Are my discus getting ready to breed?

[Dick]

Hi there, I've had these discus confirmed breeded pair for around 2 weeks and I've noticed in the last 4 days gheyve been slot more active and shaking a lot, also noticed ghost antenna like fins on the bottom they shake GSM very fast when they see each over rarely . The female eats rarely and the male eats more often.

Tests are ,

Ph 6.8
Ammonia 0.25
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 20

I'm aware that ammonia needs to drop to 0, I have added good bacteria to help lower it as this aquarium was setup 2 weeks ago with fresh new water.

Temperature goes from 26C at night (cold nights can't afford another heater) to 30C during day. Most times its a stable 29C.

The blue diamond (fem) is 17cm and the male snakeskin lava eruption is 20cm . They both swim and look like they're playing around with each over as the previous owner had a very similar setup to mine and was very successful on breeding them (over 180 eggs per 2 weeks)

I don't do water changes frequently as they get extremely stressed when I go remotely near the water. They lay flat and look like they're praying to me to not kill then ahaha.


Any other details needed to know if they will successful breed please let me know sorry my English isn't amazing

Attached images are my fish hiding and swimming around, as well as the food I feed them. (IL add images soon when they aren't freaked out , the male went to get her out of her hidey hole lol)

[Sabrina]

Hi Dick,
Welcome to the forums! Im not a breeder but i would suggest not having a heater to keep a stable temp they wont breed for you. Im pretty sure the eggs need a stable heat to hatch but i might be wrong. It sounds like they have had a fright at water changes if they are scared of them. Just do small water changes like 20-30% so as not to stress them out so much. :)

[sayid]

Hi Dick;
Welcome to the forum, i don't want to alarm you but there is no way that you can cycle a tank in 2 weeks and the fact that you have .25 ammonia is telling you that your tank is not cycled ,the fish are shy and stressed because of ammonia so may i suggest to you that you water change for 2 weeks 50% once or twice EVERY DAY so your filter system get chance to cycle and you get rid of ammonia in the mean time reduce your feeding by half to reduce the pressure on the filter system, i would forget about breeding for the time being and concentrate on the welbeing of your fish ,may i suggest to you to read the discus for beginners section in this forum and let us know how you go .good luck.
sayid

[Dick]

Hi there, discovered that my problem actually isnt anything to do with water changes or all that for the ammonmia.. I did a test on my tap water. It is 0.45Ish PPM. So my girlfriend was right about my water tasting like shit, so to counteract this I've added in some Stress Zyme to add Good bacteria to fend off the ammonia in the water, which may or may not make a difference and also added these stones ina bag (starts with z) which absorb tonnes of ammonia. If this doesnt work, then a local pet store is willing to sell me some of their aquarium water instead of dumping it.

Thank you and Sabrina, I have a new heater on the way for inside the aquarium so this is only temporary.

[sayid]

where do you live ?

[Dick]

Today checked my ammonia, was yellow read 0ppm ammonia. All good now for ammonia

[Dick]

Discus still acting the same so must be them mating or something or playing

[Dick]

Also got my self a sponge filter with an air pump so babies don't get ducked in is this all good news guys ?

[Hollowman]

From what you have said so far Dick, you are going to kill the fish in no time. You seem to know nothing of the conditions for discus or how to keep fish in the first place or the Nitrogen Cycle. You do not recognize that it is not the water that cycles, but the filter needs to be mature BEFORE you add fish to a tank. Without water changes to remove the ammonia and having a mature filter no wonder the fish are reacting badly.

Water changes each day, 50% until your filter is mature, and don't even think of breeding as right now, you don't know what you are doing.

[mattgoanna]

Hi Dick
It sounds like your fish are looking to breed and so that is good. The challenge for you is that (as pointed out by the others) your ammonia and nitrite are likely to spike quickly until you establish sufficient bacteria to deal with the waste. I recommend that you purchase some saechem stability as this will introduce bacteria while making sure the ammonia and nitrite don't become toxic. I know that you are on a limited budget, but this fish will cost a lot to replace, so the stability will be a good investment.
Do a lot of reading on keeping and breeding discus and don't be disheartened by negative responses. Most of us have taken some short cuts and anyone who has kept discus for a long time has made mistakes. I hope your fish do well and go on to breed.

[Dick]

From what you have said so far Dick, you are going to kill the fish in no time. You seem to know nothing of the conditions for discus or how to keep fish in the first place or the Nitrogen Cycle. You do not recognize that it is not the water that cycles, but the filter needs to be mature BEFORE you add fish to a tank. Without water changes to remove the ammonia and having a mature filter no wonder the fish are reacting badly.

Water changes each day, 50% until your filter is mature, and don't even think of breeding as right now, you don't know what you are doing.

