my super red colony

hi i have a colony of 7 super reds they were regular breeders every 28 days but for some reason they have stopped breeding for the last 3 months any suggestions to get them going again ive just took 4 of the 8 caves out that were in there to try and narrow there options down there are 2 males and one female is quite fat and ready to spawn but he is just pratting about any ideas much appreciated they bred from august every month till january this year then just stopped any triggers to get them going would be gratefully appreciated.

iv heard that slowly lowering the water level and then filling up with a semi cold water. plus lots of food simulates the start of the rainy season which is when they tend to spawn. or he may just be out of condition as they tend not to eat while gaurding eggs and they can end up dieing

i have 2 males and they are both in awesome condition and i do cold water changes every week as per normal it has happend to a friend of mine aswell as his 3 groups of albino, reds , and l144s have stopped aswell also another friends reds have stopped breeding aswell it must be something down to barometric pressure thats high thats all i can put it down to.

is there and chance you would consider letin a male and female go

ive just sold a pair last week got £80 for them mate ive got 6 growing on now so may in the future mate

it might just be the pressure like you mention. i have the devils own time trying to get my lot to breed over the summer here cost we sit in a nice high pressure zone. dont get me wrong, im not complaining...have you seen Australia's weather, its AWESOME! It just makes breeding bristlenose a bit hard. over the winter it becomes much easier. and if your males have bred for that long straight then they may just need a break. the combonation of the two is prob your biggest issue.

Just do what I do. make friends with the weatherman and use him to predict your triggering times. If you see a front is coming then get everything ready. Soon as it breaks then do your large water change, then follow it up with a few smaller ones over the next few days if you still dont see any eggs. after 3 smaller changes i would give it a rest though, wait til the next time as you dont want to induce a mini cycle which may cause issues.

the other thing that you can try is to move them around. I have found that if i shift the breeding pairs around I often get one or two fo them spawning. I suspect this is a last ditch effort to get some babies in the face of expected death (even though they dont die, the thought they might triggers a spawn)

other than that you may have to wait for a few months for the weather to play ball a bit more.

just noticed both males caved opposite ends of 4ft tank and fanning female looks a bit thinner aswell heres hoping

steve,
I always add one bucket of mild water and one bucket of house temp water and that seems to work regular for mine

On another matter I am always on the lookout for 3-5 super reds

here 's me keeping my fingers crossed

all the best

LJ

ive just artificially hatched a booted clump of eggs out thought 40 to 50 at fist but just over 100 wrigglers hatched yesterday so heres hoping i manage to raise them .