[Peacock88]

Today I was watching my fish (55gal, 1 peacock, 1 sci. fryeri, 5 lab. hongi, and 2 acei) and the acei have been spawning. It's been awhile since her last batch, unfortunatly the eggs were unfertile or she swallowed them early, and she looks pretty plump. Her tube has yet to show though Anyway for about 10 seconds she had a spaz attack and started rubbing up against all the rocks and freaking out. Then she was fine. Note there is no sign of ich on her at all, never had the problem.

The male was also fluttering his fins and shaking at her, probably to get her to spawn.
Last night i did clean off all the rocks (brown, disgusting algea) and did a 50% water change.
The female is bigger than the male by an inch so there's no aggression probs with him.
Don't know if that is good to know or not but just want to know if she's getting ready to spawn or if she's sick?

 

[cichlidaholic]

Are you sure you have a male acei? Since you think the eggs were unfertile, I have to ask. It could have been two females, going through the motions of a spawn, and this would explain why the known female seems to be showing dominance (or trying) towards the other acei.

My males were much larger than my females, for what it's worth.

Sounds like two females to me, trying to work it all out...

Acei do much better in larger groups, I'd want at least 4 or 5 of them total.

 

[Peacock88]

Actually they have already spawned successfully producing over 40 fry in all.
I know i have one female and one male. The last batch may have been unfertile or she accidentally swallowed them. I don't know what happened.

I'm in the process of setting up a 90 gallon and have a desired fish list. I will have 5 acei.

Their size is so different because I got the female first and the male later on.

Anyway I just don't know why she had a spazim and stuff. She wasn't shaking for dominace or mating, it was like a twitch. I haven't seen her do this before and hasn't done it since.
Could she be ready to spawn or is it something else??

 

[cichlidaholic]

Okay, sorry! You didn't say that first time around, and my acei fooled me on their sex, so I know how easy it is to be wrong! :thumb:

She isn't doing that anymore, right? Behaving normally now?

I would keep a very close eye on her and watch for any unusual behaviour. Without any other signs or symptoms of a problem, it's hard to get another plan.

If she starts flashing again, watch to see if the flashing is focused on the gill area...

 

[Peacock88]

Okay. That's what it looked like, around the head/gill area.

Whenever i go around the tank she thinks it's feeding time, they're pigs, so i have to wait till they calm down.
But i will report back later to see if she does it again. I may have to go to the Illness section and discuss there if things get worse. Well you'd probably know well enough :thumb:

I'll test the water too to see there's amonia or something in the water.

Thanks for the help

 

[cichlidaholic]

I'll test the water too to see there's amonia or something in the water.

Good idea...

 

[Peacock88]

So i tested the water and amonia came up 0 and so did nitrite. Nitrate was only 10 ppm which is pretty good. Another water change can fix that right?

My water is naturally hard with a good, high ph. I think the water is fine.

She hasn't done any more flashing or showed strange behavior. She's acting perfectly normal.
Do you think she's getting ready to spawn again? Her tube isn't out but the male is trying to get her attention and fluttering his fins.

 

[cichlidaholic]

No need to lower those nitrates. I don't worry about mine until they go over 20. Unless you've got lots of live plants, you can always expect a reading of 10-20.

I'm not sure what you witnessed. I've seen fish do what you describe before and never do it again. Sometimes the flashing is all part of the display for a fish of the opposite sex, or even another fish of the same sex when territories are in question.

I'd just keep a close eye on her for the time being.