Why aren't my Multies Breeding? What am I doing wrong??

[Leeman75]

I've mentioned this in some other posts before, but I don't think I've ever come right out and asked the question. I've had my Multies for almost 5 months now and no fry yet. I've been trying to just be patient and just be ok with them not breeding, but I'm getting really disappointed that apparently I'm the only one who can't seem to have any breed despite being warned that they will over-run my tank.

Here's specifics about the tank:
29 Gallons
Running since April
Multies are adults
Breeder sold me as a breeding group (1 male, 3 females)
They are otherwise very healthy
There was a Dwarf Gourami in the tank for a few months, but he got moved a few weeks ago as I was worried that somehow he was a cause
There are 6 Zebra Danios who mainly stay at the top of the tank. They don't get chased away by the Multies and both species seem indifferent, at best, towards each other
Temp is kept around 79
It's a long since cycled, overfiltered, understocked tank so parameters are not even something that I really monitor. Last check was 0, 0, 5-10, Ph is about 8.2
I do weekly WCs of usually around 30-40%
There are about 30 shells in the tank and dragonstone rocks in the middle
I feed a variety of dry and frozen foods from cichlid pellets, flakes, Vibra Bites, Frozen Daphnia...

Their behavior doesn't seem to indicate any breeding behavior really. They barely even go near the shells unless they are super freaked out. Some of them don't even really hide much even when I do the WC. They are usually hanging out free-swimming in the mid-tank region. There is one that goes in and out of some cave parts of the rocks.

They do move sand about and change the piles from time to time, but nothing seems to come out of it.

What am I doing wrong?? Why does it seem like all other Multie keepers have more than they can handle of breeding and fry and I can't get a single one? I am constantly scanning a best I can to see any evidence of fry, but the Multies don't even seem to hang around within an inch or two of there shells, which I would think they would if they had fry.

Looking for any suggestions because I'm getting pretty discouraged.

 

[Flyfisha]

My suggestion is to move the danios out and are you sure you have a male.
it’s impossible to say for sure but the male should be roughly 25% bigger.

 

[Mazeus]

I've mentioned this in some other posts before, but I don't think I've ever come right out and asked the question. I've had my Multies for almost 5 months now and no fry yet. I've been trying to just be patient and just be ok with them not breeding, but I'm getting really disappointed that apparently I'm the only one who can't seem to have any breed despite being warned that they will over-run my tank.

Here's specifics about the tank:
29 Gallons
Running since April
Multies are adults
Breeder sold me as a breeding group (1 male, 3 females)
They are otherwise very healthy
There was a Dwarf Gourami in the tank for a few months, but he got moved a few weeks ago as I was worried that somehow he was a cause
There are 6 Zebra Danios who mainly stay at the top of the tank. They don't get chased away by the Multies and both species seem indifferent, at best, towards each other
Temp is kept around 79
It's a long since cycled, overfiltered, understocked tank so parameters are not even something that I really monitor. Last check was 0, 0, 5-10, Ph is about 8.2
I do weekly WCs of usually around 30-40%
There are about 30 shells in the tank and dragonstone rocks in the middle
I feed a variety of dry and frozen foods from cichlid pellets, flakes, Vibra Bites, Frozen Daphnia...

Their behavior doesn't seem to indicate any breeding behavior really. They barely even go near the shells unless they are super freaked out. Some of them don't even really hide much even when I do the WC. They are usually hanging out free-swimming in the mid-tank region. There is one that goes in and out of some cave parts of the rocks.

They do move sand about and change the piles from time to time, but nothing seems to come out of it.

What am I doing wrong?? Why does it seem like all other Multie keepers have more than they can handle of breeding and fry and I can't get a single one? I am constantly scanning a best I can to see any evidence of fry, but the Multies don't even seem to hang around within an inch or two of there shells, which I would think they would if they had fry.

Looking for any suggestions because I'm getting pretty discouraged.

How many do you have?

 

[Mouska]

What kind of filter do you have, and how many shells? My female multies are usually a darker color and look a little more grey in’s brown. My females also have a more full belly that is more rounded off. In my opinion it seems like you have all males because my females almost never leave their shells while the males are swimming around their pits or staying at the middle part of the tank and when they are disturbed they go close to their shells. Could we have pictures of the tank?

 

[Leeman75]

My suggestion is to move the danios out and are you sure you have a male.
it’s impossible to say for sure but the male should be roughly 25% bigger.

After seeing this, I moved the Danios out during the weekly WC this morning. Fingers crossed!

How many do you have?

I have 4. According to the Breeder, 1 was male, the other 3 female. I really can't tell them apart. There are two that are a little bigger than the other two. So, if the breeder got it wrong, it should still be split.

What kind of filter do you have, and how many shells? My female multies are usually a darker color and look a little more grey in’s brown. My females also have a more full belly that is more rounded off. In my opinion it seems like you have all males because my females almost never leave their shells while the males are swimming around their pits or staying at the middle part of the tank and when they are disturbed they go close to their shells. Could we have pictures of the tank?

I have 2 filters. One is a Pengiun 350 and the other is a large Sponge filter. I'll take a picture shortly.

 

[Mouska]

I have 2 filters. One is a Pengiun 350 and the other is a large Sponge filter. I'll take a picture shortly.

I don’t think multies like a lot of flow so the penguin might have to be removed.

 

[Leeman75]

I don’t think multies like a lot of flow so the penguin might have to be removed.

Huh...that's something I had not even considered....although it's a 29, so it's pretty tall.

 

[Mouska]

Huh...that's something I had not even considered....although it's a 29, so it's pretty tall.

I think I have a tetra filter on my 29 gallon and before it was planted the flow would get to the bottom of the tank. Now plants are in the way of the flow.
Also how many inches of sand is in the tank?

 

[Leeman75]

I believe that I started with 3 inches of sand, though it's hard to tell now because of how they make their piles. There are some low spots that they have some shells in that they've cleared all the way down to the bottom of the tank.

Here's some (really bad) pictures. The first is of the tank overall but was taken some time back. I'm including it because the pictures that I took today, I was trying to get the fish themselves, so you can't really see the shells...though there are plenty in the tank.







Here's a few more. First one is the full tank today. Second picture has all 4 fish in the frame. Last one has one peeking out from the cave. This one spends a lot of their time in that area.

 

[Mouska]

I like the look of the tank but based on those pictures it seems like you have all males.

 

[Leeman75]

I like the look of the tank but based on those pictures it seems like you have all males.

Are you serious?? That's really disappointing!!

 

[Mouska]

Are you serious?? That's really disappointing!!

I’m not 100% sure but they look pretty similar to my males.


This is one of my females she’s half the size of the adult males and quite a bit darker. She only goes around 4 shells I’ve never seen her anywhere else.


This is a picture of a male, this male is pretty large and is 2-3 times the size of the female. This male is paired up with the female in the first picture but he’s not allowed near the babies shell. He picks up sand a lot and moves it around and will go to the outskirts of his pit to defend the territory and try to get more shells. I have never seen a female move sand or leave their 2-4 shells.