Male discus not doing his job.

[CrossboneVanguard]

Hello,

I have a pair of blue diamond that are both 5 inches. The pair usually stay together and they clean the tubing of the canister filter together. However, the male never fertilizes the eggs when the female lays them on the tubing. The female has laid eggs 6 times already but the male never fertilizes them. He guards them but always goes away after food and leave the female guarding.

They are in a 45 gallon tank and there are other discus in it as well.

Any help will be great.
Jon

[scott bowler]

hi jon if the filter is on it may be sucking the sperm away before it can get to the eggs. i would try to previde a site for them to spawn on and turn the filter and air down to give him a better chance .the less water flow and movement around the tank the better .it wil give him a better chance to fertilizes the eggs good luck let us know how you go .

[CrossboneVanguard]

Thanks for the tip. However, the male wasn't even trying to fertilize them. I never bred discus before but from the videos I watched, the male and female are suppose to both go up and down the spawning area. My male just stayed put. Also, I didn't see any reproductive organ on him. Any help would be great. The female usually eats the eggs within 12-36 hours.

Jon

[mistakes r crucial]

Is it definitely a male? How old are they?
MAC

[CrossboneVanguard]

Hi,

I do not know exactly how old they are other then they are both 5 inches. I believe it is a male as it has the extra long tips on its dorsal and anal fin.

Jon

[mistakes r crucial]

At 5 inches you'd think they'd be old enough. The long tips on the dorsal very often indicate it's a male but not always. I've had a few females with them.
MAC

[discus lover01]

I have 3 discus out of my breeding stocks here at present with the long tips on the dorsals all 3 are females so this can not be used to sex a discus with accuracy to 100% as demales will get these long fins as well!
It will become clear when or if you see it lay eggs or you get wrigglers, the males do this when they are young and it takes them a bit of time to realise what there donk is for LOL.
HTH
goodluck with them

[CrossboneVanguard]

LOL. I will give it sometime as it can be a female as well LOL.

Thanks.
Jon