A. agassizii Alenquer breeding troubles

[Inka4040]

Hello folks. Hope you can offer some insight on my current situation. I have a pair of aggie Alenquer that has been giving me a good amount of trouble. According to the people I purchased from, they are captive bred on a Brazilian fish farm, and for numerous reasons, I am inclined to believe them. The issue I am running into involves a female that seems more than willing to breed, and a male that shuns all of her advances, almost to the point of hostility. They are currently in a 20 long, heavily planted, with a small group of habrosus cories as dithers. The temps vary from 76 to 80ish depending, and the ph holds around 6.5. Unfortunately I don't have any kh or gh readings, though my source water has little to no buffering capacity according to a local water report. They are fed a mix of frozen bloodworms, glassworms, nls pellets, and live white worms on occasion. I perform 50% water changes weekly, and am running an AC20 hob filter jammed with floss to dampen the flow. Sorry if I'm missing any info here. Thanks in advance for your time.

- Ricky

 

[Mike Wise]

The only information lacking is your water hardness/conductivity. This form is a clearwater species and prefers very soft water (>3º dKH) and a pH around 6. Still this usually isn't a problem as these fish tend to adapt to varying water values. It looks like your problem is your male just isn't interested in your female for some odd reason. If they were my fish, I'd cut back on feeding and water changes for about a month. Then I'd do frequent (every day or 2) partial (30-50%) water changes until the values were pH 5.5 and the dKH was around 2º. I would feed BBS almost exclusively. This should simulate the onset of the rainy season and should stimulate the fish to breed.

 

[Inka4040]

Thanks so much for the input Mike! I've got a gh/kh test kit coming in the mail from Kensfish, and will update with those parameters when it arrives. In the mean time, I will definitely follow your advice and do the neglect thing for a month or so. Really hope I can get these two to pull the trigger, as I am in love with the male's caudal patterning.