spawning help needed!

[youlovegnats]

My CT male and VT female have been conditioned for about a week and a half. I put introduced the male and female into a 10g spawning tank with heavy planting for the female to hide in. The male has made a decent sized bubble nest and is flaring/ showing off/ chasing the female around. He's also adding on to the nest but whenever the female gets too close, he chases her off.
The problem is, the female shown no interest in the male :/ so frustrating!
The tank is heated to 84F and I am doing daily water changes and also feeding them on opposite sides of the tank.
They've been in there about 2 days now...should I keep going?

Can anyone help?? (>_<;)

[youlovegnats]

anyone?

[indjo]

What do you mean by "the female shows no interest".

Is the female swimming in the same way as the male.
Does the female occasionally follow the male.
Is the female colored up - plus does she have vertical bars.

[youlovegnats]

The female is pale so she shows no bars. She's not swimming in the "s" shape like the male is, but she does occasionally follow the male to the nest, then darts back into the plants.

[indjo]

If she isn't getting beaten up, you can leave her in there. Sometimes it takes a few days before they spawn. As long as you know she isn't stressed. Otherwise take her out and try later. But next time introduce her floating in a jar or something for a few days.

[youlovegnats]

alright. she's got shredded fins, but nothing major. That's what I did. I had her in one of those guppy breeder holders inside the tank, then let her out after the male built his nest.

[CynthiaRae]

Actually, I'm in a pretty similar situation right now. VT male and white CT female, been conditioning them, they were in the same divided tank for a week and I just moved the lady in today. Once I put her over there, after floating her safely in a cup for half the day, she immediately lost interest :/ Now Big Blue will chase her every so often, but not do any harm, and afterwards she'll float super still like she's near death.

Now, I've been frantically doing research to see if I should re-cup or separate them, and it seems that this is occasionally what happens. Sometimes the male has to coax the female to the bubble nest. This might be difficult if she's skittish or doesn't feel safe, so just give it time and your lady should get comfortable. But if she starts biting at him, then separate them and try again another day cause she is NOT having it lol.

[youlovegnats]

haha, thank you so much. No one's being seriously hurt, so I'll leave them in another day or two. The thing is, the bubble nest is starting to fade.. :/ and my male isn't blowing any new ones. D:

[indjo]

Originally Posted by youlovegnats

alright. she's got shredded fins, but nothing major. That's what I did. I had her in one of those guppy breeder holders inside the tank, then let her out after the male built his nest.

When the male builds a nest, he wants to breed - true. BUT not all females are ready nor willing to breed when ever we want them to. Leave the female floating for a few days to:
1. see if she always responds to the male (with vibrant colors)
2. give her eggs time to "ripen" so she will almost immediately spawn upon release - thus reducing her chances of getting seriously injured.

A once nest builder should always renew his nest if he is ready to spawn. Your fish has either lost interest because of the reluctant female. Or he wasn't healthy enough. See if he's still flirt swimming - if not, recondition them.

@Cynthia:
Some females just take longer for her eggs to "ripen". Usually after a few spawns, it will be faster/shorter time. I have females spawning the following morning and some take over 4 days.

Females biting males is usually caused by a less aggressive male - while the female is very enthusiastic, the male is sort of sluggish/slow (IME). I've heard of females being natural biters but haven't had any .... hope I never will.

[carzz]

I tried to breed benny and lady.... tried. he had a massive bubble nest, and all was going great. but she started to spaz, and swam faster then I can even run, and started jumping out of the water ...O.o? So i took her out. It wasn't worth it to me to loose a fish in the process of making some.