We finally managed to get a male a couple of weeks ago for our poor lonely female. Well, as of today she's guarding her eggs

Just gotta keep a good eye on 'em now as the last female we had killed 4 males, every time they spawned she would kill him, and no matter how many hiding places we provided made any difference.

Do you have any dither fish in with the Taeniatus? I've had this with other Pelvicachromis, the females tend to beat up the males if there is nothing in the tank with them to defend the fry or eggs from.

To be honest, no we haven't tried dither fish. What would you recommend?

Cheers
Angi

I just had a couple of juvenile BN's in with mine and they were enough to keep the male busy, there were plenty of hiding places so they never came to any real harm apart from the odd nipped fin.

There ia an article HERE that recommends tetra's and barbs but I've always found that there to quick and can dart into a shoal of fry and be out again before the parents can react.

Thanks for that, I was somewhat concerned with tetra's etc, but will cobble up a couple of BN's and pop 'em in

Cheers
Angi

Well we didn't bother with the dither fish this time as didn't want to add fish at such a crucial time, and it seems that this time the female has been really good and let the male help. The fry are now free swimming and doing really well. Will be taking them out in about 3 weeks or so, that's the fun part lol

They're really coming along now, and missing out for a few days on food hasn't done them any harm whatsoever

Congratulations

Your new male must have a bit more about him than the previous ones.