Check Out My Pair of Discus!

[Zagz]

It looks promising. Are the parents fanning the eggs at all?

[bs6749]

From the little time I've been in that room the parents both seem to be doing well at taking care of the eggs. The mother seems to be the better of the two thus far but they aren't really fanning per se. They will both watch the eggs intently and once in a while the mother will tilt herself as in one of the pictures and she will look at the eggs on the bottom of the heater. I haven't noticed any activity that I'd consider to be fanning, which I have seen often in rams for instance. I'm wondering if they should hatch out into wigglers by the end of tomorrow night or sometime midday on Friday. I have no experience with discus eggs and don't recall how long it takes to get wigglers.

[bs6749]

So I had to move my pair of discus back into the 100g community tank last Thursday to make room for some GBR's that I was getting. I guess they weren't too stressed since today I see that there are eggs on the filter intake where they were picking at before I moved them to the 29g. I saw the female today when I was feeding and knew nothing of the eggs. I saw and asked myself, "why is she showing her breeding colors"? I looked at the male and he was guarding the spawn, which is at least 110 eggs. Hopefully these ones were fertilized and maybe I'll see some wigglers on the intake tube in a couple of days. I don't expect any to make it past the stage where they attach to the parents but if they get that far I'll move them into a 29g tank by themselves.

[CTD]

best of luck with the lil fellows

[FishCrazyBenBOMB]

That's exciting man, congrats on all the luck.


How much was the pair of discus you got?

[bs6749]

Thanks guys.

I got both the fish back in May. I bought the female when she was around 5.5" for $50 which is a really good price, considering that she has a nice shape, color, and is healthy. I should have bought several more of them at that size but opted for some blue diamonds, some fry, and the male in the picture that was part of a 2 fish deal from the breeder. I bought that fish and another from the same spawn when they were 3" each. The male turned out to be really nice and the other one I'm going to cull. I paid $20 each for them so I can't complain about the price.

[FishCrazyBenBOMB]

Yeah man, thats great price for them. You got a lucky deal.

[bs6749]

The female most likely would have sold for well over $100 and the male most likely $40+ but the guy I bought them from was wanting to make room and he had to get rid of them fairly quick.

[FishCrazyBenBOMB]

You deff. got a good deal then.

[mgamer20o0]

wow a steal.

[bs6749]

Well, a little update. My pair has been confirmed on Christmas!!! I actually got to see the wigglers hatching last night on the filter intake tube in the community tank. I had the filter turned off so not fry could get sucked in and when they fell the mother would pick them up in her mouth and would spit them back into place on the intake tube. Dad was blowing at the substrate beneath the intake looking for any wigglers that mom had missed. I now know that each parent of the pair is fertile!

I woke up this morning and most of the wigglers were gone. I left the lights on the tank all night so that mom could see the wigglers falling and catch them. I'm guessing that either they were eaten or that they fell and both parents missed them. I'm thinking about separating them into their own 29g tank soon. This is the 3rd spawn I've had from them in 3 weeks and they seem to lay every 7-8 days for me. These were laid early Tuesday morning and hatched out in about 65 hours at 86 degrees, a pH of 7.8 and GH of around 300ppm.

[kyawgyi1968]

Dear BS,
Sorry for the lost. First , i would like to say, every discus owner will start with this breeding sooner or later. Because healty discus will spawn eggs every 4 days, if u feed them with good diet food.
It also happened to me, and i tried so hard to get successful breeding of discus.
For the first step of breeding, 30 gallon bared bottom tank is the best. In the tank only sponge filter and heater needed. Another is spawning site, so just use the some kind of pod or just buy the spawning cone. Run the water for 3 days without fish.
Ok, Ph 6.5 best
temp, 29'C
After that, put in yr pair of discus. Must sure that ther are male and female. Some times 2 female will spawm like pairs. You have to watch very closely. To trigger the spawn, change 50% of that tank water with colder tempeture water. I did it every day other, it will also clean the tank. I feed them every 4 hours with beef heart mix. U will get the eggs every 4-5 day. They like to eat their eggs so many times for so many reason. Because of tank mates, unsecure like too many moving around the tank or stress!!!.
anyway, that will be very long to write about that. I'll post when i have time.
some pictures for yr view.

[bs6749]

Originally Posted by kyawgyi1968

Dear BS,
Sorry for the lost. First , i would like to say, every discus owner will start with this breeding sooner or later. Because healty discus will spawn eggs every 4 days, if u feed them with good diet food.
It also happened to me, and i tried so hard to get successful breeding of discus.
For the first step of breeding, 30 gallon bared bottom tank is the best. In the tank only sponge filter and heater needed. Another is spawning site, so just use the some kind of pod or just buy the spawning cone. Run the water for 3 days without fish.
Ok, Ph 6.5 best
temp, 29'C
After that, put in yr pair of discus. Must sure that ther are male and female. Some times 2 female will spawm like pairs. You have to watch very closely. To trigger the spawn, change 50% of that tank water with colder tempeture water. I did it every day other, it will also clean the tank. I feed them every 4 hours with beef heart mix. U will get the eggs every 4-5 day. They like to eat their eggs so many times for so many reason. Because of tank mates, unsecure like too many moving around the tank or stress!!!.
anyway, that will be very long to write about that. I'll post when i have time.
some pictures for yr view.

Not to sound like a know-it-all, but I'm completely well aware of the procedures/setups/parameters needed for discus breeding and I know how to trigger spawning. Also, I doubt you'll find anyone that has kept discus for any amount of time tell you that they spawn regularly every 4 days, it's more like 6-8 on average. Thanks for your input though.