Male Agassizzi not interested?

[devakalpa]

Hi all,

I have a pair of Agassizzis in my 29 gallon, pretty heavily planted and also with leaf litter, driftwood, etc. Tank mates corys, a pair of BNPs, various tetras, pencilfish, a pair of threadfin rainbows. pH 6.5, TDS 150 ish. After each water change (weekly, 50 percent) the female turns a lemon yellow, at times with a black line or at times with a single black spot. I have spotted her moving in and out of the 'cave' of a small sunken tender coconut shell, chasing away anything coming close. I have seen the slanted swimming and leading display in front of the male. The male trails her at times and seems interested but pushes her away at the last instant. This has happened 4 to 5 times already but I have not spotted frys. I keep a small bulb lit at night so it's not completely dark.

This is my first time with Apistos. Could the very knowledgeable members here tell me what is going wrong? Is the female's color change indicative of a spawning event or just a signal of getting into the mood? Is the male's behavior showing he is just not interested and can this attitude change with time going by?

Sorry for the longish post. Thanks
Cheers

 

[Mike Wise]

Your female's behavior indicates that she has spawned. All of the other community fishes probably are making breeding unsuccessful. Remember, a community tank is not a (good) breeding tank.

 

[devakalpa]

Thanks Mike. I know a community tank is not the best place for breeding, but my other tank has sprung a leak and so they are kind of forced to live here. I think I can get it up and running in a while. Since I have not seen the male 'interested', I was wondering if he's turning down her passes at him . That the yellow coloration is indicative of a spawn and not just an amorous phase is the piece of information I was looking for.

 

[Mike Wise]

It's not her color that's indicative of a spawn. It's her behavior ... "moving in and out of the 'cave' of a small sunken tender coconut shell, chasing away anything coming close. I have seen the slanted swimming and leading display in front of the male".

 

[devakalpa]

Thanks Mike, I have it cleared up now.
Could this be possible that she has spawned but the male has not been interested to do his bit? I ask this because I have always found the male to nudge her away with a dash at the last moment when she tries to entice him, even after following her for a while. Of course it could be happening at other times when I am not watching. And also after couple of days her colour is no bright yellow anymore all the time, she keeps at her vigil in front of the 'cave' but also drifts about elsewhere, especially during feeding. Her colour also, during those times, often changes to the more 'everyday' look but then again in few seconds she literally lights up.
Being a newbie with Agassizzis I was looking for some insights into such subtle signalling. I am reading up as much as possible on them, and this site seems to be the best place for answers.
Thanks again.

 

[Mike Wise]

It typically takes apisto 5 - 15 minutes from courtship to actual breeding. Koslowski (2002) has a full chapter devoted to breeding behavior that is well worth reading, for those with the book. I would think its unusual for a male of any species not to be interested in fertilizing, but I guess it's possible. If I had this problem I would look at other factors (e.g. tank size & decor, water chemistry/quality/maintenance, other community members) before believing the male just isn't interested.

 

[BC Matt]

It typically takes apisto 5 - 15 minutes from courtship to actual breeding. Koslowski (2002) has a full chapter devoted to breeding behavior that is well worth reading, for those with the book. I would think its unusual for a male of any species not to be interested in fertilizing, but I guess it's possible. If I had this problem I would look at other factors (e.g. tank size & decor, water chemistry/quality/maintenance, other community members) before believing the male just isn't interested.

Sorry to revive an old thread but I'm having the same issue in my tank. I have a 55g with a pair of agassizii double red and 6 harlequin rasboras. The tank is not as well planted as I would like but I'm working on it. I've also got some oak leaves as leaf litter. The behaviour I'm seeing is basically every week to 10 days the female will go into her breeding colors (bright yellow, single black spot) and do her dance for the male (fins up, slanted swimming, leading) but the male seems to take almost no notice of her during these times. After a day or two she'll return to her normal colors (dull, full black lateral line) and then suddenly the male is displaying and chasing her all over. The female does tend to spend a fair amount of time in her little cave under a piece of driftwood but I've never seen fry and she will spend extended periods swimming around away from her spot. I've been feeding mostly frozen brine shrimp and frozen blood worms along with the occasional flakes and hikari pellets and I'm in the process of doing my first culture of grindal worms. The female is very picky and will usually only eat the brine shrimp and sometimes a few bits of blood worm. My tap water is very hard but I've been bringing this down by cutting it with 40-60% RO water during water changes leaning towards 60% or more in recent changes. I'm going to test the water this week to see what my hardness levels are at but I suspect its quite a bit lower than when I started. Any thoughts?

 

[central tanks]

I think Mike summed this up pretty well. Sometimes tho doing mirror therapy can make the male feel all proud and bad ass and can help him get interested in spawning. You just put a mirror in or just outside the tank and the male with display to his reflection. After a few min when the male swims off remove the mirror. This kind of mimics him scarring off another male entering his territory.

Its a tactic often used to help encourage breeding, its not a sure fire way but may help your male get into breeding mode. Just be sure your slowly changing the hardness level.

Im a firm believer that Hardness is the most important when it comes to soft acidic water and ph is less of a issue. In the soft acidic water your PH will fluctuate due to low KH levels (KH is what buffers and stabilizes water). So once you get your desired number just hold it steady.