Starting Discus Breeding(Hopefully)

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mishelly111

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Aug 18, 2006
150
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0
Brantford, Ontario CA
OK, I am sorry if there are already similar posts to this but I looked through and could not find the informaiton I required. I have been toying with the idea of breeding Discus for 3 months now. Last week-end I went to LFS and they have recieved some Red Turquoise Discus. They were not ready for sale yet. I just remembered today that they told me to call Wednesday and long story short, I want to go and get 6 tomorrow. My tank is not even set up yet. I have a 35G that just needs a rinse and up it goes. If I take some water from my exsisting 150G community tank and fill it up half with that and then us tap water with declorinator, can I make this happen tomorrow? Would I be just as well off to use all tap water? I'm sorry if this seems like a dumb question but time has passed and I'm affraid that if I don't just "DO IT" I will never get this Discus breeding underway. Can someone with experience please give me a little direciton?

Also, these are babies, can anyone give me some advice on how to "try" to sex these?

I really appreciate you time and assistance.
 
First of all, your 35 galon tank will be both too small for six discus, and will have no chance of being properly cycled in time. You need to cycle the tank - do you have an established filter to put on it? Only after properly cycling it should you add anything to it. If you want to do 6 discus, I would reccommend putting them in at leats a 55, maybe with a bristlenose bleco or a couple cory cats for clean up. I would do sand, but thats just personal preference. All in all, no way your 35 can be ready in time, especially with discus who are extremely sensitive fish.
 
I wouldnt go with less than 6 discus either, so if I were you Id think about getting a 55 if thats feasible. If you can afford it, go a little bigger, like maybe a 75 or a 72 bow, and up it to 8 discus + either a bristlenose pleco (I just like this pairing with discus - small pleco, eats up a lot of dirt), or some cory cats. Then come back here and find out what to do with it.
 
My intention was to put the 6 in the 35G until they pair off and then I would only have 1 pair in the 35G and if I'm lucky enough to get more than 1 pair out of 6 I would set up more tanks for the other pairs, if not I would add the others to my 150G? Too small for one pair???
 
Well, I still wouldnt put them in that 35 right away, its not ready, which is the main issue. And, you would have nitrate issues in there when it was ready, which may prohibit the fish from pairing off. Plus, theyd be happier and more likely to pair off if they had the right conditions, like sufficient space, lighting, places to hide (plants), etc. I think youd be better off with a 55, but if you want to try the 35 (which I still woudnt do), Id get it up and cycled first. You could put a depost on the six discus at the store, cycle the tank for a couple weeks, and then go pick them up. Whats in your 150G btw?
 
I meant theyd have nitrate conditions in the 35 btw jsut cause its too small, and there wouldnt be enough volume to dillute the nitrates enough. Youd be doing very frequent water changes. Keep in mind that discus do better in aged water when doing water changes also.
 
In my 150G I have 6 Angels, Platies, Cories, Siamese Algae Eaters, 2 Dwarf Gouramis, Flying Foxes, Bristole nose pleco, Red spera tetra. One pair of my Angels laid eggs 2 weeks ago but when I got up the next moring they were all gone. Maybe I will set them up in the 35G and work on a bigger tank for the Dicus...............You want to know something funny, I just looked were you were located and I was born in Bounbrooke New Jersey, lived there until I was 5. I miss it. Thanks for your advice. I guess I am a little too egar.
 
I know where bound brook is, right by piscataway right? Anyways, your new idea sounds much better. And Im not sure because Ive never kept discus with some of the fish you have in your 150, but it sounds like theyd do alright in there. What parameters do you keep that tank at (pH, temp, nitrates)? And what type of angels? Most are fine with discus, except maybe altums, they can be a bit aggressive. Again, Im no expert though, whenever I had discus I kept them by themselves or with cory cats and small plecos.
 
If it helps males 'tend to' get a longer growth on their dorsal fin, it's a trait more than a sure fire way to tell. Classic discus conditions encourage breeding
 
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