Getting him back in the mood

I have a male longfin BN that has bred before and used to constantly fan in his cave entrance. About 4 weeks ago he had a batch of eggs in a very small log that I dont think were fertilised properly as they were all kicked out after a few days. Since then he has shown no interest in his cave, nor has he been interested in any gravid female I put in his tank. All he does is sit around all day on whatever piece of veg I have put in the tank for him. Another breeder says he has depression - from looking at the change in behaviour I would have to agree.
The question is, does anyone have any tips or tricks to get him happy and willing to father offspring again?

Cheers
Mic

MIX02U wrote:

I have a male longfin BN that has bred before and used to constantly fan in his cave entrance. About 4 weeks ago he had a batch of eggs in a very small log that I dont think were fertilised properly as they were all kicked out after a few days. Since then he has shown no interest in his cave, nor has he been interested in any gravid female I put in his tank. All he does is sit around all day on whatever piece of veg I have put in the tank for him. Another breeder says he has depression - from looking at the change in behaviour I would have to agree.
The question is, does anyone have any tips or tricks to get him happy and willing to father offspring again?

Cheers
Mic

how many males do you have in the tank???
And i would add a different cave aswell....just as an extra option for him...
but i would have to agree with the depression..ive seen my male do the exact thing and he still does, he hasnt shown no interest for about 6 months now...

Only him in the tank Curby - plus whatever females I add. I have changed caves a couple of times with no result. I did however put my newest female in yesterday and he has now moved back to one of the caves but has not started fanning.
Baby steps.........

put another male in there. a little competition....

could work Karl - I'm just a little hesitant as they are only 70lt tanks. Dont want an all in biffo

Naww Sounds like he was very disappointed with his last attempt..poor luv...depressed or disheartened...
I'd add more caves all in different positions...

If he has selected another cave since the new female went in then id leave it a week before you do anything else...

Wow.. this has happenned to a lot of people!!

Similar thing has happened to me just recently with my Peppermint breeder.

He has 2 girls he has bread with about twice each and the last batch was kicked out. I tried to save them but i don't think they were fertilised as they went mouldy in my siv over 3 days Anyways, since then he has been IN the cave but not fanning and hasn't done for about 4 months or more!!! Both females are gravid too!!

I had previously removed the non-breeding male (similar size but definitely not the breeder) to put him inside and now, come to think of it, each spawn I had had the other male in there too.. SO, this theory about the 'competition' has some merit!! I'm going to put the other male back in today and I will see how it all goes!!

Fingers crossed and I will report on my findings

Pete

hmmm maybe i should get another alb lf male... i mean come on the one i got is useless, he keeps booting the eggs

it has happened to me too.

I went the other way and gave him a holiday

I moved him into his own tank which i set up for him to be really nice. It was well cycled and quite well planted. I gave him a cave as well but also heaps of driftwood and rocks to hide in. I didnt see him for about a week but i knew he was still kicking as he ate all the vegies.

After about a month i added a female and he was on eggs the next day.