any tips to help breeding

[scoobypower]

hi all,my 1st post here but sure there will be more.i have 8 discus in my tank at the mo,i have a breeding tank ready in my kitchen,the problem i have is one of my discus seem to be pairing off,iveseen them shimmering a few times.they are all of various sizes from 4-5inch too 8-9inch top to bottom.any tips/advice welcome.also my water quality is good

[Mr Wild]

Let them pair naturally and lay a few times in the communnity tank that will help to cement their bond before you try and move them to a breeding tank.

[scoobypower]

yes that is what i planned to do,i guess its just a waiting game isnt it.wish they would hurry up though,cant wait to see the fry

[Nev]

Mine often spawn after a large water change.
Cooler water and neutral ph, probably simulates rain fall to the fish.

[scoobypower]

ok cool,ive been doing the water changes,around 20-30% every 3 days,i bet im the unlucky guy who has all same sex discus :?

[Hooked]

Hi,
have you had any luck with the possible pair? My 1200 odd litre community display gets a 25%-30% change once a week. Like clock work my Brown Spotted White Butterfly pair lay a day later. They fight hard to protect them, get to wrigglers stage for a few days then they disappear unfortunately.

All the best,

Cheers

[phil56]

Hi scoobypower.
hope your discus are breeding by now,success always depends on water quality most of all,although tank positioning is also critical,maybe the kitchen is not a good place.Discus or most of them need a quiet area to raise young and i can state this from experience,at one time i had a discus hatchery,I divided it into 2 parts one for breeding the other for grow out.The breeding section consisted of 56prs,each pr raised an average 120 young per month.that section i only entered to feed and clean and than always with the same coloured Tshirt on,failure to do so would result in maybe 20 pair eating eggs or fry and disrupting the breeding routine.I'm sure most people fail wondering why there discus keep eating there eggs and fry when its there interference causing the problem.
funny when talking to other commercial breeders they would say there wife would think they were crazy for refusing to enter the hatchery without there special Discus T shirt on.Different coloured T shirts would send the discus into a panic I have found the same thing breeding marine fish.something to think about.

[Merrilyn]

Couldn't agree with you more phil56. My ten foot tank of wild caught albums were only happy if I wore white or light coloured clothing. If anyone went near them in dark clothing they would all dash for cover.

Mine could even see the colour of the tin of food I was going to put in the tank, and I had no doubt if I was offering something they loved (they would all rush to the top) or if it was something they found pretty ordinary.

Didn't notice it so much with my breeding pairs, but then again all my breeders were in top tanks, eye level or higher.

Welcome to the forum phil. Glad you could join us.

[phil56]

Hi Merrilyn.Thanks for the welcome.Yes funny how the Discus fish seem to get that extra courage when caring for there young.Although when the retail shop was going we placed about 10 pairs there so people could see Discus caring for there young which created a lot of interest.The discus adapted very well to the people coming in and out all day.Strangely their production level over say 3months was noticeably lower then those in the hatchery with no disturbance.about 70% lower. :shock: which surprised me.