CichlidFish.com - Fish That Think.

Heya guys

Those that read ive lost my first fish thread will see that the 2 compressiceps that i had in the tank with my o's have now died leaving the o's on their own.

Now im hoping to start breeding them, myself and my father have sexed them as a male and a female (vented), and they have lip locked and fought a bit and such, but does anyone have any ideas what i can do to get these guys to "tango"?

my tank is set up witha big peice of flat slate in the middle of the tank, there are 2 other rocks a peice of bogwood that they HAVENT moved at all. they have done a little digging over the ast few weeks but nothing serious. I have the tank at 82 degree's the PH is dead on 7 and i have added some black water treatment to spur them on but they seem to be less active than before i added the stuff lol.

Anyone got any suggestions as to what i can do to get them going?

can anyone help - ive been waiting a while for suggestions!!

Stats for tank:
Ammo: .5 - 1 mg/L
Nitrite: .25 mg/L
PH: 6
KH: 17.9ppm
GH: 232ppm

Anyone got any suggestions as to what i can do to get them going?

Changes if a pair of fish is at breedable size an shows breeding behavior but isn't breeding - changes usually help jump start them.

Like change the water temp 2 degrees ,since your at 82 drop it to 80.

try a larger then normal water change or more frequent water changes (it'll drop that amonia too)

and/or try different food

hrm, ive already changed the temp up from 26 to 28, used blackwater treatmeant and i dunno what else to do.

I will try a 40% water change to see what that does, hopefully alongwith more blackwater and fresh water that might kick start them.

The male is a good 7" and the female is a lil shorter at about 6 - 6.5".

they are showing signs of breeding behaviour, everytime they lay next to each other their tail fins go into a frenzy or an intermittent frenzy, the female is well up for it, always nudging him, shaking her tail and the male is just like "bah, not now!"

Well, ive tried the changes, did a 40% water change and added more blackwater, they have mouthed twice since but it wasnt even barely courting behaviour, about less than 5 seconds.

nothing else other than the usual fin shaking oh well.

anyone?! please help?

i really wanna see these two breed. they are both bordering 8" or so, should i let them grow up to full size first before thinking about it any longer? ie put carbon back in and stop with the blackwater treatment?

try dropping the temp,

also, you could move the decorer around this will make them assign new territories.

once youve moved all the stuff around start conditioning the fish by feeding alot (and i mean alot) of live and frozen food. theyll get fat on it, and it makes them think food levels are suitable for the young to grow into.

however. with only the 2 fish your not gonna loose alot to predation, and you may have 200 or more baby oscars growing upand eating you out of house and home.

think about the results before you start breeding. the chances are your LFS wont want any more baby Os and i doubt youll have the room to keep them

just things that have caused me problems when i used to breed catfish.

take it easy

What kind of filtration are you running? Its surprising that you would have any ammonia in your tank at all if you've had it established so long. I've never tried running an undergravel filter in a convict tank, but I'm told it doesn't work due to the fact the convicts are inclined to dig so much. Whisper makes a great filter that will run just about any breeding tank you want. If you establish biological filtration (with a box filter or other such thing) you shouldn't have any problem at all with ammonia or nitrite. You will have to change 20 percent of your water every three or four weeks, but that's it. I've read that convicts will breed in water up to 82 degrees, but your ph seems a bit low.

HI...firstly what i would do is NOT add any more black water treatment!! chemicals in a tank where fish are trying to breed( or where you want them to breed)is not a good idea.its not natural and could upset the balance.
another good idea is to seperate them for a few days by means of a tank divider.absence makes the heart grow fonder:) i have tried this with success!.....good luck keep us posted.

HI...firstly what i would do is NOT add any more black water treatment!! chemicals in a tank where fish are trying to breed( or where you want them to breed)is not a good idea.its not natural and could upset the balance.

Blackwater won't hurt fish or stop them from breeding.


Blackwater extract isn't a "chemical" it's just extract of peat moss (tannins),to naturally soften water :thumbsup:

another good idea is to seperate them for a few days by means of a tank divider.absence makes the heart grow fonder

:thumbsup:

feeding alot (and i mean alot) of live and frozen food. theyll get fat on it, and it makes them think food levels are suitable for the young to grow into.

:thumbsup: works for me too

ok i stand corrected.

but lots of ideas here to get you on your way!:thumbsup:

if none of these work then chances are that the oscars are not a true pair..?