I have a pair of N. ebrardtii that are a couple years old. What is the upper limit for breeding? I haven't seen any fry in a few months but I am not sure if its old age or just them eating their young.

Fertility does decline. They seem most likely to breed in the first year, and later batches seem to get smaller, eventually down to one or two fry! Not sure why, but others have reported this, and put it down to problems with the diet. Who knows for sure?

Anyway, one other thing may be you don't actually have a pair of one species. I find halfbeaks very difficult to identify, and I don't think retailers bother at all. They don't seem to hybridise, I think because each species has very different ways of maintaining the egg inside the mother.

Cheers, Neale

They are a breeding pair. I was producing consistant batchs for about a year or so. I would probably have to guess that you are correct in that they are too old. Darn.

didnt you keep any young back?

I do have a few left (I sold the rest) but this was my largest female and she was producing good batchs. She is seriously about the size of a cigar! I was just hoping that she would produce for at least a couple years.

Sounds familiar! They really do get big, don't they. I have a 10 cm Celebes female who looks like U-boat!

Cheers, Neale

HAHA! I was just moving some fish around to clear out a tank and noticed some half beak fry in the tank! LOL I found 6 fry after all that time without any from my female! I guess I was a little premature in calling her an old maid! She can still surprise sometimes I guess!