Body language says it all

[Rod Coleman]

I thought these alenquers might get down to some egg laying if I put them in their own little love nest and gave 'em a peat treat.

A year ago they kept pecking and shaking in the community tank but never did any more. Now they've gone right off the boil.

As this pic shows, nothing more developed in the "spawning tank". After two weeks I gave up. Not long, I know but I wanted to give another pair a chance. They will have to wait.

Regards
Rod

[reef]

Rod, from my experience the peat water will not do much. What u need is to let them gorge at more food like Frozen Bloodworm or better still CBW, if available. Maybe some dry food but no beefheart. What u need to do is give them clean environment and lotsa food. So do large water changes every evening. If their appetite is not so good, add a heater and upz to 32c. Add a breeding cone or medium. Clean water, the diference in temp during water changes and lots of feeding will definitely induce spawning. I bet they will start pecking at it soon. Good luck.

[Rod Coleman]

Thanks, Reef.

But why do you suggest no beef heart? Many of my other fish spawn regularly and this is their staple diet.

They do get wc every night but that temp change could be a good idea. I've been keeping them at 28 and the change water is probably too warm to give the right stimulus.

Rod

[April]

Rod looks like a lovers quarrel to me...they wont even look at each other. lol. if you drop the temp about 3 degrees..sometimes it helps.
nice fishies.

[jeff cannons]

Hi Rod I would recomend giving them a good feed on frozen bloodworm then give them a cold water change it works for my pairs nearly every time, nice looking fish by the way .......

Jeff

[Steve_Warner]

Hi all,
Rod, can you list your water params for me, please? Do you have an established good Nitro-cycle in there with a sponge or something? Try keeping them in the tank with NO WATER change for about 3 days, then do about 30% with straight R/O. This sends my fish into a brightly colored dance every time!


Steve

[luke_potts]

Excuse me for butting in here........but Jeff are you talking about a change of water that is slightly cooler than the tank temp? or are you suggesting a straight COLD water change???

cheers
Luke

[ping]

Hi Luke,

I always do 40-50 % water changes with cold water to make them spawn again.
The temp in the tank is 28 and the cold water is 22.
It works fine with my breeding pair. They will spawn in few days.

Regards,
Ronny

[Rod Coleman]

Steve, the water from my prep tank is pH 6.9, gH 4 deg, kH 2-3 deg. Using peat I get the breeding tank down to ph 6.2, gH 2 deg, kH 1 deg.

The temperature of water change is something I should look at - the water coming in is warmer than the tank - round the wrong way. I also need to get organised to prep the water with peat to match pH.

Sponge filters are well cycled and the fish seemed comfortable.

Thanks for the tips. :)

Rod

[jeff cannons]

Hi Luke as ping suggests 40/50% water change with cold water usually does the trick for mine .........

[brewmaster15]

dido here. Keep them in 88-89 F for a week or so,, then cool water change I bring down to 81-82 and bam! If they were ready they go to town.

hth,
al

[Rod Coleman]

Thanks for all the advice.

As I said, its funny how these two were really looking keen about a year ago and then just stopped. The reason I thought peat might kick start them was because they used to be in a tank with a big ol' huge log that probably conditioned the water like peat. When I removed it they stopped shaking and bowing. Maybe they just want their pecking spot back LOL.

I still have to set up the new breeder tanks so it will be a while before I can give them much more attention but then I will work on the temperature variation as suggested.

Thanks,

Rod

Great looking pair Rod :yikes:

Lots of Luck ;)

[luke_potts]

Thanx guys for clearing up the "COLD" water issue. I already use cooler water to encourage spawning, but when it was suggested to use"cold" water i just had to ask ??? because my cold water straight from the tap is about 10oC, and i thought this might be a little cold for them.

Thanx again
Luke