I'm wondering how stressful spawning has been on my poor Roxanne... Roman just wouldn't let her alone! I've noticed that in the last few days, she has been sleeping a lot during the day (in her favorite spot, under the giant shell) and only moving about once in awhile.

I'm not seeing anything or any other behavior that might indicate an illness, so I'm thinking that being battered about and dropping those eggs, as few as there were, has really stressed her. On the other hand, since she only dropped a few eggs and not a billion , she could be egg impacted?

I'm very inexperienced at breeding (or even having sexually-mature fish), so advice would be wonderful! I'm thinking maybe I should salt the tank a bit, or maybe encourage more egg dropping with the cool water technique. (It's raining today.)

ms muggles does this ..she will only drop a few and they will leave her alone for a while..then they will be at her again and she'll drop some more..which I think is ok ..just be sure he is not stressing her to much ..if so devide them but she will eventually stress and drop more. ..water change is good !! always a plus ..ms Muggles always act off while spawinng like hiding and sitting in the corners at the bottom of the tank ..but after she drops the eggs she is herself again

Oh, that's good to know. I'll try the cold water change technique later today and hope she drops more eggs. Haha, Roxanne is probably PMS-ing!!! Roman has left her alone for the time being, so she's just resting in her big shell.

Hmm... if she drops more eggs, can I put them in with my older fry? Or will the fry eat them?

Grrrrrrrr.... I typed a nice answer and the internet ate it!

I would be careful of mixing different ages of young fry. Even a week old fry is capable of eating eggs and newly hatched fry. Eggs also can carry fungus - and you do not want to introduce that to your fry tank if you can avoid it. Mix them if you wish when they grow a bit and are a bit closer in size.

A gravid female can sit lethargically because she is still carrying eggs - or it could be a problem. I would keep an eye on her. Whenever fish spawn, there is a tremendous amount of waste that is released. A single male in full breeding mode can drive the water into toxic parameters within hours. I usually have to change water in a spawning tank by at least 80% after a spawn to bring parameters back into control.

If the male and female were glutting themselves on eggs as she released, waste levels climb quickly, too. A good water change will go a long way to helping her to release the rest of the eggs. I would also put her on a limited fresh greens diet - for a while - and see if that helps her release, too. The eggs come out the same way as the poo.......

After the spawn, I put them in temp-matched dechlor water in a bucket, and did a 100% water change. The tank was GROSS. Now the tank is very clean, so I'm guessing that wasn't a problem. The params are also normal, and her spawning mate is doing just fine as far as I can tell.

I fed her ProGold and oranges after the spawn. It will be peas tonight!

I will be careful to separate my fry of different ages should there be more eggs. I just need to clean out my 10gal for the older fry.

Thanks Carol! You always give great advice.

Hopefully Roxanne's not to stressed out anymore.
Great info Daryl, never thought to consider the males could muck up a tank so quickly!