thinking these two relatively young fish (were approx 1 year old when I purchased them) should continue breeding?

[warblad79]

Here's my water blend RO 60% Tap 40% added peat+almond leaves in the aging barrel. 50%-80% WC daily, temp 82F Degrees, feed high protein flakes with earthworm and beefheart, and also dim the light. Every time I follow that routine I can make fish spawn every week without fail.

[Larry Bugg]

It isn't foolish at all to think they will continue to breed. My discus have always stopped breeding in the summer also and it sometimes takes a while for some pairs to start back again. It is a very common occurrence. Patience is indeed the key.

[lksdrinker]

Here's my water blend RO 60% Tap 40% added peat+almond leaves in the aging barrel. 50%-80% WC daily, temp 82F Degrees, feed high protein flakes with earthworm and beefheart, and also dim the light. Every time I follow that routine I can make fish spawn every week without fail.

I'm concerned about altering the parameters only because the fish bred multiple times already in this setup. I'd rather not have to go and start mixing RO and tap water unless its absolutely necessary.


It isn't foolish at all to think they will continue to breed. My discus have always stopped breeding in the summer also and it sometimes takes a while for some pairs to start back again. It is a very common occurrence. Patience is indeed the key.

Thanks Larry....good to know I'm not too crazy yet! Any idea what it is about the summertime that causes the breeding to stop? barometric pressure? humidity levels? My concern is that by the time they start up again, next summer will end up being right around the corner and they'll stop!

[lksdrinker]

Trying as hard as I can to be patient but still no spawning from this pair again. I see the slightest bit of shimmying and shaking once in a while but still no eggs. My plan is to increase the tank temp a few degrees for a few days and then maybe use slightly cooler water during a water change. Sound logical?

[Pardal]

You can also condition them for spawning through food, try FDBW soak on liquid vitamins, spirulina, or SELCO.
White worms, or red wrigglers. basically increased the amount of proteins.
then try different tricks like a simulating a change of season dry to rain.
Stop cleaning for a couple days and then do a WC etc.
Even doing this will take time so yes you have to be patient.
One more question is How old are they?
I had old pairs coming back to breed again , but is kind hard on them and don't last too long afterwards, this is just a thought .

[Kyla]

do u have artificial lights on the tank? how about shortening the lighting period? no idea if this would work, just a suggestion to try to mimic shorter days

[lksdrinker]

You can also condition them for spawning through food, try FDBW soak on liquid vitamins, spirulina, or SELCO.
White worms, or red wrigglers. basically increased the amount of proteins.
then try different tricks like a simulating a change of season dry to rain.
Stop cleaning for a couple days and then do a WC etc.
Even doing this will take time so yes you have to be patient.
One more question is How old are they?
I had old pairs coming back to breed again , but is kind hard on them and don't last too long afterwards, this is just a thought .

I predominantly feed the pair feeze dried blackworms (their a bit picky and wont touch flake food even after a good 5 days of no feedings). But maybe switching up to some live offerings might help. I have tried skipping water changes for 2 or 3 days with not help.

I'd guess each fish is about 2 years old. I got them a little less than 1 year ago and the breeder at that time said they were about 1 year old at that time. When I got them they started breeding almost instantly in my tank and continued with regular spawns for a number of months right up until the summertime.



do u have artificial lights on the tank? how about shortening the lighting period? no idea if this would work, just a suggestion to try to mimic shorter days
I'll try decreasing the total time the lights on this tank are on. There is some ambient light in the room as well as lots of other tanks that have lights over them which indirectly lights this tank though.

[warblad79]

Food is also a big factor, don't just feed FDBW. I feed my breeders all kinds of flakes from beefheart flakes, earthworm flakes, blackworm flakes, liver flakes, spirulina, mysis shrimp and brineshrimp flakes. I giving them a break but they don't stop breeding every week now my 4 tanks is full of fry.

[John_Nicholson]

While any pair can take a break I normally find this to be health related. I pickup quite a few pairs from local people that have done this. In cases they have tried for a couple of years to get them going. Usually after about 90 days of a good beef heart mix twice a day and 50% wc's daily I have fry from them.

-john

[lksdrinker]

Food is also a big factor, don't just feed FDBW. I feed my breeders all kinds of flakes from beefheart flakes, earthworm flakes, blackworm flakes, liver flakes, spirulina, mysis shrimp and brineshrimp flakes. I giving them a break but they don't stop breeding every week now my 4 tanks is full of fry.

These 2 are quite picky. I've got lots of different flake food from ken's fish and they simply wont touch it. I've gone as long as a week or so without feeding and even then they wont eat the flake. They take a nibble and spit it out!


While any pair can take a break I normally find this to be health related. I pickup quite a few pairs from local people that have done this. In cases they have tried for a couple of years to get them going. Usually after about 90 days of a good beef heart mix twice a day and 50% wc's daily I have fry from them.

-john

I honestly dont think I've tried giving the pair beefheart. I'll give it a try and see if they'll go for it. The pair are alone in a bare bottom 29 gallon tank that gets daily water changes of at least 50%. They seem healthy and spawned quite frequently for me for a number of months. The breeder I had purchased them from warned me that his fish typically stopped breeding during the summertime so I expected them to take a break. I just figured it would've started up again by now. I hope its nothing health related as I'm not sure what else I could try doing to keep them any healthier!

[lksdrinker]

Still no activity from my pair. I'm considering trying to add some RODI water to see if that changes anything up. Can I make the switch by just doing a water change and adding in 50% of the new RODI water or will that be too much of a shock to their system? Should I choose to go this route would it be wiser to slowly switch to the RODI water over a period of days/weeks?

[Keith Perkins]

Some will tell you to do it over a number of WCs, I personally wouldn't hesitate to make that switch all at once. I do it fairly regularly and my tap has a TDS of 300+ and high pH.

[delta5]

Try giving them privacy. It did the trick for my pair. I put up white paper towels around the outside of my tank and used tape to hold them in place. I woke up to a batch of eggs the next morning.