spawning trigger for elassoma?

good evening everybody,
i'm trying to get my elassoma evergladei and okefenokee ot breed for several weeks, but still there is no positive result at all. i raised the temperature up to 19°C and separated one male and one female in an appropiate tank. they are fed with bloodworms, artemia shripms and daphnia. males show dark black breeding colors and their typical breeding behavior. but still nothing happens.
does anyone know any further trigger for these tiny brilliants? i usually get some larvae, but i first recognize them when they are about half an inch, and then most of them are already dead... so there shouldn't be a problem about fertility.
thanks for your tips
torben

Maybe the females aren't quite ready. Do they look full of eggs? Let them warm up further and feed her mosquito larvae, now that spring and skeeters are here. For breeding Elassoma, skeeters work even better than blackworms, if that's possible. Mine breed better outside than in. Maybe its the natural temp fluctuation, or maybe its that I can feed LOTS more mosquito larvae outside. Indoors I drop in just a few at a time to make sure they get eaten.

good evening everybody,
i'm trying to get my elassoma evergladei and okefenokee ot breed for several weeks, but still there is no positive result at all. i raised the temperature up to 19°C and separated one male and one female in an appropiate tank. they are fed with bloodworms, artemia shripms and daphnia. males show dark black breeding colors and their typical breeding behavior. but still nothing happens.
does anyone know any further trigger for these tiny brilliants? i usually get some larvae, but i first recognize them when they are about half an inch, and then most of them are already dead... so there shouldn't be a problem about fertility.
thanks for your tips
torben

First, are you sure you aren't just missing them, my E okefenoke spawned about a week ago and I could barely see the fry with the naked eye. It was just by luck I noticed one on the glass wiggle, even now that they are freeswimming they are tiny.

You may want to put in a tank divider keeping the male separate from the female while she fattens up then remove the divider and watch out!

I like Mike's divider idea. In a small tank the male can intimidate the female so bad that she doesnt eat enough. Or put the male in a wide-top jar inside the female's tank.

You may want to put in a tank divider keeping the male separate from the female while she fattens up then remove the divider and watch out!

I like Mike's divider idea. In a small tank the male can intimidate the female so bad that she doesnt eat enough. Or put the male in a wide-top jar inside the female's tank.

thanks for the ideas. maybe i just haven't seen the fry, but i always looked for a reduction of the females body mass because of the missing eggs. but until today i haven't seen anything. maybe the tank divider is a great idea. would a fitting glass plate fullfill this job? maybe i also will remove the heater since it's getting warmer in germany, so i can return to their usual diurnal rhythm.

thanks for the ideas. maybe i just haven't seen the fry, but i always looked for a reduction of the females body mass because of the missing eggs. but until today i haven't seen anything. maybe the tank divider is a great idea. would a fitting glass plate fullfill this job? maybe i also will remove the heater since it's getting warmer in germany, so i can return to their usual diurnal rhythm.

I use either the green plastic tank dividers with the tiny holes all over at many pet shops or the craft plastic grid sheets I suspect the ability of sight and water movement back and forth helps perk up the desire. Though glass would probably work well enough.

Might be a good idea to feed some Philodina rotifer culture in the breeding tank in case there are fry you cant see yet. Some fry will eat fresh-hatched artemia, but some dont. I get better survival if I feed rotifers in addition to artemia.

How about soft acid water
with 14 hours of light per day?

right now i'm keeping them in neutral, slightly hard water. they breeded before in this water, so i'm wondering why thy should stop right now. but i think i will try a change of water qualities.