Check Out My Pair of Discus!

[bs6749]

Well, looks like I've had a new pair form today in my 100g tank! I'm pretty excited. This is my first pair I've had form while in my possession. The suspected female is an Alenquer (red/orange) and the suspected male is a Carnation Snakeskin (blue). Wish me luck! I'm guessing they'll be laying eggs tomorrow at the rate they are cleaning the intake tube on one of the Whisper 60's in the tank. I hope you enjoy the pics! -Bryan

 

[bs6749]

A couple more.

 

[Zagz]

Awesome! Good luck, I hope they do spawn for you!

 

[bs6749]

Thank you! I'm just hoping that the fry (if I get any) will be decent looking. I don't know what to expect from this cross. Should be interesting to say the least. I'm hoping that I'll at least get to watch them raise the fry so they are large enough an I can take over. I need the experience.

 

[neilanh]

Gorgeous!

 

[CTD]

Im stoked to hear this cant wait to find out what the babies will look like, very best of luck to you.

 

[Zagz]

Please do keep us updated as things progress. It will be exciting to watch the progress.

 

[bs6749]

CTD - If you still want the angels I can ship them out to you. It may be the 1st of December though since Thanksgiving is next week. I need to make some room. Who woulda thought 8 tanks isn't enough room!?

Zagz - I'll keep this updated. I'd like to move the pair over to the 29g that I have angels in currently. This has all happend so fast. The pair JUST formed today. The female had no interest in the male and would constantly chase everyone away from "her spot" or "her food". She's especially interested in chasing my female spotted leopard who is looking a little rough from the skirmishes.

 

[CTD]

CTD - If you still want the angels I can ship them out to you. It may be the 1st of December though since Thanksgiving is next week. I need to make some room. Who woulda thought 8 tanks isn't enough room!?

Zagz - I'll keep this updated. I'd like to move the pair over to the 29g that I have angels in currently. This has all happend so fast. The pair JUST formed today. The female had no interest in the male and would constantly chase everyone away from "her spot" or "her food". She's especially interested in chasing my female spotted leopard who is looking a little rough from the skirmishes.

Sent a PM....Thanks

 

[Zagz]

I would have thought 8 tanks isn't enough, LOL. That is how I got to 15 tanks! I sure hope they do spawn for you. I bet if you can move them they would spawn for sure.

 

[bs6749]

Still no eggs seen. I had to move the fish from my 29g into the 100g. So now, the 100g has 12 discus, 15 dollar sized angels, 40+ neon tetras, 4 brilliant rasboras, 1 4" female BN pleco, 2 3" ABN plecos (male and female), 2 2" ABN plecos, and 6 1" ABN plecos. I was expecting my GBR's to arrive yesterday but didn't get the package until today. They were all dead (all 10 of them) so I won't be getting any more until about the 3rd of Decemeber. I may move the pair over to the empty 29 and see what happens. I DID just fill the tank with filtered water and got the params perfect for the rams (pH 7.0 and GH of 100 ppm). Maybe I should move the pair over tomorrow and see what happens? I'm at work right now and won't be home until mid-afternoon tomorrow, which is when I get home from work LOL! I should probably take out the pool filter sand huh? I really wish I had a spawning cone right about now though I realize they will most likely lay on the glass or the filter intake tube.

 

[bs6749]

I would have thought 8 tanks isn't enough, LOL. That is how I got to 15 tanks! I sure hope they do spawn for you. I bet if you can move them they would spawn for sure.

Oh, and I DO most definitely have plans for more tanks but those will come AFTER I am finished with my college courses and have a place of my own. I plan on having at least 50 tanks (at least 40 29's, several 75's and other large grow out tanks) in my "fish room" and hope to breed several types of plecos, rams, angels, discus, Endlers, some schooling fish, 6+ types of shrimp, maybe some snails, and have several planted tanks as well. It's basically gonna be fishy heaven!

 

[Zagz]

They will most likely spawn on the filter intake. Seems to be a favorite spot for some reason. Probably due to the fact it is difficut to remove if you haven't another filter intake. LOL

I'd move them. They seem ready. The pool filter sand can go into the 100 gal can't it?

Darn hobby sure is addicting isn't it?

Sorry about the GBR's. That sucks. Mine are just beginning to spawn, always have to remove the eggs though, they don't do the best as parents.

 

[bs6749]

Thank you, I'm sorry about them too. I didn't expect to have any alive when I opened that package since they were sent out on Monday and the temps here have been in the 20's and 10's. The seller is sending me more free of charge and he's sending them via Express next time which will run between $30-40 most likely. I am also getting 20 fry which I will grow out and sell. I thought I'd buy some more that way he won't have to absorb all of the cost to reship. I'll end up giving him a portion of whatever I get for the 20 when I decide to sell them but I didn't let him know that.

Yes, the 100g already has a pfs as the substrate so it'd remain seeded in there.

Do you keep your rams in a community tank or by themselves? I'd remove the eggs to a jar and hatch them out in that. Then wait until after their egg sacs are completely gone, wait an additional 12-24 hours and THEN feed the free swimmers. The breeder I'm getting them from uses egg yolk, puts it in a blender and adds some water. He says he uses this solution for a couple of months before changing it if it is refrigerated. I think I'll give that a try once I get free swimmers. I'm gonna try several other things too though I doubt BBS will be on the list at first.

 

[Zagz]

The rams tank is a rams tank only. I find that the parents will nurse the eggs to hatching point and even a few days after but then eat the fry. I move the eggs now when I see them to a breeder's tank with airstone and some methylene blue and of course a heater.

I too feed egg yolks to angel and ram fry. I haven't really bothered with BBS, probably should but the egg yolk has worked well in the past.

 

[bs6749]

Well, just a little update. I moved the pair over to a bare bottomed 29g tank last Friday. Today (Tuesday) they decided to lay eggs on the heater that is horizontal in the tank. I see a couple hundred eggs and only 3 so far that are white and weren't fertilized. I didn't see the male fertilize the eggs and I'm not sure how long the eggs have been there. It has been 2 hours since I made this discovery and they weren't there 8 hours ago. Hopefully I'll check on them tomorrow when I wake up and most of the eggs will still be there. Discus are generally great parents and I'm expecting to get some wigglers soon!

 

[Zagz]

Congratulations! That is exciting! Thanks for the update.

 

[CTD]

Best of luck!

 

[JasonC]

So out of curiosity, when you breed two vastly different varieties of discus, what do you end up with? A hybrid of the two, a mix of the two individual species, or a combination of hybrids and pure

 

[bs6749]

Congratulations! That is exciting! Thanks for the update.

Best of luck!

Thanks guys! I'm really excited about this. The only bad thing is that I have some GBR's coming on Thursday or Friday this week and the discus spawned in the tank that the rams WERE going to end up in. Now I have to find some other way to make this work.

So out of curiosity, when you breed two vastly different varieties of discus, what do you end up with? A hybrid of the two, a mix of the two individual species, or a combination of hybrids and pure

Jason, I'm not sure what I'll end up with (if anything) out of this spawn. My guess is that most will be like the mother and there will most likely be some snakeskins in the mix. Maybe I'll end up with some blues as well but who knows? I guess only time will tell.

Here's some pictures of the parents with the eggs (notice how dark the mom is).

Sorry for the poopy mess in this one...I had to turn the filter off to make sure the eggs were fertilized. I'm a little wary about doing anything to make them stressed and possibly eat the eggs.

My initial estimate was a little high. I now count between 100-140 eggs as a rough estimate. They laid on the end of the heater that doesn't seem to get as hot as the other so maybe the eggs will make it???