Breeding Pair That Wont

[aquafrogstuff]

Hi all.

I bought a breeding pair of Golden Crystals earlier this year (http://www.discusforums.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=6042).

I've removed substrate and simplied things a little (http://www.discusforums.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=6792).

The pair spawned three or four times since I've had them, but not for a long time now. I'm sure I have opposite sex fish because they managed to get to wriggler stage before eating them all.

Water gets changed 20% once a week and vacuumed each time. Filration is with fluidised bed filter with peat as can be seen from previous postings. Food consists of beef heart, blood worm and Sera discuss granules. Temp = 28degC

Only thing that has changed since their last spawn is the addition of an Apple Snail who was meant to keep the algae down, but he makes more mess than he cleans :x

Can anyone make some suggestions about things I can do to get these guys spawning again. It's been about two months now and I'm beginning to lose faith that they'll spawn again.

[samir]

try 20% water change once a day at maybe 2 degrees C lower. filter your water with peat. try get your ph between 6-6.5 and keep it stable. most prefer 6.5 i think. maybe your pair is just taking a break from a cycle. have patience they will soon start spawning again.

[aquafrogstuff]

Thanks Samir.

It's the 20%/day that's a challange. I find it really hard to have the time for that sort of regime.

If I change to an external cannister, oversized, with all the goodies (i.e. activated carbon etc etc) do you think I can reduce this? I know there's nothing like a water change, but I need an alternative that make this sustainable.

[Nathan]

the thing is with the water changes, the discus think that the water is like the rain they usually get just before they breed in the wild, as samir said with the water being changed if its a couple degrees cooler this simulates the rains, the cannister filter is not going to be able to do these things, it may keep the water ''cleaner'' but isnt going to do to much in the way of helping them spawn.

if your are unable to do daily water changes you should try to do at least 3 a week, that will definitely help your chances for them to spawn then you rather then doing one change a week, so basically try and do as many water changes a week as you can

i wouldnt bother with the cannister filter

[samir]

here's a helpful link
http://www.simplydiscus.com/library/breeding_genetics/spawning/inducing_spawning.shtml

[razvan]

Hello all. I'm from Roumania, that's in east europe, and with the discus fish i'm a beginner too. To change a little quantity of water you must get an nitratreductor and a redox potential control (mV controller). The canister filter is a must in a discus tank, but is used on big tanks. If you have a breeding tank, an air driven sponge is ok. This kind of filtration doesn't makes current and is not engrossing your fry. But the water change is a must. I think your problem is with your water parameters. Maybe your water parameters have been changed (if you do the same water changes and if you have the same filtration). Maybe you've changed the food or maybe they don't like the breeding con anymore. So that's why we change the water. To eliminate nitrates and to maintain the ph in 6-6.5 range and the hardness (if it's R/O, there is the co2-ph-kh-gh fragile relation) at 80-100µS/cm. If you can keep a snail there, that means the ph is more than 6.5 an the hardness level more than 3 (33 x 3 in µS/cm or 17 x 3 in ppm). The best snail @ eating algae is the NERITINA NATALENSIS (http://www.petfish.net/articles/Invertebrates/Zebra_Nerite.php). I keep it in the display tank, a planted tank, a dutch tank ( that's the tank name in my country and means a tank where the plants have priority ). To get the right water parameters i use the R/O (reverse osmosis) system with an Lf controller to get conductibility at 80-110 µS/cm and i use two peristatic pumps with two by-pass reactors for filtration and i can optain 3 liters on hour if a pump add the water and the other one removes it or 6 liters on hour if i use the overflow box with the two pumps on adding. My beeding tank is an 50x50x50 (in centimeters) and that's mean that i change over 50% daily or more than 100% (with 2 pumps on adding water) if my ph is unstable.
If you want an canister filter in the breeding tank to reduce more ammonia/nitrits/nitrats you must add some sponges on the inlet hose. But you will make currents that will upset your discus parents and the eggs will be eated. The daily water changes are the solution if you don't have an nitratreductor with mV controller or you can make a system like mine's (at my place is called "at the drop water changes system") to do your water changes automaticly.
I hope that my english is not really bad (i want feed-back).

[marg]

Aquafrogstuff,

No offence, but if you are trying to breed with your pair and are finding water changes a problem, then even if you can get them to spawn and get eggs to fry, I don't think you will have much success as the fry need really clean water (any ammonia in the water will kill them rapidly) - fry need to be fed small frequent meals daily and any leftovers need to be vacuumed after each meal

Your adults will survive on 2 - 3 water changes a week if they have to, but bubbies unfortunately won't. Someone like Crocky, Ben or Ladyred will verify this - babies need lots of care and attention.

Myself - I'm still trying. I would dearly love some Babies to care for :) .

Hope this helps,

Regards,

Marg.

[jim from sydney]

I agree with Marg.....juvies need fresh water ....do a 15% w/c each day they will grow like cabbages :wave2

[aquafrogstuff]

Thanks everyone for your comments.

I'll up the w/c per week and see how I go.

Thanks again.

Dwayne