Question: A couple of breeding questions: frequency and more

Hi All,

my gorgeous axie is laying eggs again for the second time in just two months, and I have a couple of odd questions.

1. she's been dropping occasional eggs here and there in the last couple of days and then today I saw the spermatophores, and then she started laying literally within a few hours of the male dropping spermatophores. I read that it's always the male who initiates breeding - can there be a situation when it is initiated by a female (hence eggs in the previous days)?? :errr:

2. her first lay was on the 7th November, today is 2nd Jan, so two months between; there's no changes to the water/temperature that could initiate breeding (the axies are in a refrigerated tank at constant +18-19C, clean water, cycled tank, good food etc); are they being too comfortable and should I actually put a divider in - or is it ok to breed that often.

It is said 'For the same reason, females that have recently bred should be kept away from males for at least a month, preferably two or three, in order for them to recover.' - so is 2 months ok - or shall I worry? The odd bit is that her and her 'partner' are really attached to each other (as silly as it sounds!) and always stay together in the tank, so I'm worried if separating her will be an issue.
Also since I have 3 axies in total in a 110L of water (90cm lenght) - and all three love to do long swims, so I'm super concerned the divider will take this away from them

Help!

1. Males usually chase females in a mating dance, but the deposit spermatophores at any opportunity. Mature females can 'leak' eggs if they are not fertilised, but I have never heard of a male responding to this - they are more likely to eat them.

2. If you leave them all together you may end up with eggs as often as every 2-3 weeks. I keep all my males and females in separate tanks for exactly this reason. 2 months is not too bad a gap, but you really don't want her to breed again for another 6 months. I lost a female due to overbreeding last year (3 times in 5 months), it doesn't take much to wear them out. I would separate your males and females, but if you put them in tanks side by side they can still see each other.

Thanks auntieJude, I wouldn't want to risk her health that's for sure! Will put a separator in asap, I still don't know the sex of the little one, so may put him with the boy to be on the safe side!