Lights out

I had a pair that I'd put together, first time parents they were great, we got to 3 weeks free swimming and the fry disappeared, I had the feeling it was Dad who was doing all the work, and after they fry went, Mum retreated to the plant/filter or behind the slate, didn't eat for ages, I got the feeling he was blaming her, eventually I did a swap this week, once in a new tank (away from him), she's swimming about and seems happy again.

New female is bigger, and was a bully in the original tank, now with this male she's been facing the glass or the plant, he's been cleaning, and looks like he's trying to persuade her to spawn, once I turn their light out, she comes out and swims with him, I've even spotted her cleaning........ stupid question, should I just keep the tank light off?? Is she just shy?? lol She's like a different fish!! When she was in the previous tank, she seemed fine under lights.

Am I reading too much into this behaviour or can fish be fickle???

My attitude tends to be, "if it's working, don't try to fix it", so if she seems happier with the light's off, it may be better to leave them off.

One possible explanation, when frightened, fish can release a fright chemical which warns others in the vacinity that there may be danger about, that in turn can make others more nervous and prone to releasing the fright chemical too. In the wild these chemicals soon disipate, but in the confines of an aquarium they can linger, causing the inhabitants to become nervous. If the first female was frightened by her mate turning on her, it's possible that the second female became nervous due to lingering fright chemicals.

Carbon filtration, water changes, lots of hiding places/cover and dimmer lighting is usually the answer in these situations.

Rob you're so helpful many thanks!! I just hope other people solve some of their problems by my never ending questions!! lol   

Well I kept the lights out... and she's rewarded me by spawning this afternoon  , he was an excellent dad first time till the fry disappeared at week 3  , not sure who was the guilty one, so I'll keep my eye on them. Previous female having a great time in her new tank looks very happy!

My other pair of blues have spawned again this afternoon, so I'm going to cover the front of the tank this time and let them get on with it, see if that works.

They're both young pairs, but if they get it right I could be very busy in a weeks time!!      

fingers crossed for you

An update, the light out pair have wrigglers, looking promising, they're both being attentive, although not quite agreeing where the wrigglers should be, but I've got my fingers crossed.

Sadly the blues have munched them again, I had the front of the tank covered, so I now know thats not the problem, they had an enormous spawn as well, would have been fantastic to raise that many. Anyway I'm in no rush, I'll feed them up and see what happens next time, I'll give them a few more attempts, maybe after my holidays in June I'll have a try and raise them myself if they still haven't the hang of it.

Ohh well, I had 30 odd free swimmers yesterday, parents looked like they knew what they were doing but I think by tomorrow Ill have none left   

To be fair their first attempt, so I'll see what happens next week   At least you don't have to wait too long!!

Oh well,
That they got them to free swimming is good, next time hopefully they'll do better still