What to do when a male/female pair don't bond?

[pseud]

Hey. So my female blue ram died (they'd spawned once), so I needed another girlfriend for my little man. Went out and bought one, got them home. He showed off to her, she responded. She shook her tail at him, and it looked like they were gonna be a great match. It's taking a long time for my female to settle into the tank, she was very stressed and I wasn't sure she was gonna make it, but she did.

She's not shy anymore, and will swim freely in the tank. Her stress bars are still showing though, and the problem is that she no longer digs Punky. He pretty much constantly chases her. At the moment, I've isolated him into a breeding net. I don't have a spare tank apart from my 55 gallon that's still cycling, and when that is set up I'll be breaking the 20 gallon down.

Is there anything I can do to get them to bond?

 

[pseud]

About 2 hours later and her stress bars are nearly gone. What to do.. what to do....

 

[pirahna590]

About 2 hours later and her stress bars are nearly gone. What to do.. what to do....

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Try the dividing technique, use a tank divider to seperate the male and female but still allowed to see each other, give that a week or two and then re-intorduce them. This absence of time for being able to be in contact with them " should " help them get down to business once re-introduced.

If not try again a few more times with re-seperating them and re-introducing them over a week or so. If they dont get down to business after trying this technique say 4 or 5 times, they probably arent a " compatible " pair.

Or just let nature take its course and they may or may not pair off, but the seperation technique usually gets the breeding process going faster then just waiting for it to happen naturally. Good luck

PS....
Something should be said of " compatible pair " just because over say 2-3 months they are showing to not be a " compatible pair " doesnt mean that they wont eventually become a pair over an extended period of time, but at that point patience will pay a LARGE part of that

 

[pseud]

Thanks, and welcome to TFF

 

[Elisabeth83]

pseud - I bought a new girl for my boy yesterday and he's doing the same thing he was doing to the male I ended up returning. He wont leave her alone I'm 100% sure she's a she this time. She's got the pink tummy and the rounded top fin and she's smaller than him. He is chasing her the same way he was chasing the male though. You can see she is very stressed and her fins are getting a bit shredded.

I don't have a divider big enough for that tank so I decided to move things around in the tank in hopes of him not feeling like he's in his territory. That didn't help...so now I decided to move him to another tank.

Will moving him to another tank and then re-introducing him into the other tank with her work? Will she then be tougher and think it's her territory and he'll be less aggressive? or should I put a divider in the smaller tank and move her in there too??

I don't know what to do...I guess getting a compatible pair is a lot harder than I thought it would be

 

[nitro]

Will moving him to another tank and then re-introducing him into the other tank with her work? Will she then be tougher and think it's her territory and he'll be less aggressive? or should I put a divider in the smaller tank and move her in there too??

Yes it should work because like you said the male which you re-introducing will feel like the new comer to the tank and should hopefully not be as aggresive towards her.


Congrats on the new Ram btw

 

[Elisabeth83]

Will moving him to another tank and then re-introducing him into the other tank with her work? Will she then be tougher and think it's her territory and he'll be less aggressive? or should I put a divider in the smaller tank and move her in there too??

Yes it should work because like you said the male which you re-introducing will feel like the new comer to the tank and should hopefully not be as aggresive towards her.


Congrats on the new Ram btw

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Nitro - I sure hope it'll work because at the moment I'm feeling stressed out. I just had a closer look at her fins and they arn't looking too good. He must of been chasing her throughout the night and she must of torn them on things. They should heal up pretty quickly though but I feel sorry for her. My male is too sure of himself

pseud - how are things going with your pair?

 

[pseud]

Gald you got a new female! But bad that they aren't getting along! We're totally in the same boat now (And don't worry, I bought two females by mistake when i first got my rams!).

Ok, so the girl's stress bars went away and I decided to try them together again, so I took the male out of the breeder net and into the tank with her. He still chases her, but not as much, and he seems to chase her until she stops and then stays still and tries to show off to her, you know, extending his fins. She hasn't been getting any more stressed out from him chasing so I've left them in the tank, but at the first sign of her colors fading/bars showing he's back in the isolation chamber!

Here's what I'm doing. Feeding the rams once a day with brine shrimp. Perform daily water changes of about 20%, replacing with cool water, for about 4 days. Then I'm going to do a 30% water change with WARM water to bring the temperature back up.

Hopefully, this will be enough to condition her into breeding mode and she'll accept him....

(I recommend you do the same, but split them up for 3 days first, feed the brine shrimp(or bloodworms), and do the water change thing after 3 days. On the day you do the bigger warmer water change, release them together)

 

[pseud]

Things are looking even better now for my new girl (P3), Her color is very bold now, her tummy very pink and her oviposter is starting to swell. She's not being chased so much, not running away so much, and is 'sticking' to Punky a little more. I raised the temp yesterday a little, I think it helped some.

 

[pseud]

Well, crisis over - they spawned tonight.
I moved them from my 20 gallon to my 55 gallon. I debated leaving them, her oviposter was very swollen, tummy very bulgy and pink. They settled in real well, very quickly. Seemed MUCH happier in the 55. They curiously investigated the bubble wall, and then explored possible areas for spawning. Then they chose a place conveniently at the back behind a piece of driftwood and some plants, so I can't actually see that much! I did see her rubbing her tummy against the sand, and him doing the same. This will be his second spawn, and her first, so I'm not expecting the eggs to make it through the night, but I'm hoping!

 

[pseud]

They're still guarding the area!
Man, I dunno wether to just leave them or what...

 

[pseud]

Well, there doesn't appear to be any eggs there. I thought I could see some, but I guess not. And they aren't guarding the area anymore. Although, they are still kinda hanging around it. She still looks nice and pink, a bit bulgy and her oviposter is STILL swollen.

Maybe there was never any eggs and last night was a practice run?

 

[Elisabeth83]

Lucky you that they have bonded really well I'm still treating the girl for fin rot. Her fins are looking better so I think she'll make a full recovery. I went to the shop where I got her from. I didn't see any others with fin rot but I did see some with pop-eye I don't think the water in their tank has been changed lately..it didn't smell the greatest when I opened the bag.

I've heard stories where fish that are kept in bad conditions do ok but once they are moved into a tank with good water quality they just cant cope. I think that's what happened in my case. Just such a big water quality difference.

Ok now about your fish I'm not sure if cichlids do practice spawnings but it would make sense if they are young and inexperienced and in your case that would be the female. Maybe she got nervous for some reason? Maybe they will try again in the next couple days?

I hope when I re-introduce my male back into the tank that he likes the girl and they bond because if not I'm not sure what I can do

 

[pseud]

Well, they're still acting weird again tonight. She was flicking all around, doing a little dance, trying to communicate something ot him. Then they'd run off together. I think she was saying:

"look, for the love of pete stop thinking about your stomach and help me find a good spot to lay the eggs. Oh and start practicing that tummy rubbing thing, cuz you sucked at it last night and I don't want any duff eggs! Got it? Good.. zoooooooooooooooooooooooooooommmmm..."

Seriously.



Elizabeth: Keep feeding them brine shrimp/bloodworms.. live or frozen.. once a day.. get her ready to spawn!