Should I separate the Cuipeuas?

[DiscusBR]

Hi everyone,

I came back to discus-keeping last year after a 15-year interruption. Since then, I have kept 7 Cuipeuas in my 80g tank. For months, two of them have been showing breeding signs, starring at the intake tube of my canister filter and chasing away any fish that comes close. Last month, they started cleaning the breading cone, which they had ignored for months. Here is a video that I showed in another thread:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDghU0evHl0

They did it for a while, but then went back to starring at the filter's tube. It would be great to try my first breeding experiment, but I am not sure about how to proceed. I wanted to separate the pair in a 25g tank, but folks here have told me before that one should allow the pair to bound first in the community tank and let them lay eggs a few times before transferring them to a breeding cone. I also know that some recommend larger breeding tanks for wilds, but I don't have space or the resources for a larger tank. So what do you think, should I separate them or not?

Thanks in advance.

[discuspaul]

They sure seem like they want to give it a go, Mauro
Suggest you just leave them in the main tank until they actually move beyond the 'staring & cleaning' stage, and really get down to business, on the cone or elsewhere. Wouldn't hurt for them to have a couple of spawns in the main tank, in order to get a reasonable handle on things.
Sometime down the road when you feel they're readier to take matters to full completion, move them with the cone to your 25 gal and see what develops.

[Second Hand Pat]

Mauro, seems like there is something holding them back. Either one do any dry runs? What is your TDS?

[DiscusBR]

They sure seem like they want to give it a go, Mauro
Suggest you just leave them in the main tank until they actually move beyond the 'staring & cleaning' stage, and really get down to business, on the cone or elsewhere. Wouldn't hurt for them to have a couple of spawns in the main tank, in order to get a reasonable handle on things.
Sometime down the road when you feel they're readier to take matters to full completion, move them with the cone to your 25 gal and see what develops.

Thanks, Paul. That makes sense. I guess I just need to give them more time.


Mauro, seems like there is something holding them back. Either one do any dry runs? What is your TDS?

Hi Pat, by "dry run" do you mean doing the laying-eggs movement without actually laying them? If that is the case, the answer is yes, the Cuipeua that I think is the female often follows the filter's tube vertically doing the movement, but I have never seen eggs.

By the way, in the other side of the tank I have another pair forming :)

Edit: I don't have a TDS meter, but my water is extremelly soft. KH and GH are close to zero.

[Second Hand Pat]

Wow Mauro, that's exciting. Can you get a TDS meter? Or maybe wait and see what happens with the other maybe pair.

[DiscusBR]

Wow Mauro, that's exciting. Can you get a TDS meter? Or maybe wait and see what happens with the other maybe pair.

Yeap, a lot of action in the tank :) One couple in each side of the tank and the other poor three Cuipeuas being chased back and forth.

TDS meters are expensive here in Brazil. I will definetely get one in the next opportunity (myself of a friend/family member going abroad).