Peter Beyer and I collected Parosphromenus allani in Sibu in Sarawak, Borneo in December 2015, and have been trying to breed them since, Peter in Germany and me in Seattle, USA. I think Peter gave some to Hallman who also has been trying (I hope to meet him in September). Surprisingly and frustratingly, none of us succeeded (to the best of my knowledge), as the males showed very limited interest in the females, even when separated into pairs. Well, today we’ve had a BREAKTHROUGH! I noticed two young juveniles in one of my 10 gallon tanks housing a pair. I never saw them breed or lay eggs in the clay tubes and film canisters I provided, but apparently they bred surreptitiously, perhaps in the bogwood or catappa leaves. The water is very heavily stained, making observation tricky, but I’m guessing there are a couple more offspring in there. I am thrilled, as we now have proof that it’s not impossible to breed this species – the “true” allani!
10 gallon tank, Ph varies between 5.3 and 6.0 (my meter isn’t great)and lots of tannin. The hardness is probably about 50 microsiemens but difficult to measure because I treated this tank for velvet five months ago and ever since the hardness measurements are confounded. I confess that I change about 20% of the water every two weeks, not ideal but my work schedule is sometimes brutal. Neglect and patience seems to have been the key, rather than any secret trigger. Has anyone else experience breeding P. allani from Sibu?