blue turks

[lado]

Have that couple paired up since feb.2004 .They are now aprox. 16 months old.They got themself midle section of tank and they are together all the time.Would you except at least atempt of laying eggs or somthing by now?Will separate tank help or?

[JimmyL]

Don't waste your time and effort at this stage. Leave them alone and let nature take it's course. Let them bond a bit better and start pecking on the spawning site. If you have too many adult fish in the community tank that may challenge them for the caviar. You can separate them to their own tank without adjusting the water. Otherwise just leave them alone. After separation, let them spawn at regular water. The advantage of separation is to avoid them learning the bad habit of eating eggs in the community tank. Young Male needs some practise in order to fertilize eggs properly. Where a young female also needs practise to lay eggs in a cluster without scattering all over. Only a few percent is able to do it properly at the first time. So don't waste your effort here. Wait till the majority of eggs stay amber after 24 hrs. wihtout turning white. That means the eggs are fertile and you have a male and a female (a pair),you can start adjusting the water daily in the next 7 days. Otherwise just enjoy them without doing a thing. Get some practise to maintain water quality in the breeding tank before it acutally happen. You can't affort to make a wrong and stupid move during hatching. Knowing what food to feed and train them to get used to the food they will be eating during guarding and caring fry.Stable Ph is the most important parameter after fertilization.HTH
Jimmy