# love in the 55



## Powder (Nov 24, 2004)

so after 2 days of my rbp swimming funny 
2 other p's have gone black and the most amazing thing is i saw it happen 
the one i belive is the female ( seems to be a bit bloated ) went from normal colors to almost jet black it was AWESOME 
they have since been diggin a bit and doin the mating dance 
a few nips here and there nothing to be concerned about 
one thing i did notice during this ( before the paired off ) one at a time each of my 3 other p's would open thier mouths as wide as they could and always withing sight of the female 
i dunno if this is like a show off thing or something to help the female pick her mate but something to think on anyway 
so now theyhave paired off and are kinda protecting the one spot where they have dug it up a bit 
so now i wait to see if they go on and get jiggy wit it 
only time will tell if there really is 
Love In The 55
ill keep ya all posted on what happens 
2 quick questions though
one should i change the water during this process and also should i wait to feed them or just stick to the schedule 
thanks in advance 
have a good day


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## CROSSHAIR223 (Jan 17, 2005)

I have bred 2 pairs at one time in a 55 and in my cases I would advise not to change nor feed during this process. Don't mess with them until either they stop dancing for a couple of days or you see eggs. If they stop dancing and you don't see eggs then what I would suggest is yes, a water change and with the water change make it noticably colder. When I switched to this method of water change I had a greater reaction with mating. I think the colder temp replicates that of falling rain. Soooo along with fresh water it's also colder as it would be in nature. Worked for me and hopefully works for you







Congrats on your fish getting jiggy though lol


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## Powder (Nov 24, 2004)

cool man thanks a bunch 
im like a kid in a candy store right now
unfortunatly im at work but i got my old lady keeping an eye on things right now
so yeah though thanks for the info im hopin things go well and i get some offsrping here got the next 2 days off so im gonna go dim the lights and put on some luther vandross and keep my fingers crossed
oh and another thing last night when my lights went off they completly stopped all siongs of breeding they lost thier dark color and stopped rubbing on each other and al that 
so i turned the lights back on and they went right back to the black color and started with the rubbing and diggin again 
so do u think i should leave the lights on or would they be more comfortable with the off 
thanks 
later


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## CROSSHAIR223 (Jan 17, 2005)

Sounds like they like to watch







lol anywhoo..... I always left the same surroundings in place when the started to mate. If I didn't say it already don't feed them either, every time I did they stopped mating ate and waited a couple of days to go back to it. I guess the like to work UP a meal


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## mantis (May 16, 2003)

Routine water changes are a good place to start. IME feeding is no big deal.

The action in your tank sound promising. Keep us posted.


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## mashunter18 (Jan 2, 2004)

good luck man.


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## Powder (Nov 24, 2004)

well a quick update mating signs still there they are still dark and rubbing on each other 
looks like thjey dug out the spot a bit more so its hasnt changed in a few days still waiting 
talk to ya later


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## CROSSHAIR223 (Jan 17, 2005)

Nothing personal to all the books and the concept of constant water changes. I think water changes should be used as a tool rather than a constant. I do agree with water changes but not 10, 15, 25 percent all the time. Again, only my opinion but water changes that I've done I do to replicate or represent the falling of rain. I find that if I do them at random rather than a set time every week I have far better results with breeding. Again just my opinion...............


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