2nd time spawning and still no eggs!!!!!!!!

[trace&steve]

i have a female venustus shes fully grown id say shes about 18-19cm and my males around the 22cm mark they have spawned twice since ive had them the owner before me said she has had hundreds of fry before, both times her tube has come out and they seem to be spawning but shes not laying any eggs

she looks like shes got a full belly and shes in great health any ideas :-?

please

[trace&steve]

anyone!!!!!!

[ryanjury]

When you say no eggs are you actually watching the entire spawning to see if she is laying any? Or are you noticing a day later she isn't holding anymore (ie she spat early?). Sometimes males are infertile but the fish usually hold for a few days before spitting/eating the eggs if they are.

I have noticed in my big tank where I put all my breeders when I am not breeding from them that this happens all the time, fish get fat, egg tubes drop down but the fish don't end up holding. This is no issue for me because if they are in this mixed tank I am not breeding from them as they could be hybrids, are you attempting to breed yours in a mixed tank?

I don't know the sellers and don't know if this has happened here but I have found that sometimes sellers turn 1 possibly male and female into the best breeding group you have ever seen to sell them, but if you haven't seen them selling fry it is hard to believe. I think I remember (correctly me if I am wrong) something about this group being dodgy when you got them something about 1m and a few breeding females turning into multiple males and 1f?

[trace&steve]

yes no eggs at all!!!! and yes i watch i entire spawning they are in my 700litre with a breeding group of red empress and yellows theres no cross breeding at all..

should i put them in a tank of there own to see what happens?

when i brought the group from up north the last owners said there was one male and 3 females which ended up being 2 males and 2 females!!!!

so i re-homed the other male and i have a new female that i joined to the group shes the smallest but it was one of the bigger females that tryed spawning and her tube has come out but no eggs both times!!!!

would a

When you say no eggs are you actually watching the entire spawning to see if she is laying any? Or are you noticing a day later she isn't holding anymore (ie she spat early?). Sometimes males are infertile but the fish usually hold for a few days before spitting/eating the eggs if they are.

I have noticed in my big tank where I put all my breeders when I am not breeding from them that this happens all the time, fish get fat, egg tubes drop down but the fish don't end up holding. This is no issue for me because if they are in this mixed tank I am not breeding from them as they could be hybrids, are you attempting to breed yours in a mixed tank?

I don't know the sellers and don't know if this has happened here but I have found that sometimes sellers turn 1 possibly male and female into the best breeding group you have ever seen to sell them, but if you haven't seen them selling fry it is hard to believe. I think I remember (correctly me if I am wrong) something about this group being dodgy when you got them something about 1m and a few breeding females turning into multiple males and 1f?

[ryanjury]

Hmm that is weird, does she get skinny straight away or hold the eggs, maybe she is egg bound, but that usually looks fairly obvious as they get huge..

You must have alot of time on your hands to watch all the hours of spawning that fish do to ensure no hybrids.. In saying that it would be fairly obvious if giraffes and empresses were to cross they both have very distinctive fry so you should be ok in that regard.

Have any of the other girls bred? I would have kept the 2nd male it is always handy to have 2 if they get along and 2 males in the same colony makes them breed better as they have to compete against another male.

I would try them in their own 5fter or something like that to give them some room and peace and quiet to sort themselves out, maybe the empresses are putting them off I have found empresses are really good at stealing eggs and hang around any spawning to try and nip in and eat a few, even if they don't get any they stress the breeding fish out.

[trace&steve]

i did wonder my self to think shes egg bound her tummy is rather large and where her tube is looks like somethings kinda hanging out her tube could there be something blocking her tube :-?

i had a look and it seems to be abit raw with redish blood this is what happened last time and after a day of trying to spawn her tube goes away and she still has the full belly and eats per normal!!!!!

if she is egg bound what should i do or is there anything i can do :-?

Hmm that is weird, does she get skinny straight away or hold the eggs, maybe she is egg bound, but that usually looks fairly obvious as they get huge..

You must have alot of time on your hands to watch all the hours of spawning that fish do to ensure no hybrids.. In saying that it would be fairly obvious if giraffes and empresses were to cross they both have very distinctive fry so you should be ok in that regard.

Have any of the other girls bred? I would have kept the 2nd male it is always handy to have 2 if they get along and 2 males in the same colony makes them breed better as they have to compete against another male.

I would try them in their own 5fter or something like that to give them some room and peace and quiet to sort themselves out, maybe the empresses are putting them off I have found empresses are really good at stealing eggs and hang around any spawning to try and nip in and eat a few, even if they don't get any they stress the breeding fish out.

[ryanjury]

If she is egg bound she should absorb the eggs and then go back to normal but I wouldn't expect it to happen more than once if there wasn't something genetically or physically wrong with the fish.. Some say epsoms salts and feeding lots of veges can help ease it but I don't know if that would work.. Worst case the eggs don't get absorbed or passed, they go septic inside the fish and massive bacterial infections set in which kill the fish (if untreated).

Some also suggest a gentle squeeze to help get the eggs out, again I am not so keen..

[trace&steve]

hmm ok i thought about giving her a gentle squeeze but she quite big might have to get the other half to hold her so is there a certain way to squeeze....

If she is egg bound she should absorb the eggs and then go back to normal but I wouldn't expect it to happen more than once if there wasn't something genetically or physically wrong with the fish.. Some say epsoms salts and feeding lots of veges can help ease it but I don't know if that would work.. Worst case the eggs don't get absorbed or passed, they go septic inside the fish and massive bacterial infections set in which kill the fish (if untreated).

Some also suggest a gentle squeeze to help get the eggs out, again I am not so keen..

[ryanjury]

Dunno google is your friend.. I was researching it for my apistos as I have never seen it in my africans so wasn't keen to go squeezing a 2cm long fish.

Let us know how you get on!

[trace&steve]

yeah goggles great ive tryed looking for egg bound fish ill let you know how i get on

thanx for your help