Why no nests?

[David M]

I have a nice, mature pair of percs, had them maybe a year or more. There is no question in my mind that the female is gravid every 12-14 days, she swells up just like any of my breeding ocellaris. Never a nest. I don't ever see scattered eggs but I could just be missing them. Could she simply be absorbing them? Should I try swapping out the male? I have pretty much lost patience with them, and I wonder if I need be concerned for her health. Any thoughts?

 

[David M]

42 views and no comments?? :eek1: Do I need to pm the heavy hitters around here?

 

[Fishboy42]

42 huh?! OK, I have to admit I have exactly the same problem with a pair, so I don't think I can help

I have a pair of percs given to me by the owner of a LFS. He picked them out for me on 104th Street and hand-carried them back on the plane. They came clean through qt-- I treated for internal parasites and started feeding them well. This was about two years ago.

They are in a stand-alone 20H (the pairs on either side of this pair are also in stand-alone 20H, were introduced later, and are both spawners). The female has gotten VERY swollen several times, I've even seen the ovipositor several times, but never any eggs. They are settled in a pot, eat well, aren't skittish at all, and the male cleans all the time.

I've never had a pair soooo close to spawning for so long without actually having a spawning event. I've tried blooms, large water changes, extra feedings, thoroughly cleaning everything. I think the next thing I'm going to try is moving them into a centrally-filtered broodstock system to see if that gets them going.

The only thing that would keep me from changing anything is that the fish just spawn when they are ready, and sometimes it takes a while. I have a pair of occ's that I bought in 2001. They paired up nicely and grew very large, but they only started spawning a few months ago

So basically I haven't added anything useful, but I'd also be interested to hear any thoughts

Matt

 

[Ooulophilia]

In the Hoff book (I don't have it on hand) I remember him mentioning something about false pairs, where both are female - will go through the motions but no eggs or infertile eggs.

 

[David M]

I could have guessed this would happen, seems like every time I am ready to give up on a pair they get busy quick, it's like they know they are on thin ice. Yup, the percs laid their first nest on Sunday Small nest and they ate all but 4 eggs but hey, it's a start

 

[Kathy55g]

Give em a month, they'll be laying thousands! Glad to hear it, David.

 

[David M]

Well soon I will see for myself just how miserable it is growing out percula It just can't take as long as everyone says it does, can it

 

[mwp]

So David, ya got 'em to spawn! Congrats! If my percs are any indication, 39 days and still only the first bar, yup...I think they take a bit longer Looking through the hoff book which shows some 30 day OC's, my perc babies are still smaller

Matt

 

[Fishboy42]

Congrats on the spawn David :celeb1: I'm still working on my "lazy" pair...

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8502366#post8502366 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by David M
It just can't take as long as everyone says it does, can it

It does take a lot longer than ocellaris unfortunately. I find that it varies by pair too. I have a perc pair that stripes up very quickly (relatively speaking-- several weeks), and an "onyx" pair that have offspring several months old before the 2nd stripe comes in.

 

[Morgman]

If your buyers can handle 2 striped percuals you are fine. Waiting for the tail strip can take time(months).

 

[mwp]

Well, I'm already explaining the stripe thing to the LFS's I intend to deal with....and I have the parental pix as well on my onyx perc which pretty much has them ALL salivating

Matt

 

[Kmiec123]

Congrats David. I basically just started as well. I finally got a good light fixture(Coralife-Aqualight pro Model #53526) for my 120 gal tank and within a month of getting the lights on timers they started spawning.
I remember reading in on of the breeding bibles that the light cycle and temp are major contributors, But guess I got lucky. Tank at 79+-82.
Good luck on the work to fallow. Carl