I have 15 aquariums which 3 are both 8ft breeding turtles and axololts which have been doing for 15 years since I was a little boy and you have the decency to tell someone you know nothing. Shame on you prick. I have never had a death in my 15 years of experience.

[Dick]

And thank you so much for the advice everyone else, Matt thank-you I have added tonnes of good bacteria and the ammonia levels are going down which is great almost at a 0 point (around 0.10Ppm)

[Dick]

Photos here , they are very active right now which is great and noticed the female seems much less stressed with the bars gone

[Hollowman]

Thank you for such a kind reply. I will treat it with the contempt it deserves. I will reiterate that you know nothing of the nitrogen cycle or the correct conditions to keep discus (or any other fish as I see it) I am sure you realise that Turtles and Axolotls are not actually fish.

There are no shortcuts when keeping discus, as suggested by Matt. If you want to continue to keep fish in poor conditions and throw insults at those who have been there and done it, then carry on. The end result is sick and dead fish. Promoting the way you keep your fish to other new forum members who want to learn the correct way does not help.



This forum has a long a diverse history, so try and keep your foul language off the forum. Young children also like to learn from the 'experienced' forum members so your posts are unacceptable.

[sayid]

Dick;
There is no need to use a language like this ,in fact if there has to be a person who should be ashamed of him self is YOU ,the people on this forum are not getting paid to give advice ,they give up their time at weekend and nights to give advice to people who often are desperate with their fish ,they don't have to put up with this sort of language nor they are there to massage your ego ,they give their advice in good fate .
sayid

[Dick]

Sayid, telling someone they know nothing and that they are going to kill their fish is shame worthy. Unlike you, I don't take discus poo from anyone .

[Hollowman]

Then please explain where anyone has ever bred discus in a non cycled system and succeeded? Unless they are doing 100% water changes every day. If you know the nitrogen cycle, which is basic first knowledge when keeping an aquarium, then you know that you are doing it wrong.

I am sorry that you can't handle straight talking (without profanity) but we try and advise good methods and practices to all people. It is not about putting you down, it's about waking you up. You will kill the fish and you will not succeed breeding healthy fish.

[Dick]

Everyone but hollow, seeing on how useless his info has been.... I have proceeded to do 33% water changes everyday. Anything else you'd all recommend I do ? Oh and fyi hollow. Previous owner did exactly same as me and successfully spawned them over 25 times in 2 yrs .

[Sabrina]

Hi Dick,
Im glad you are getting a heater for them, it will help a lot with keep stable water conditions. And the sponge filter is also a good idea, they go well with discus. Water changes are good, what water conditioner are you using with water changes? Seachem Prime is highly recommended, and will help with keeping your ammonia down too. You can buy it on ebay for cheaper than in pet stores. Try to forget what the previous owner did and concentrate on what you are doing, he had the discus for years and they are only new to you so they will be different for you. Hollowmans advice is good, i think you just got off on the wrong foot with him and sometimes more experienced Discus keepers are a bit harsh on new owners without meaning to be, they just care about the fish is all..

[Dick]

Hi there yes I got a new heater now 100w heat is stable 30C and my tap conditioner I use is Prime something

[Dick]

Update

They started eating, have them black worms and both of them are eating them right now. This us really good. They haven't shown any stress bars for pass 4 days.heat is consistent at 30C. Ammonia has dropped from 0.50 to 0.005ish and still decreasing. Guess water changes made Angie difference to their behavior. Will keep updating, is there anything else I need to do?

[Hollowman]

Dick, that is good news that they have started eating. The water changes will work wonders for your fish, please forget the last owners advice, because here, like Sabrina said, we are passionate and the fish and their health is what matters.

Normally, a sponge filter will take several weeks to grow the nitrifying bacteria so don't squeeze the sponges too hard if you feel you need to clean them, just an exterior rinse is enough. Once seeded, you will notice the ammonia is handled by the sponges and there will be a stable condition.

Going back to the last owner, even if he had the fish breeding, how many top quality fish did he raise to adults? The problem is, that all over the world people find their discus getting frisky and people will try to raise young. But it is very difficult to do. With poor conditions baby fish get disease, get stunted and the ones that do survive and get moved on are generally in poor health and mis-shaped. Like you see in your local fish shop. Even here in the U.K. my lfs sells culls for £25+ each. People just don't know they are culls or stunted.

Now that you are doing decent water changes, you will start to see your fish relax, eat and be happy, this is the goal. Large water changes do make discus frisky and they might start shaking at each other and lay eggs. For now, I would just enjoy getting them eating and fat and if they do anything else, just watch and enjoy them. I would love to see some photos of the fish too if you can post some.

H