Holding, Laying?

[nelly3164]

hi, one of my hongi females has retired to a small cave under a large rock and will not come out even for food. she has poked her head out a few times but refuses to come out completley. could she be holding or is there another reason for her behaviour?. the biggest male hongi will not put down his breeding colours and is skulking under a different rock, has the love thing happened?. thanks.

 

[Ginge]

Maybee look at her neck is it all swolen/saggy???

 

[nelly3164]

hi ginge, i cant really tell because she only pokes her lips out as such, and the cave is really dark to see into. i was going to try and look with a torch but i dont want to distress or unduly upset her.

 

[dthoffsett]

Sounds like holding to me. When my labs breed the female will hide for a few days, and the male will sulk in whatever pit he's dug. After a couple of days the holding female will usually come out as long as she doesn't feel threatened (me walking towards tank, the cats staring at the tank, movement of any kind ) if she feels threatend, she'll dart back into the rocks for awhile. After the female spits, I usually don't see her for a couple of days either.

Sorry to ramble on, but my advice would be to give it a few more days, if she'll still hiding for the most part, and she doesn't have a bulging throat from eggs, there might be a problem.

 

[nelly3164]

hi, thanks for the info. its funny you should say that because he has dug a pit under the rock he is skulking under, and thats where he is spending most of his time.

 

[dthoffsett]

Everytime I rearrange rocks in my tank my male gets ticked off and spends a day or two digging new pits and tunnels. He goes into his pits and sulks after every mating, and when the females ignore him and refuse to mate. I swear, some days he's like a petulant 2 year old.

Good luck with you female, I'm sure she's probably holding. You'll have a lot of fun when the fry shows up.

 

[nelly3164]

thanks for all the help.

 

[Ginge]

Do you have a fry tank set up or a place for the fry??? Or will you lety nature take its course.

 

[nelly3164]

i have a 24 gallon already up and cycled, in the future i am going to turn this into a nano tank but need to do a lot of research first, so for the timebeing this will be a fry tank. have got some friends that will exchange fish so i will know where the fry are going.

 

[dthoffsett]

i have a 24 gallon already up and cycled, in the future i am going to turn this into a nano tank but need to do a lot of research first, so for the timebeing this will be a fry tank. have got some friends that will exchange fish so i will know where the fry are going.

In order to save yourself a lot of trouble later, I'd recommend moving her as soon as you are sure she is holding. It will be a lot less stressful on her without the other fish to bother her, and will save you trying to wrangle newborn fry. Also provide a cave or two for her and the fry. After she spits in the fry tank, I'd feed her up for a couple of days and then move her back in the main tank. When you move her back in, you might want to rearrange rocks/territories in the tank so the other fish don't see her as an intruder.