My desperate female (no obvious male)

[markwill]

I have finally determined the sex of one of my fish!!! Sunset (a beautiful red melon) finally laid eggs while I was actually watching last night. She took an age to get around to that first egg (90 mins or so of dummy runs) but it was a delight when it happened.

Of course, it isn't going to end with babies :-) The key issue is that there is no obvious male to follow up. I have three other adults who were "in the vicinity" and, at one stage, I thought one of them (Tangerina) was the chosen one, especially when he started pecking away at the pot. However, he never really lined up.

Each time Sunset laid a few eggs one of the other fish came along and gobbled them up (two different fish did this and Sunset made no attempt to stop them).

What should I expect here? Should the male be doing dummy runs along with the the female? Or does he just "arrive" at the opportune moment to do his thing?

I had moved a couple into a seperate 29 gallon tank a while back after they spent a long evening preparing a site in my show tank (not Sunset, though) but they showed no interest over three weeks in that smaller tank. As soon as I moved them back (within 3 days or so) Sunset does her thing.

Mark

[markwill]

Thoughts anyone? I am particularly interested in what I should expect whern things go right - would the male be alongside the femaile and helping with cleaning the site? And does he do dummy runs just like the female? If the female is acting along (cleaning, dummy runs, etc) does that pretty much mean that there's no chance a male is going to rush in at the last moment to fertilize the eggs?

Thanks.

Mark

[Jeckel]

Normally a mated pair will hang out with each other before/between egg-laying sessions. You'll see them twitching their fins at each other, doing little swooping "dances" together, etc. Also, they won't fight with each other, although they'll nip at all the other fish. When they're ready to spawn, they'll both stare at the egg-laying site while they twitch their fins, and they may both clean the surface by pecking at it. For some reason your female doesn't have a mate...how old are your fish? Maybe your males just haven't matured yet.

[markwill]

Normally a mated pair will hang out with each other before/between egg-laying sessions. You'll see them twitching their fins at each other, doing little swooping "dances" together, etc. Also, they won't fight with each other, although they'll nip at all the other fish. When they're ready to spawn, they'll both stare at the egg-laying site while they twitch their fins, and they may both clean the surface by pecking at it. For some reason your female doesn't have a mate...how old are your fish? Maybe your males just haven't matured yet.
Thank you. I saw some behavior like that but, at times, one of the (presumed) males was cleaning the exact opposite side of the clay pot :-) In fact, at one point they had their backs to each other and were cleaning different pots. So, they just ain't getting it yet :-)

If that specific male is the chosen one then he's not too old. I bought him about 3 months ago when he was about 3 inches. He's grown and inch or more since but he's no doubt pretty young. Another possible male was also cleaning a pot but for a shorter period and I bought him as a 5" adult. And there is yet another who is also about 5" and was active a couple of weeks ago (cleaning).

I have an orgy going on in my tank but not babies to show for it yet...

Thanks.

Mark

[Jeckel]

I've sometimes wondered whether reproductive activity might put pheromones into the water that could stimulate other fish to get into the act. I once had five angelfish in a tank together. Two paired off, then another two almost immediately. The fifth fish was a female who soon started laying (infertile) eggs. She also showed a strong maternal instinct. Of course, she wasn't allowed near any of the other fishes' fry, but she took to carrying pieces of frozen brine shrimp around in her mouth and spitting them out on plant leaves as though they were baby angelfish.

If this theory is correct, one could perhaps get a "stubborn" pair of discus to spawn by exposing them to water from a tank inhabited by an actively breeding pair. Maybe experienced discus people already know this, or have tried it and found that it doesn't work; I don't know.

In any event, I don't know why your fish are doing their own thing without paying attention to each other. Hopefully they'll catch on soon.

[AADiscus]

You could always move Sunset with one of the other fish you think might be a male to a breeder tank and see what happens? ;)

[tpl*co]

OK, I've got to say it, are you sure the other fish are boys? It's happened to me, I've had fish that I would have sworn was a boy, the fish show like they are a pair, clean the pot, then BOTH lay eggs! When I had Sampson my red turq male in a tank with a bunch of females, they would all be getting ready to spawn at the same time, be cleaning different areas of the tank and trying to lure Sampson over to their area and sabotage the other females spots, it was funny but poor Sampson was, needless to say, confused, LOL.

[Carol_Roberts]

These guys sound like they are still young. Females mature faster than males . . . You may need to wait a few more months and let them practice