Okay so 6days ago my female was dropping her eggs, id been conditioning my couple with mosquito larvae with no immediate plan to breed, just working up to it, when i saw her dropping i checked my male and his huge bubblenest and decided to give it a try, moved it all carefully and heavily planted with hide spots, then cupped her in. She immediately showed her head down wiggle dance to him so in 30 minutes i released her and she swam up to him, wiggled and he nipped her fin, she hid in plain sight and after he worked on his nest a few minutes he danced down to her, she followed and for the next two hours they spawned, wrapping about 8 times, but he ate all of the eggs, then started chasing her, since i wasnt mentally prepared for it i removed her to prevent any further damage. I was paranoid lol. Anyways she still was plump and after removing her he checked under his nest for eggs hen took a nap, i grabbed a few stray eggs he didnt notice nad tried artificially hatching but no luck. After that i kept her in aquarium salted clean water near his tank thinking shed release the rest of the eggs in her own tank but she didnt. Three days later i felt a bit more mentally ready for it, id bough everything id needed but mentally preparing to referee is the hard part for me cause i love these two. Anyways, night before last, after 3 days of daily water changes and tons more mosquito larvae i thought maybe since she was still plump and in sight of him that maybe itd be worth a shot. The first time was quick enough, 4 hours from putting her in to pulling her out and one nipped fin, no big deal. So i cup her in there, he dances and starts his nest. Two hours later the nest is the size of a baseball and when he swims up to dance she wiggles or flares and he gets excited and swims back to his nest trying t lure her in. If she doesnt react to his wiggle dance hed nip thew cup but usually she noticed. I still didnt release, i figured id wait till the following morning so the next morning i look and shes big and wiggly but just not QUITE as interested as the first time, so i wait till that evening and decide to release her. Still not as perceptive of him as when she was literally dropping eggs everywhere the first time but interested, and he was definitely interested, so i release. 10g heavily planted, full to the top, 80 degrees, bubblenest built ect. She goes straight to the nest and does the wiggle and push move that last time had him embracing but this time made him nip her. So again she swims down to the gravel, when shes got all these plants she swims to the gravel, he comes down and she does the submissive pose, clamps and wiggles and he flares and swims back up but she doesnt follow immediately and this seemed to infuriate him and he swims back down, flaring nd she tries to show a submissive pose again and he jolts towards her and nips at her HEAD. She then goes to hide in all the plants and i make a quick trip to check on her. a couple of missing scales above her eyes but otherwise fine so i agree that if he attacks like this again ill remove her because somethings not right. He works on his nest some more and she finally decides to get air so when she goes up he sees her and she BOLTS to the nest, looks at it then attacks it and runs off, well before he could even come up waggling himself. This hide and seek game went on the rest of the evening and had my nerves a wreck. At about 2am i decide to cup her and sleep because i could not sleep with her loose, no way. So i cup her and through the night she gets fatter and i wake to see him doing his dance to lure her in and her doing the head down pose so i release, she goes and hides where he cant reach her, only coming up for air then hiding. A couple of times hed get close and shed flare and hed run away back to his nest but shed never go check out his nest. Maybe she was too scared of him after that head bite? After about 6 hours of this today and her NEVER going to the nest or acknowledging his wiggles i remove her and see shes got a small nip on her side, and the very tip of a fin nipped. Overall shes in okay shape, loaded with eggs, vertical barred, but scared to death of him which makes me scared for her so shes out, back in a 1g bowl next to him in sq salt. Maybe i removed her when i should have left her, but her inability to hide correctly at first and get bit and then hiding all the time out of fear was too much. Im all prepared with the items needed, foods, ect but mentally i cant handle extreme damage, i was hoping 75% stuffed in plants would keep the damage at near 0 but that headbite..ugh, i dont think he wanted to kill her, just nip her, but she didnt move and thats just where he ended up nipping. Anyways, shes fine now, swimming, eating, and hes still looking at her through the glass and bubblenesting but what should i do? Ive read that its violent and there will be a few missing scales/fins, but ive also read missing scales (body bites) means one or the other isnt ready so im not positive what to go by. Im looking for advice/opinions/experience on where to go from here, should i try again before its too late? Is it too late since shes out even though shes still barred/eggy and in sight of him ect. Regardless, mosquito larvae is a daily food for them, Florida is overabundant with it so i feed it tons anyways but what would you do?
(this is a personal spawn, a 1y+ male vt and a 6-9m female CT, id like to have a few of their fry because who knows how long he will be around and id like to have a piece of him still, and also quite a few family members wanting one)
(this is a personal spawn, a 1y+ male vt and a 6-9m female CT, id like to have a few of their fry because who knows how long he will be around and id like to have a piece of him still, and also quite a few family members wanting one)