Withdrawn Geophagus Steindachneri Female

[plaskotki]

Dear All, my 'Humpy girl' as we call her has been quite withddrawn for over a week now. She hass been hiding mostly, I have not seen her eat. She would swim towards a sinking pellet but then would stop just before reaching it and would not eat it. She seems to have her mouth closed whenever I see her. I have to say-we only have 1x1 female-male ratio (thinking of buying one 1or 2 extra females) and she has been chased a lot by the Humpy boy. I think they are too young to be spawning. We have had them for just over
Any ideas why she might be behaving like this? Stress? The other fish seem just normal.
2 months now. Here they are together during happy times:

Humpy boy and girl by Marek's Photography, on Flickr

 

[star4]

If she is being chased a lot it could be stress, do you have lots of cover for her to hide in? Do you have another tank you could remove the male to for a few days give her a break see if that perks her up?

Were these the ones that had Ich a couple of weeks ago? if so she could be still recovering from that.

 

[plaskotki]

If she is being chased a lot it could be stress, do you have lots of cover for her to hide in? Do you have another tank you could remove the male to for a few days give her a break see if that perks her up?

Were these the ones that had Ich a couple of weeks ago? if so she could be still recovering from that.

Yes, they are the same pair. She was very lively after they recovered from ich. Sadly we do not have another tank, but there is a bushy corner where she tends to hide. She does swim out occasionaly. The male has been desplaying the courting behaviour quite a lot recently and when she is out of the bushes, it does not last long... I am thinkng of bying a couple more females, but my LFS has not got them at the moment. They are expecting delivery of them in about a week or so. As my wife is not agreeing to a bigger tank, I will have to rehouse my lovely sevs when they will get too big for the tank. They are about 3/5" and 4" at the moment. Do you think the tank would be heavily overstocked with to more female geos? Also, if it is a stress problem, would the addition make things better for the Humpy Girl?

 

[star4]

The only thing I can suggest it try it and see what happens, sometimes the addition of other females to keep the male more occupied works, sometimes it doesnt. It may seem a bit of a cop out answer, but sometimes with spawing/pairing aggression there is no easy answer, your female may just not like that male, other females may adore him but hate the resident female. Another option is you could move him on and get another male and she could be perfectly happy.

 

[plaskotki]

Thanks for your advice. I will start with adding more females when they're in stock and will see what happens. If there will be still incompatibility issues, I might try another male.

 

[star4]

Sorry there is no easy answer on this one so long as you are sure their are no health issues adding more females or swapping the male for another is I am afraid probably the best option.

 

[plaskotki]

Hi Guys, I am really puzzled! The geo female is still alive and has turned aggressive towards other fish, including the geo male. I have not seen her eat since my last post. Has the pair spawned? My son said he saw little black dots (fry eyes ). She does not open her mouth properly so I cannot confirm that. We've had tha pair since Sep. The female is just over 2", the male about 3". Could they be old enough to be parents???
She is hovering around the certain area of the tank, but I cannot see anything there... All her fins aye up right, wheres before she just looked ill/stressed out. She stands her gronund against my sevs, and one of them is 4". Any ideas?

 

[star4]

I have no experience with these mouthbrooders, however I have had Frontosa holding, it maybe the same. Have a look if possible under the mouth (If you look on your picture) Follow the gill plates to where they join the mouth between them is a fleshy gap, when my Frontosa were holding this "gap" had dropped forming a pouch, the same may happen with Geo's. The other thing I noticed was the Frontosa looked like it was chewing gum (I cant think of a better way to discribe it) which was her tumbling the eggs and airiating the fry. Her behaviour does sound as if she is guarding.

Sorry its not much help .

 

[plaskotki]

I have no experience with these mouthbrooders, however I have had Frontosa holding, it maybe the same. Have a look if possible under the mouth (If you look on your picture) Follow the gill plates to where they join the mouth between them is a fleshy gap, when my Frontosa were holding this "gap" had dropped forming a pouch, the same may happen with Geo's. The other thing I noticed was the Frontosa looked like it was chewing gum (I cant think of a better way to discribe it) which was her tumbling the eggs and airiating the fry. Her behaviour does sound as if she is guarding.

Sorry its not much help .

Star4-thank you for your reply. I saw the fry yesterday! so the mistery has been solved. The problem is that I have not got a second tank to separate the female and the fry from the rest. She is releasing the fry now and then, but the other fish seem to be very curious what's going on and she has to chase them off. She must be exhausted! She has not eaten for a few weeks. Females-they are so devoted. Amazing. I don't suppose the fry is going to survive... I gues they will be eaten sooner or later. Hope my sons will be able to understand it. I did think of getting the tank divider, but then what do I feed the fry with? I saw some suggestions somwhere to give them newly-hatched brine shrimp, but I have not seen such a thing in my LFS. I think I saw the powdered fry food, but then-they are out for a few minutes and then she takes them back into her mouth. And when they are out, they are wriggling at the bottom of the tank in the spase between the bogwood and the glass. It would be good if I a few of them could survive, but at the moment I cannot envisage it somehow... Anybody has any suggestions? They would be very appreciated. To day, I only managed to breed some guppies and sword tails, and that was about 25 years ago

 

[star4]

Oh wonderful news, you could try a tank divider it will ease mum's stress chasing off the other fish., mum with usually chew and spit out food for the fry, but you can get decapsulated brine shrimp off ebay, or first bites fry food or even get a pill crusher and crush a pellet into a powder for them.

 

[plaskotki]

Oh wonderful news, you could try a tank divider it will ease mum's stress chasing off the other fish., mum with usually chew and spit out food for the fry, but you can get decapsulated brine shrimp off ebay, or first bites fry food or even get a pill crusher and crush a pellet into a powder for them.

Thanks for your advice. I have ordered the tank divider. Will give it a go. Would be cool if we were able to raise some of the little ones.

 

[star4]

No problems, do let me know if she manages to raise the fry with a tank divider, best of luck.

 

[plaskotki]

No problems, do let me know if she manages to raise the fry with a tank divider, best of luck.

Will do. Many thanks.

 

[plaskotki]

No problems, do let me know if she manages to raise the fry with a tank divider, best of luck.

Will do. Many thanks.

Bad news I am afraid... On Thu we witnessed daddy eating a few of his offsprings when she realesed them and did not manage to scoop them all up when he came. From Saturday, she has been behaving normally-eating, polishing gravel and not guarding anything, so I guess none of the little ones made it... The tank divider arrived today. I guess, at least we are more prepared for the next time. She is being chased a lot by him so I think she'll be holding soon. Shame, but we are all learning. It would be nice to be able to have a couple more females to spread his attention. The LFS has not had any recently and they are not expecting any soon. Hopefully he'll not wear her out. Anyway, once again-thanks for your advice and Merry Xmas!

 

[star4]

Oh how sad, but at least she held them for a while, which is good. At least for next time you have the divider, fingers crossed for then.