# I pitched a tent



## primetime3wise (Sep 28, 2003)

now that i have your attention....

i thought i would document this in case it works well and someone does a search in the breeding forum and it helps them in the future.

as you can see, instead of moving my rb pair to my basement, as i didn't wanna move a 75g tank, i surrounded 95% of the tank with black construction paper. this was to give them privacy and my hope is that it will encourage them to breed with less distractions around them. they are in my bedroom with 3 other tanks in the room as well, so between feeding and maintaining the other tanks, and my visits in and out of the room, they get distracted, ESPECIALLY when i come near the tank for a feeding or near the baby tern tank on the bottom.

i chose black as it absorbs light and also hopefully less shadows if i am in the room. i left about a 3"x12" gap at both the top and on the side near the window. also a little gap on the other end of the tank, albeit much smaller. the larger is for feeding and both openings are gonna be used to look in and see if they mated. as u can see, most of the top is covered as well, just the openings for a little sunlight during the day.

before i enclosed the tank in the black construction paper, i rearranged the decor based on some researching i did in this forum, particularly. i moved the two driftwood pieces to the middle of the tank, and on each end side of the tank, i put in alot of fake plants.

other than that, i added more of a solution i purchased saturday that has peat extract in it as well as some other minerals common to the amazon. i don't know if it will make much of a difference because my huge hang-on filter seems to filter it out. i raised the temp to 84-85, as well.

there is also a smaller piraya, about 5", in the tank w/ them. i figured why not.

as a little background, i purchased the pair from another member, "DEMDESBRI", about a month ago. he had this pair and another in a smaller 65g tank, along w/ a 5th rb. both pairs spawned for him. i figure it is just a matter of time, with them acclimating to the tank being the largest factor. i thought i would try this approach and see what happens, if it encourages them, as they "freak out" when i get too close.
if they don't produce eggs w/in a week or two of this approach, i'm going to simulate the rainy season (bring the water level down to 1/4 or so, add cooler water and raise temp again). "demdesbri" noted that he didn't have to do much, if anything, to get both pairs to spawn. i think he may have down the lowering/raising the water level approach, but not much else. what comes to mind is that we both use great lakes' water (lake erie), with a normal ph range around 7.6-7.8, and pretty hard water, diff. than what p's see in south america.

if i forgot something i'll add it later.

comments are welcome, in particular does a powerhead matter either way, as for breeding purposes?

anyway, we'll see what happens...


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## Inflade (Mar 24, 2006)

nice looking contraption lol. Good luck it looks like you put a lot of thought into this. i hope it pays off for you.


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## wally43 (Feb 23, 2007)

nice job on that man hope it works maybe everyone will start doing it


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## ronzz (Oct 26, 2004)

good thinkin you could get results from this idea


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## ICEE (Feb 3, 2007)

nice idea I wanna c if it works


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## the_skdster (Aug 15, 2006)

So they get very little light all day?
I think the'd prefer to sleep the day away now.








Hope this works out for you.

I did the same, but only the one side that is high traffic. Plus dulled the 10k lights to about 1k using paper towels.








My pairs are at 84F steady and a cold water change every 7th day. Gravel vac on on the 4th day.


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## primetime3wise (Sep 28, 2003)

actually there is enough light getting in, through the openings near my windows.


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## the_skdster (Aug 15, 2006)

primetime3wise said:


> actually there is enough light getting in, through the openings near my windows.


Oh, kk.


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## primetime3wise (Sep 28, 2003)

decided to postpone it a little, turn the temp down to normal, 78, cuz the male, who i think is ready to breed, is taking a little bit of a beating from the female, who is indifferent to him. so i'm gonna wait for him to heal a little by lowering the temp which i hope curbs some of the aggression. this will also help with them acclimating to my presence.


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## the_skdster (Aug 15, 2006)

Any updates?


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