male apisto a dud?

[mooman]

My female panduro is getting ready to spawn for the third time. I still have yet to see any fry or even wigglers. After she spawns she stays in the cave for about a day and a half (just long enough for her to discover the eggs are infertile). The gh is at around 1.5dh and ph is 6.8. The reason I ask this is that the male is absoultely huge and shows next to no interest in the females advances. Could he be a breeder that got too old and passed on to the lfs? Infertile? How many spawns do you sit through before you give up on a pair? Not really sure if anyone can help, just needed to vent. thanks

 

[apistobob]

Are you sure the eggs are not fertile? One of the things I do in situations like this is to pull a batch of eggs and try to hatch them artificially. If I get larval fry hatching I know the problem is an egg eating female not a poor male.

In my experience, the older males can lose their agressive spawning tendancies and sometimes they produce fewer fertilized eggs, but, they usually continue to produce at least some viable eggs.

 

[cootwarm]

How old is the female? Perhaps your female is still trying to get the knack of it. Although, I have TR cacs that seem to take 2 or 3 attempts for every time they get a successful spawn.

Your water parms are fine, as my panduros have spawned a few times in my tap water (GH8,KH5, pH=7.5).

Any chance of anything else killing the eggs? As soon as the mother notices an egg begining to fungus, she will eat it to protect the others.

Maybe this third time will be the charm.

Michael