does this happen? or not

when the female has eggs like before she lays them should she be in the cave evan if shes not laying them but has them?

Laykoo, very good question -

though you will probably get a mix bag of replies on this as I have different breeding pairs and both behave differently.

I tend to find one pair behave where the males spends about 6-8 days fanning in his shell trying to get the females attention.

He will then chase her around the tank a few days and nights, then have a few days rest where the female keeps going to
the shell for a look and quick nip inside.

Then a couple of days later the female will swim into the shell with the male and quickly do what they need to.

Then a week or two later I have small wrigglers round the shell entrance and stuck to the tank.

That is my fave breeding pair - whilst the others just seem to behave completely different... lol...

will wathc for more replies...

good luck...

p.s. oh I forgot my female seems to eat more and hold more weight around her middle when she is ready to breed.
in fact last week I saw her trying to breed with the bronze cory in my tank... very funny.... lol..

My male spends all his time on the opposite side of the tank to his breeding cave (unless tempted by a tasty morsal). A few days before the eggs are laid he will start visting his cave, the stays will increase in length untill he his in there all the time. Mating usually occurs early the next morning.

Temperature is usually the trigger to mating, the tank has the heater set for 23-24c but during the summer it's normally at 27-29c if there are couple off cold nights then the temperature drops and he will go into mating mode.

Weve just had a couple off cold nights

I have some females that spend more time in the cave than the males do. It seems that each fish is different. If the female is gravid and hanging around a cave then its always a good sign, just need to get the males attention somehow, drop the temp with a cool water change and see how you go

very helpful info thanks guys

Very interesting. I wondered how much you can drop the temp without harming the other fish eg corys, doras, harlequins, neons etc.

I would be careful dropping the temp too much with cory's and tetra...

in my past experience small cory's often prefer lower temps but any quick difference in water change can influence their behaviour,
or mortality....

I lose tetra for various reasons water change can be one, as can be new tank syndrome....

I have also lost a couple of cory to gravel sharpness as well as too quick a change in temp....

it can be for various reasons.........

I wouldn't play with the temp if you have tetra, they are too sensitive to that sort of thing.

If you have fish that cant tollerate a temp change just give the tank a good water change with nice clean water, rain water if you can get it

what if the rain water is added from a water but and the water as fly and midge lavae in.

does the midge and fly lavae have a substantial effect upon the fish...

never thought about it before as I have never used it?

nope, might get annoying for you tho oce they hatch