Okay, I've been trying to breed my pearl gouramis, and keep on having problems.
I've got them set up in a 15-gallon breeding tank. I've gotten one of those fully-submergible filters, so there is some current in the tank, but it's not enough to disturb the surface at all. The tank's temp is at a steady 77-degrees, and I've got a nice mat of floating anacharis (anchored to the sides of the tank with rubber bands), as well as a plastic lid at the other end in case he decided he didn't like the anacharis.
Well, the first problem was that my male didn't seem to understand the concept of bubble-nesting. At first he just chased the two females around spitting bubbles at them (they weren't impressed), and then he tried spitting bubbles into the filter intake (And seemed mystified as to where they were going). For the next day after that, he spent most of his energy tearing leaves off of the anacharis, and alternating between chasing the girls with them in his mouth, or stuffing them into the filter intake. When he wasn't doing that, he was doing his level best to detach my heater from the side of the tank.
Finally, he built a bubblenest in the anacharis yesterday. It was a goodly size last night, but this morning when I turned the tank light on, it was completely gone. Thing is, he kept positioning the females under where it was, and embracing them like crazy, but with no noticeable result. They'd wiggle away from him after about half a second.
About fifteen minutes ago, I looked over and saw him and the two females busily devouring eggs as they floated to the surface--apparently he and one of the girls had spawned in the "open water" area of the tank. I used a syringe to get as many eggs as I could, and right now they're in a specimine box (sitting in the water and attached to the side, to keep it's temp comparable.
What I want to know is this kind of stuff normal for an inexperienced male, or is mine just dumb, or what?
I've got them set up in a 15-gallon breeding tank. I've gotten one of those fully-submergible filters, so there is some current in the tank, but it's not enough to disturb the surface at all. The tank's temp is at a steady 77-degrees, and I've got a nice mat of floating anacharis (anchored to the sides of the tank with rubber bands), as well as a plastic lid at the other end in case he decided he didn't like the anacharis.
Well, the first problem was that my male didn't seem to understand the concept of bubble-nesting. At first he just chased the two females around spitting bubbles at them (they weren't impressed), and then he tried spitting bubbles into the filter intake (And seemed mystified as to where they were going). For the next day after that, he spent most of his energy tearing leaves off of the anacharis, and alternating between chasing the girls with them in his mouth, or stuffing them into the filter intake. When he wasn't doing that, he was doing his level best to detach my heater from the side of the tank.
Finally, he built a bubblenest in the anacharis yesterday. It was a goodly size last night, but this morning when I turned the tank light on, it was completely gone. Thing is, he kept positioning the females under where it was, and embracing them like crazy, but with no noticeable result. They'd wiggle away from him after about half a second.
About fifteen minutes ago, I looked over and saw him and the two females busily devouring eggs as they floated to the surface--apparently he and one of the girls had spawned in the "open water" area of the tank. I used a syringe to get as many eggs as I could, and right now they're in a specimine box (sitting in the water and attached to the side, to keep it's temp comparable.
What I want to know is this kind of stuff normal for an inexperienced male, or is mine just dumb, or what?
