Argh! So I have my yellow female in with my red male.. all is going good sorta.. he is doing everything right, she has been skittish. Well I looked over at their tank before I went to bed and she had some of his fins in her mouth and he was dragging her around.. literally. I had to physically remove her (using nets as she just couldn't get his fins out of her mouth).. she had the whole length of his anal fin in her mouth.
So I got them separated and I sat down to watch them for a minute and she went right back and this time grabbed his dorsal! Poor boy was turning white in the face and breathing heavily.. so I placed her back into the hurricane glass while I decided whether to scrap this attempt or not. I got his home cleaned out and ready just in case.. he got his color back while I was busy doing that and was back to flaring at her.
Then I look back. I looked at my other female. She literally just laid some eggs in her container. I had just fed her 5 minutes prior and nothing!
Argh!
My females are driving me nuts! One is very aggressive and the other held her eggs in just to mess with me >.< lol These fish are going to be the life of me!
Recondition all of them, with daily exercise and all. At the end of the conditioning period, see which is flirting and use that female. Since yellow female is too aggressive, put her in a rather big jar so you could be sure that she is flirting. Use her only when you're sure. The other female has released eggs so she shouldn't take too long to accept embrace - if you release in the late afternoon, they should embrace the next morning.
I have a similar female - she flirts all the time but when I put her in with a male, she goes pale. It's frustrating because she has the most black out of all her siblings. I'm thinking she (and one other sibling) is sterile. . . . I wonder if that is even possible since they're not melano black.
Make sure your male is healthy and aggressive, in case he has to put up with the yellow female.
You poor dear! And your poor babies. I'm sure you were shocked and upset to see such a thing. Now that everyone is okay, I hope you can find a way to tell the story of your male "dragging" a female around the tank with her latched on his fin with a bit of humor. It's kind of like what you do with kids. They do this absolutly terrible thing that was horroifying at the time, but we laugh about later once the dust settles. Like that time that my 3 year old nephew got jealous of my 4 year old nephew because he got rewarded for doing a good job with a piece of candy, so he hit him over the head with a batmitten racket! The older one threw the candy down to come tell us what the little one did. The little one was found sitting in the dirt munching the candy! Terrible day, but funny story Posted via Mobile Device
I am laughing at it now.. was last night too after the shock went away. Poor boy, unsure how long he had been dragging her around, the room was dark (they had a nightlight) and I was busy watching a Buffy the Vampire Slayer marathon lol. I just thought it was funny that as soon as I got her to release him (his fin just sliding out of her mouth), a second later before I could remove my hands from the tank, she went right back and did it again!
I did place the female who dropped the eggs into the tank since she was conditioned (I keep them all conditioned all the time just in case..) into the tank with the red boy as when he got released from the grasp of the big meanie, he was back to flaring and colored up. He is doing just fine, but the female with the eggs must of absorbed them as she is a bit skinnier now. No eggs, no signs of aggression.. going to clean out the tank tomorrow and reintroduce the one with the eggs and the red male - separated - this way she gets a bit more time to ripen her eggs once more.
At least she had laid eggs, which was her first time, so hopefully it won't be so scary for her with a male.. she will follow him and right before she gets to the nest, the male will turn around to dance and she just zooms away. The male is doing all the right things, but the females are either too aggressive or too skittish. These virgin sisters I love, but even an experienced male who has bred numerous times can't seem to get them to not be scared.
But not giving up on them just yet... just have to figure something out with the yellow girl, as she has shown her aggression a couple of times already.. first day or two she is passive and runs away, then BAM! Just goes psycho lol. Her sister isn't as aggressive.. just shy.
I know.. She has had a couple shots at breeding, each time had to be removed due to over aggression. I have a very aggressive male that isn't new to breeding that I may try her with next time I attempt her - the one in my avatar. He's really feisty, but has been bred so he knows what to do. If that doesn't work out, then I may have to go looking for a new yellow girl >.<
Okay.. so I have the two virgin girls in tanks with their respective males right now.. still.. sigh.
BUT I just purchased 5 new girls from Chard56... 3 have a guarantee of experience breeding to make things a bit easier with my virgin boys. Can't wait to get them here..
Will get pictures once I have them.. getting a yellow/gold, a red/gold, a red/copper, a cellophane and a cambodian.. I have a pure yellow and a green cellophane now I'm working on.
Well Sheldon got his fins torn up really bad when I bred him 2 months ago. His tail is still only halfway back but is slowly growing so dont feel bad. I would post a pick off him now but he looks so much better in his older pics much like myself.
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I would post a pick off him now but he looks so much better in his older pics much like myself.
