How do you breeder get the pairs to spawn?

[brewmaster15]

Okay  breeders  share with us your secrets on getting that pair  to spawn.. ... and don't tell me its the music you play, and a candlelite  water change! ;)
-al

Al, most of my pairs spawn on a regular cycle. But I have one or two that need a little help. I know most people use the change in water temperture to bring on spawning but I like to change the conductivity to do it. I lower my conductivity to around 40-50 uS for a few days and then I do a large water change with water set at about 150- 175 uS which seems to excite the pair to spawn and the water conductivity is still within the range for a good hatch rate. I have tried doing it in reverse by lowering the conductivity but it does not seem to work as well for me * *Randy

[Jeffery_Doty]

Randy,

How are you adjusting your conductivity?  I want to give your method a try!

Jeff
Oregon

Jeff, I have lousy water here where I live. All of my breeders are in straight RO water. I dont mix it with tap water I just adjust the conductivity of the water by using RO Right  powder until I get the uS that I want in 50 gal containers before I add it to my tanks.
            Randy

[Bill_P.]

Will i'm not a breeder but...................



Yes that means i'm gonna answer anyway.

I have three pairs and each one is differnt.

First pair
Red leopards
these are the harder ones to spawn but i have done it three times each time the same senerio.
I add another Fish that can take getting picked on. Then I do a 50% water change with colder water i'm talking 20 f degree's Colder. They will spawn with in 24 hours

Pigeon Blood pair.
These guys i love them.
At first everytime I moved them to another tank no matter if it was a community tank or not they breed. They may have ate the spawn but they did breed. Then once they have fry going I can pull the fry Give them a good cold waterchange and presto they breed agian.

My LFS pair

They bred when ever i dropped the wter level. I found this out on accedent when i was doing water changes.
But I sold this pair after the second spawn. Though i did get both spawns with the water level thing.


Bill

[DarkDiscus]

Bill,

Useful info!  Thanks!  I am archiving all this stuff in my brain for future use!  This is most interesting and helpful!

John

[DarkDiscus]

Al,

BTW, I plan on playing some Louis Armstrong and lighting up one of our candelabras.  (You'll see next weekend...)  That should put all but the most cold blooded discus in the mood...

John

[Kevin]

Ok AL, it is not music, food, lighting, water, air, none of that. You have got to promise to share this bit of info. with your hamster. What we do to get a pair to spawn is we get a male and a female that are attracted to one another and put them in a tank alone with all of the things I said it was not. Except the music. Oh yeah it helps to have a cone or something else to lay on. Works for me..?

[RichieE]

I was just rereading one of Jim Quarles books yesterday. In the back he gives some hints on getting a pair to spawn. One of them was to drop the PH. I havent tryed it but it sounds like it worked great for him. HTH Rich