Some advice. It seems spring has hit my tank. 2 days ago my female oranda Smudge seemed to be swollen with eggs. I haven't seen any spawning behavior there is a male in with her. However occasionally she would spurt an egg or two and he would follow and eat them. Maybe 10-20 eggs in all. She is still very swollen and no activity since then.
To make it more complicated I had to put my other 2 orandas in the main tank, 1 male 1 female. So in the main tank I have 3 girls and 2 boys. All the girls this morning are very pregnant looking and no action.
My consern is no eggs being released, I don't want to have any of these girls have impaction (one is suseptible to this). What can I do to encourage the mating so the eggs will be released?
Then tank temp is around 76-77, I know a little warmer, but it is kept there all the time. I leave the light on from 7 am to 10 pm, so expanding the light hours is really not an option.
Anyone have any suggestions????

hmm i cant help you laurie, but my female does this all the time, she has laid 8 clutches with out a male so far, and is currently egg bound (for the 4th time) the male doesnt touch her. I am very eager to see whut people say. How do you help your little one get over her egg-boundness?

Meg unfortunetly the one who has problems with impaction it leads to Dropsy in her..........twice and I have managed to bring her thru it both times.

The fish I am more conserned about this time is very preg looking and so far isn't showing signs of problems, I am just a little paranoid that the same thing will happen to her.

mabey u shold get anougher male but a larger one. My large one is like the domonet fish and he makes the female lay more eggs

Laurie, wasn't Smudge the one with the dropsy?
Have you tried holding the girls, and very gently rub against their tummy, in the direction of their anal area?
And don't give them anything to eat, nothing, for a few days. Raising the temp might also help the male along to get "the idea". It is so darn sad that its always the same girls who seem to have the problem.

Do you have any kinds of plants in the tank, fake or otherwise? Plants might help stimulating, since thats the place where the eggs usually get deposited.
Keep an eye on the girls, I hate for Smudge to run into yet another problem again...

Thanks Andrea, actually it was Sapphire with dropsy, Smudge has been healthy (knock on wood). There is plants in there, not alot 3 of them. 2 small ones and 1 large one.
I haven't done the "rub" thing yet, I will give that a try tomorrow. I just wasn't sure how to do it, but from what you said it seems pretty easy. Do you gently squeeze like milking a cow with two fingers or rub with just one?? I would definitly be gentle.

I have come to the conclusion that Jester (and Sapphire) are older, probably past "prime". He is too big I think to not know what to do, but seems gung ho for a second and then it is no big deal sorta thing. Much like an old man who thinks "he is all that but then again realizes what effort it takes and the call of food beckons".

I went against better judgement on keeping Teddy qt'ed (I know i know), I had to get Sapphy back into the iso tank. When she started to swell I have nightmares of dropsy. So her and CB are back in the iso tank and she is already back to normal size. I think putting these 2 girls together causes problems. A while back I thought it was because of the boys being in there, now I think the girls "get on the same time frame" like we women do when we are all together. They compete for the boys' attention.
So with Teddy being a boy I thought maybe he'd help her out, but nothing yet. He is big enough I think, however is so small compared to "the water cows" as Ike calls them.
I have watched him close since sat and seems pretty healthy so I switched them around.
Squirt on the other hand is also swollen. This is her first time. I know for sure. I got her very young and watched her grow past all of them. (a whopping 7 inches she pushes). Nothing from her yet, she isn't as swollen as Smudge, but Smudge is built so short and fat she "waddles" even when not pregnant..........so the poor thing practically rolls in the water now.

I will update you tomorrow to see how things went.
Should I see an immeditate response to the "rubbing" or will it take a while????

If she is ready to drop the eggs sometimes all it takes is holding the fish, and she begins dropping eggs. The natural instinct of wiggling while in your hand helps the expelling along as well. Otherwise I gently use the thumb and index finger and rub very gently along the belly of the fish, towards the anal area. Don't push hard, just a gentle rubbing. If eggs don't come out then, let it be and don't try harder.....
Let me see what Ingrid on the Puregold website says about egg impactation....

Okay, here she goes....
"The recommendation for egg binding is epsom salts, heat and antibiotic food."
Which, come to think of it, sounds just like the treatment for dropsy.

Yeah sounds exacatly like treating dropsy. Heck I can do that....

I didn't try the rubbing today........I won't go into it but not a good day. So tomorrow after work if I am able to keep any energy I will give it a go. Thanks Andrea!!