Fanning but no eggs???

Hey... My male is in his cave fanning like mad.
Finally got a torch to have a look inside and no eggs
Is this normal???
Not noticed him doing this before... He hasnt been out eating either.
Very confused lol

He is advertising himself

'Hey ladies, look how good I am at fanning, Bet you wana lay your eggs in this cave!'

totally normal behaviour, and a good sign if you have a gravid female in there. If you have a female in there do a 30-40% cool water change to see if you can trigger some love.

I noticed one of my girls was looking a bit fatter than usual about a week ago when I saw her up against the glass.
I wondered then if it was eggs then but she wasnt as big as the pictures i have seen on here or google of gravid females so left it that maybe she just needed to 'go poo' and I would just keep an eye out for her.
Did a small 'cool' water change yesterday (about 15%) and this morning she was sitting on his cave while he was inside.
I thought 'this is it' when I saw him fanning but no eggies

Have been watching all evening and seen her come out of the cave once and the boy go back in but no eggs...
Just had another quicky look and she seems to be hanging around the cave so just have to keep my fingers crossed!
They are in a comunity tank with mollies. Would the mollies eat the babies?? (If they have any lol!)

tilkifox wrote:

Have been watching all evening and seen her come out of the cave once and the boy go back in but no eggs...
Just had another quicky look and she seems to be hanging around the cave so just have to keep my fingers crossed!
They are in a comunity tank with mollies. Would the mollies eat the babies?? (If they have any lol!)

mollies are notorious scroungers for food and if the fry are small will more than likely eat them...
believe me I used to breed molllies and plec's together for a while... I now keep the mollies away from my breeding pair...

they will breed when good and ready, it is quite common for the male to fan in the cave even sometimes without any fry in there..

just be patient, alot of the time it is a waiting game...

It's unlikey they will get into the cave while dad's in there and it's rare he'll leave the cave until there big enough the swim away from danger.

You may find keep moving the cave to have a look is putting them off, they need to know it's safe to lay eggs and if mum thinks you might steal them she may decide against laying at all or dad may kick them out.

Maybe move the cave slightly closer to the glass so you can get a clearer view without putting your hands in the tank?
If this isn't an option leave them to it and check again in a few days time.

Best of luck.

The cave is tucked in the corner of the tank and I can just about see into it with a small penlight through the glass.
When I went to bed last night the girl was in there with the boy so I think she is interested but no joy this morning...
Just have to keep my fingers crossed...
I have a smaller tank that I have got my small longfins in. If they do 'get it together' I could move them into there away from the mollies.
When is best to move them? While dad is with the eggs or after they have hatched but still in the cave??
I would prefer to keep them in the main tank if possible but would be gutted if I lost the babies because of the mollies...

I kept swordtails once with my bn's and lets just say after seeing them pecking at my baby bn's i removed them and they never returned....

It may be easier if you moved the mollies to save on any complications with the eggs ect then when the BN's are a big enough size move the mollies back in? may be easier than trying to catch dad if he leave the cave.

Unfortunately there are a lot of mollies in there and the smaller tank isnt big enough to put them all in
Think the only option is to move the cave

My male has been doing the same recently so i have angled his favourite cave in the direction of the females favourite cave and i'm playing the waiting game now. She is much rounder than usual so I am hoping to have some good news soon. They are both feeding, i havent tried the cool water change trigger as i have some cherry shrimps in the same tank. Does anyone think the shrimps will mind a drop in temp?

Cheers,

Darren

I have been watching today and the girl is in and out of there all the time so keeping my fingers crossed

Finally!!!!!
There is a small clump of eggs right at the back of the cave...
Cant see them very well but dont want to disturb him by looking
Im worried about the mollies though.
I have 2 more tanks.
One is a 2 footer that has got some longfin 'babies' and some L059 'babies' and some molly fry. (see my pics for size etc)
The second is a fluval edge with some molly fry.
Both are well planted and have bubbles and bogwood etc in them. I was thinking of taking the molly fry out of the fluval and having the cave etc in there.
What do you think???
Also, if im gonna move the cave, is it best to do it when they are eggs or after they have hatched???

Yay!!!!
I moved mine before they hatched with no problems others may suggest different, i should think molly fry would be half as much trouble of mollies so maybe put them in the same tank and just see? Dad's bristles normally scare off most fish from trying to get into the cave and provided the fry are well fed they shouldn't be overly interested.
Maybe feed them just as you put the cave in to help them forget about it?

Best of Luck with them.

I have moved him and eggs...
I did a water change on the smaller tank with water from my main tank.
The water should be the same but I figured it wouldnt hurt
Its been about 2 hours now and he is still in the cave fanning away... I did manage to have a quick look through the glass once he was in the new tank and the eggs are still attached to the cave roof so hopefully everything will be ok...
I have left the molly babies in there for now as they are just completely ignoring him and the cave...
If they become a problem I can take them out later...
I think I'm probably more stressed than he is!
Im SO excited!

It's an exciting time and they should be hatched for boxing day Or there abouts, Dad needs your help alot more than you think now as it's quite normal for them to refrain from eating for a good 4-5 days so keep feeding him as you would normally but as soon as you notice 'wrigglers' make sure he has plenty of veg to fill up on and a little fatty stuff (blood worm, mysis ect)
I counted about 30 eggs when i looked at mine and ended up with 57 babies! so your going to have your hands full and you should end up with more and more eggs everytime after.

Got a feeling this is gonna end up a full time job!!!
How long/big before they can go to new homes???

Congratulations tilkifox

Anything over 3cms is usually considered a good size to start moving them.

Like I said before, Im so excited!
Sounds silly I know but I have never had fish eggs before let alone Bristlies!!!
Just wish I could get them a big tank on their own but slightly financially challenged!

We regularly move the cave when the fry have hatched but not yet left the cave, we do this as it's easier to remove the adult male from the fry tank, than it is to catch all the fry to move

Whatever works best for you and your bn's is the most important

and good luck..

The move seems to have gone ok as he is still fanning away!
Have read lots of scary stories about new dads though so hoping everything works out...

OMG just had a quick peak with my torch thingy and their wriggling!!!!!!!!!

Great Christmas present from your BN's

im so VERY excited!!!