# Carpintis breeding behaviour and stress??



## cambrew (Nov 4, 2013)

Hi everyone I have only just recently come across this site and seems like an excellent resource and has an amazingly large amount of knowledge between all the users.
I have recently bought a 6" Male Carpintis to go with my 4" Female which are also housed with a featherfin catfish and 2 bristlenose. Within the first 5 - 10 mins of introducing the male they seemed to have a bit of a fight and after that have paired up and are very happy together. For the past week the female has been showing her breeding colors and have both been nesting for the whole time but have yet to produce any eggs. 
Is it going to cause any problems having these fish together for their whole lives? There is no aggression between the 2 but was wondering if over time will they need to be split up? Will they both stay in breeding mode as long as they are together?

Thanks heaps, Cam


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## notho2000 (Dec 8, 2012)

More than likely, the pair will at some point, get "out of sync" with one another, meaning the male will want to breed, but the female won't be ready. The male's aggression against the female could result in her being seriously injured or killed. If the tank is large and there are lots of refuges, she might keep out of harms way ... if your lucky. The chance of the pair bond holding up will be improved by the presence of 'target fish', fish that will distract the pair from aggressing on one another. Depending on the size of the tank, putting a few other ciclids of another species or two will deflect the aggression to these other fish. The catfish and bristlenose will not really help the situation but are fine in there. They could predate on any spawn though, being nocturnal. Species like Thorichthys meeki (Firemouths) or Cryptoheros nigrofasciata (Convicts) would work just fine or some young Paratheraps.


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## cambrew (Nov 4, 2013)

The females egg tube has been getting bigger over the last few days and is hanging out about 4-5mm now and is getting rather rounded. Is this normal? The same situation happened when my Firemouths were breeding but she ended up being killed by the male firemouth.The male also has a bit of a protrusion now as well.


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## cambrew (Nov 4, 2013)

After removing all the other fish in the tank my carpintis pair spawned last night and was wondering a couple of things. 
I generally do a 20% water change every 3 days and am supposed to do a water change today, should I still do the water change or put it off? Also should I cover the filter inlets or should they be fine?


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## mlancaster (Jul 24, 2009)

Hi cambrew,

I am not sure on the water changes. I attached foam filter pads/blocks to my filter intakes when I have fry to dissipate water flow and keep them from getting sucked up into the filter.

If possible could you post some images of the pair.

Thanks,
Matt


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## cambrew (Nov 4, 2013)

I am a bit unsure how to post pictures :roll: ???


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## FedEXguy (Feb 24, 2005)

I think you need 5 posts total before you can post pictures...that used to be a requirement, at least.


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## cambrew (Nov 4, 2013)

And I have only made 4.... Oh wait no 5 now :lol:


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