Breeding Snakeskins

[Nigel]

Hi Guys,
I have two pairs of Snakeskin Discus and they are not breeding for some reason. I was wondering if these fish require any special treatment to induce them to breed. They go through the process of sellecting the spot and then they go through the "shaking" but they just don't lay..
Can't understand this. I NEED to breed them as they are superb specimens... Please Guys.....HELP.....
Best Regards/Nigel

[pete m daniels]

HELLO
Snakeskins do not require any different treatment to any other tank bred
strain. Have these pairs bred before for someone else or are they fish you
have raised yourself, perhaps your pairs are all males or all females as
this does happen and is not an unusual thing to take place if all your fish
are single sex.

Good luck pete

[fcdiscus]

If it is a pair and not two fish that are males, IMO you can try one of two things. The first is a large WC with peat treated water. The second is a cool WC of about 25%. Either of these will enduce spawning if you have a willing pair. I like the first one the best. Frank

If you have another pair that is spawning, pull about 5 gallons of water out of their tank and put it in this tank. The pheramones will get them up and going.
Brad

[Ivan]

Hey I like the sound of that last trick. Very good Brad.
also you can try a temp up then back to normal, but the wc with cooler water should work a treat. Oh and get 'em stuffed with nice foods, live if you know that you know they are not infiltrated with nasties. I feed red wrigglers and live daphnia. My own little batch living in the garage.
Ivan

Put some Peat in your filter too...it should help a good bit in getting them to spawn

[Nigel]

Hi Guys,
Thanks for the much valued support and info. The fish had paired out by themselves but they came from a friend of mine. He had trouble breeding them as well but I know you can breed these as "I have that feeling" if you know what I mean.

I have already tried the water changes suggested but no luck. I like the trick about the water from another breeding Tank. Shall try that and let you guys know. I will try to get you some pics also..
Thanks Guys,
Nigel

Nigel,
I suggest that you give Cary a call if you live in the states, which for some reason i think you don't.... If you don't live in the states, send him an e-mail. He has a bunch of little tricks that he uses to get stubborn pairs to spawn and he'll be more than glad to share them with you if you ask. He's the man you need to talk to.
brad

[Nigel]

Hi Brad,
Thanks for the info. I will contact Cary. Still no sign of breeding although they are "shaking" and looking hard at the breeding cone.. ???
Thanks again Brad,
Nigel

[Carol_Roberts]

If you have good, clean water and a healthy, mature female she will lay eggs - sometimes even by herself. Your female has to be in breeding condition. Live foods like red wiggler worms and especially black worms will help.

IF you have never seen eggs there is something wrong with the conditons of the tank or of the fish themselves.

Carol :heart1:

[Nigel]

Hi Carol,
I never saw any eggs but they do a whole lot of shaking like they are about to spawn. They even stare at the spawn site for hours.. what gives..?? The water is the best, as others (Blue Diamond, Turquoise, etc) get the same water and they are breeding. Whats with the Snakeskins..
Regards,
Nigel

[Carol_Roberts]

Swap them around and see if you can get them to breed with someone else . . . .
Carol :heart1:

Mine stare at a breeding site for hours on end, they shake at each other, and they clean the site off, but still no eggs.....boo on them!

[Liz_Streithorst]

How long have they been acting this way? I've had fish shimmy shake and stare for weeks at a time. Then one day they just decide to get on with it and turn into regular spawners. I think that sometimes you just have to wait them out.

Liz

[Jason]

If you have good, clean water and a healthy, mature female she will lay eggs - sometimes even by herself. Your female has to be in breeding condition. Live foods like red wiggler worms and especially black worms will help.

IF you have never seen eggs there is something wrong with the conditons of the tank or of the fish themselves.

Carol :heart1:


LMAO Carol! I only wish that were true! ???

Nigel try playing around with the water perameters a bit, discus have a breeding season in the wild, and even now with all the domestication they sometimes need a little bit of stimulus.

or just wait it out a bit longer adults can be real stuborn sometimes, especially after they've been moved.

Nigel,
Cary has a list of things he does in a certain order to get stubborn fish to breed. Ask him for that, as I can't remember it off the top of my head. You don't have another breeding pair, do you?

Brad

[discusadam]

Just another suggestion that I don't see anywhere in the comments but have you tried to stick another fish in with each pair as an antogonizer fish? :)

yeah, good point adam. And when you add that other fish, an aggressive spawner will help even more than just any old fish. lol

[Nigel]

Hey they Spawned!!!!!..Oopps they ate it!!! Damn...grumble...:'(

This is what I did ..
1. Regular Water changes
2. Added water from an already breeding tank.
3. Heated up the water to the correct temp.
3. Live food [they didn't eat it. dont know why..??]
4. Added another fish to annoy them..

They spawned....then the very next day.. THEY ATE IT...!!! arggghh.... >:(

Wanna shoot them... oh heck..I guess its back to the drawing board.. sigh

Regards/Nigel

[Nigel]

Yeeehaaa!!!
Success at last guys. They spawned and the eggs hatched and I have ..ok its not much... but I finally have a batch of approximately 10 Snakeskin fry. Its a start. Now I know that things are going to get better. Heh..heh.. (phew!) ;D
Best Regards,
Nigel

[Carol_Roberts]

:thumbsup: Yep, that's why we keep saying "wait, wait, they'll figure it out eventually" . . . . and they did!
CArol :heart1:

[Nigel]

Thanks Carol!!
One down..two to go... I have another pair of Snakeskin that just doesn't breed. These look like females. Whats funny is that both of them have the pointed top fin like the males usually do. Any ideas on this Carol..would appreciate some advice.
Regards,
Nigel