pair or no pair

[Jonesy]

hi all well i bought a pair (so i was told ) some time ago now the water quility was bad for about 3 weeks (ph) was down to 3.5-4.5 no mater what i did the ph would stay down... i did water changes every 2 days and still the ph would stay down... then i went to the lfs and was told i was over feeding my fish.. i was feeding them a cube of blood worms three times a day.. i cut this down to half a cube 2 times a day... and added ph up and also added some chrushed up shell for the beach as i was told that this would make the ph 7.0 now the ph is at 7.0 and has been for the last 2-3 weeks..

when i frist got these fish thay never left each others side
now the discus seem to b fighting i am just woundering if this is normal for male and female to do this or do u think i could just have 2 males
as i have never seen eggs in my tank..

all so is there any thing i can but in the tank to make them want to spawn.. if thay are male and female
thanks all nathan

[jim]

every time I went to LFS to sell my discus ( I tried 3 shops)...they don't like buy just one fish....they like to buy 2 similar looking fish..and sell it as a pair..they don't care it's 2 opposite sex fish or same sex fish...they just sell it as a pair anyway for better money....

I will really buy a pair of fish from shop like SLS...

why not post some pics so people might able to tell..

[CMDiscus]

They can be a prs.,but one of them might not ready after you adjust to the required pH,or there is a possiblity of two males or two females that show up prs. I suggest,if you have a intruder to be introduced into their tank,if they are really prs.they will chase the intruder or they separate to change partner.that is a better way to test.

[flukes]

Hard too say as each fish has its own personality. I have a pair that fight like crazy then turn around and spawn...

[heckelboy]

Probably not a pair from what you have said.

[DiscusMan]

This is one of the most talked about subjects on discus i would say.

How to tell the sex of the fish.

As everyone has stated the LFS is probably just saying they are a pair of Discus. Not a breeding pair. There is only 1 100% guaranteed way of telling the sex of a fish while its still alive that is. That is to watch them breed or attempt to breed as the breeding organs are different and can be determined by observing.

I have spoken to many an expert on this and they have been shown to not be able to pick the sex by using there technique. We all need to be aware that sexing these fish is extremely hard.

So if the LFS has eggs/fry etc in the tank unless you seen this fish lay the eggs and the male actually ferilise them and observe the breeding tubes then it is anyone guess what sex the fish are and the LFS may have just a pair of females if there is eggs.

Most people will buy over 6+ fish when trying to buy breeding pairs from unknown stock.

Buyer must ALWAYS be aware no matter what shop they buy from that they might be sold as a pair but not a breeding pair. EG Here is a pair of Males, they are still a pair of discus are they not, so is it really false advertising?

Wayne

[CMDiscus]

Observe from side view: the GAP between the breeding tube and anal fin wider is a male whereas the female is closer OR you can net out the fish and turn it over to check with a magnifyinging glass,male has oval shape hole and the female has smaller and round hole.

Above mentioned are some one of the methods to determine discus sex,but,NO 100% guarantee.