How do you trigger a pair to breed?

[Davehs11]

Just wondering what methods you guys use to trigger your pairs to breed?

[waitaki]

you could try playing with the ph; up down 1 degree 1 day back up 1 degree the next;

[Davehs11]

thanks mate, ive given that a go ill see if they lay some eggs overnight.

[Hollowman]

Waitaki, not wanting to say that moving the Ph will not do the trick, I think that a simpler/safer way to get the pair in breeding mode would be lower the temperature by a few degrees for a few days, then raise it again . imo playing with the ph can be more dangerous to get right, and as we always say, stability is the key. That said, lowering the TDS in a breeding cube can also trigger breeding and fertilisation rates.

:)

H

[Davehs11]

Thanks H,
i'll let u know how it goes. I think another reason they rnt breeding is because the male is in the same tank as 2 femals and he breeds with both. had to put them both in the same tank because a pleco in my other tank liked the taste of discus slime coat :P

[Davehs11]

Breeding tubes are showing and ive seen the female have body shakes, no eggs yet tho :(

[Hollowman]

Exciting news. Did you change anything?

[Davehs11]

i lowered the temp by 3 degrees for 2 days then raised to back up to 30. appart from that just the regular water changes. ive also got another question, ive tried to keep a constant ph of around 6.8, however it seems to rise back upto over 7 within 24 hours. anyone know any reasons for this?

[Matt15]

My water changes are done using rain water from a 5000l tank. Everytime I do a water change I have 1-3 females wanting to spawn.

Temp certainly works.

[Davehs11]

Doesnt the rain water have small particles and contaminants collected from you roof? or do you filter the water first?
Thanks Dave.

[Matt15]

That certainly depends on the roof the water is collected from and yes - filtering.

I don't filter my water at all but my rain water is collected from a corrugated iron roof. Thats not to say its a perfect clean system but Iive never had any problems with my water... NEVER. Using tap water thou..... i don't even know where to start listing all the problems i had.

[Davehs11]

hahah fair enough matt. i wish i had a rainwater source.
Thanks Dave.

[Hollowman]

Grey clouds Dave, grey clouds :lol:

[Davehs11]

lol dont get many of them here in SA :(