# Another theory



## TheTyeMan (Aug 9, 2004)

I was thinking the other day about my reds and how they always seem to breed at the same time. go to bed one night no eggs and wake up the next morning with 2 nests full of em.

I know when female cats go into heat that it can set off other females. could this be the same for fish? is there a faramone(sp) out there that may do the same? has anybody ever heard anything about this before?

and no I'm not talking about my cat setting off my fish or my fish setting off my cat.


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## mantis (May 16, 2003)

yeah man, I have heard of people who have used water from a breeding tank to add to thier own. In the in the hopes of jump starting thier fishes hormones.

Im not sure on the results though?

Good question


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## TheTyeMan (Aug 9, 2004)

maybe next time mine lay eggs I'll get a 5er of water and freeze it for a week then thaw it out to room temp and dump it in to see if it has any effect.

I wonder if there are any fish faramones out there you can get?


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## Piranha Guru (Nov 24, 2005)

thetyeman said:


> I was thinking the other day about my reds and how they always seem to breed at the same time. go to bed one night no eggs and wake up the next morning with 2 nests full of em.
> 
> I know when female cats go into heat that it can set off other females. could this be the same for fish? is there a faramone(sp) out there that may do the same? has anybody ever heard anything about this before?
> 
> and no I'm not talking about my cat setting off my fish or my fish setting off my cat.


Populations of fish do breed or spawn at basically the same time. (It's a competition thing...it happens in humans too - women that live together are known to wind up on the same cycle).

Pheromones most definitely have a role in the timing, although they are usually used to let the males know they are ready. Other females can pick up on this, but most wild animals use environmental cues to know when to breed (for example: seasonal changes). Now if you did what Mantis suggested and it worked, then you could possibly rule out the cause being simply your tank conditions.

Hormone injections are used in aquaculture to induce fish to spawn, but I'm not sure about pheromones being added to the water.

I'm also not sure if freezing the water would damage the pheromones, but it is certainly worth a shot. Let us know what happens.


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## TheTyeMan (Aug 9, 2004)

well mine havn't done any breeding for about 6 months now ( I think the girls were getting alittle sore) but as soon as they do I'm gonna try it out


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## maniac_richboy (Feb 1, 2004)

mantis said:


> yeah man, I have heard of people who have used water from a breeding tank to add to thier own. In the in the hopes of jump starting thier fishes hormones.
> 
> Im not sure on the results though?
> 
> Good question


I've heard the same thing too. When a species of fish spawn, they release hormones into the water. So if you use the same water and dump it in a different tank, it usually triggers spawning of the other fishes too.


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## xtreme_s10 (Mar 14, 2005)

I've been wanting to try this for a long time. Removing water from my reds tank when they are spawning and putting it into my caribes tank and see if I can get them to spawn, but I'm gonna wait till I can get the caribes a larger tank. Just incase they get more aggressive. If anyone trys this keep us posted!!!!


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