Discus breeding 101 help

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wheatgerm

wheatgerm

Plecostomus
MFK Member
May 22, 2010
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utah
I've been reasearching online but can't seem to really get anything out of the information out there. Any breeding page I pull up only talkes about feeding and perfect water conditions, I think I have that step covered...
I've got a community tank with 11 discus ranging from 3"-5"+. I thought it would be fun to maybe give it a shot to breed them.
My main concerns are how do I pick out if anything has paired or will pair off. And what can I do to encourage them? Thanks
 
Discus pair forming is similar to angelfish & most other cichlids basically. Two fish will spend most of their time together, guard a territory in the tank & start cleaning a spot to lay eggs. The only real way to tell male from female is to see the breeding tubes. When you see fish pair off, move them to a smaller tank by themselves if you want to try and raise a spawn. You probably won't have much luck in a community setting getting fry to survive.
 
Put 2 breeding cones on the opposite ends of the tank. When the fish are old enough, they'll pair off and spawn on the cones. You can feel live black worms or live white worm to help induce spawning. Wait to feed BWs until your 3 inch discus are at least 5 inches in size, since black worms are very expensive.
 
Thanks for the tips guys. I haven't really noticed any pairing off by themselves in a corner. There are a few that seem to swim close to each other most the time. I do have a breeder tank I would move a pair into but first I would like to be pretty sure I have a pair before I move the fish and everything else
 
They've still got a bit of growing to do but in such a large group you have a very good chance of getting a pair at least, you can often tell when they're ready to breed as they separate, it's best not to rush them


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lennym said:
They've still got a bit of growing to do but in such a large group you have a very good chance of getting a pair at least, you can often tell when they're ready to breed as they separate, it's best not to rush them


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So Ive been doing a little reading up on it.... It sounds like if I want them to breed, I just leave them in the community tank until I notice 2 hanging out together, after I notice a "pair" I will separate them into a 20-40 gal and within a few weeks they should lay eggs?? Sounds like the work starts after they lay eggs with hatching brine shrimp ect.
 
I have a setup with 6 discus and 2 of them seem like always to be together and sometimes fight is that like a sign?

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I have had 2 discus in my community tank for about 2 months now and they have just started fighting. One of them seems to go on her side and bend down to the other, quite strange. I'm sure someone once mentioned that discus test out each others strength before pairing to make sure they are strong enough to look after the babies. Is that BS? And do you think they are just fighting to be come dominant?
 
wheatgerm said:
So Ive been doing a little reading up on it.... It sounds like if I want them to breed, I just leave them in the community tank until I notice 2 hanging out together, after I notice a "pair" I will separate them into a 20-40 gal and within a few weeks they should lay eggs?? Sounds like the work starts after they lay eggs with hatching brine shrimp ect.
Click to expand...

Like most cichlids, you should let them breed a few times in the community tank before moving them to their own tank. It helps instill in them better parental instincts. And with discus being so heavily line bred, most of the parental instinct in them is gone unless you get wild ones of course.


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