Over the last week

[Rohan Richardson]

I've had my nuggets in the same cave and now my Lda33 is fanning heavily only i don't know if it is distress or actual fanning because i had the under gravel stop (so i couldn't restart it and then the external cannister stopped as well so i had to put an internal filter in but the weather did change over the last week to storms so it could be distress or an actual breeding.
I just did a water change in case it was toxicity and in an attempt to improve the water quality if it was a breeding.
Now i guess i've got to wait and see.
Rohan R

[Richard B]

Did you measure the water parameters after the U/G stopped & then after the cannister stopped & then after the internal was installed? it would have been interesting to see the results. How long was the period on no u/g & then no cannister?

Stranger things have triggered breeding in some species. have you seen the gill movement on the fishes - do they look stressed or healthy? The lack of filtration is worryiin. was there any cloudiness of the water due to dead bacteria before the internal went in?

I look forward to seeing how this develops & hope things work out for the good

[nvcichlids]

Ooo.. This is exciting.. keep us posted as I would love to try a group of nuggest some day (after I know how to spawn them lol..)

Any pictures of the set-up and the fanning?

[Rohan Richardson]

The under gravel had been off some a few weeks, it's safe because the water under the plate is colder than the tank water so the toxins don't rise (basic thermodynamics) but i think the external cannister had died for about 3-5 days before i reallised and put in the internal cannister.

The water has a fair amount of tannins in it which they seem to prefer )so the water looks like tea), i think it was a combination of no current and then the addition of the replacement cannister coupled with the storms (came within a day or three).
He doesn't look stressed as his breathing is normal and the girl looked like she had a golf ball in her (literally that gravid) so i might have cracked the egg first i'll just have to wait and see.
He was literally rocking from side to side with the motion of his pectoral fins (i couldn't see the ventral fins because i didn't want to look to to closely).
Rohan R

[plec0]

grab the female and throw her into the males cave and put a door on it!! lock it up!! they ready to do it all night loongggg.. goodluck seems like you triggered a SPAWNING MY BOY.

[krazyGeoff]

Hi Rohan,
My 2 large male LDA33's have been fanning like madly over the last couple of weeks, and destroying the tank, and sitting in caves with their tails out, and the females are sitting on top of the caves. I would have thought that if I could get some of your Melbourne weather over here then I would be in business

And I think you under estimate when you say you have had some storms lately
Wasn't it described as a once in 100 year super storm cell?

Hopefully some of the storm is comming over the tasman to NZ

I did have 8,200 litres / hr of circulation in a 540 ltr tank, but increased it to 12,000 litres/hr including 1,400 litres/hr directly into the cave that the alpha male has now occupied. When he comes out he sits as close as 3 inches from the powerhead with his face looking directly at it.

I know LDA33 are not nuggets, but the behaviour is similar to what you mention particularly the current. And interestingly I had been experimenting with having the circulation reduced by 30%.

Good luck.