Signs of Breeding

[AzDiscusGuy]

Hi everyone I'm new here and somewhat new to Discus. I have two blue snakeskins that seem to have paired off. They are both 8 months old and about 5-5.5 inches. What are some signs that they are going to lay eggs in the near future. Right now they are aggresively defending a corner of the tank against all my other discus in the tank. Normally they are calm and non-aggresive. Reply with some other signs and/or water specifications for breeding. Right now I have them in a 46 gallon tank at 85 degrees and a pH of 6.4. Any help would be greatly appreciated

http://pic2.picturetrail.com/VOL9/865023/1565472/18342541.jpg

[roger]

I have several pairs laying eggs and they usually go into the shake/shimy dance when they are around each other. For me this usually lasts about 2 days then I have eggs, they seem to always time it when Im away. On the 2 occasions I was home for the egg laying, the femal will start to make practice passes at the location where the eggs end up. You should also see them pecking/cleaning several possible places to lay the eggs.

I have what has been termed liquid rock for water along with young fish. I have been adjusting the pH to try and get closer to 7 so I have had them lay eggs with pH being 7.5-8.5 gH 14 kH 4. I did get wrigglers last time but the stress of the community tank I think caused them to be eaten. I wating for some free tank space to move the pair off onto their own. The temp of my tank is 84 and when I add water its usually 20% with a temp of 78.

Most people will tell you that on average you will have better luck if your gH is probably 2-4 and kh of 1-2 when it comes to spawning. I just got a RO unit to help bring those values down for me.

Peace,
Roger

[BlueTurquoise]

If they are pairing up now and are showing "love signs" like shaking of the body, darkenning of the skin and cleaning an area of the tank, then I would say leave the water as it is. If they are up to that point then everything you are doing as per normal is eough for them to be happy so long as it perameters are extreme (extremely high GH or low PH). Bseides by the sounds of it you have good perameters.

If you are seriously thinking about maximizing sucess with the pair then you may want to think about moving them to their own 20-30 gal bare bottom tank with similar if not he same parameters. This will ensure a higher sucess rate (other fish eating their spawn etc).

If after a few weeks they don't show any love signs then you can start fidlling with water perameters. Breeding usually doens't mean you need to make large adjustments in my opinion. Consistency is the key, esp for fry...

Chong

[giroux68]

are there any good threads on the signs of discus getting ready to spawn. Searched but didnt find much. I have a few that shake their fins, rub against plants, and lots of what looks like fighting between them.

[Carol_Roberts]

When they both start pecking at the breeding cone (or some other spot in the tank)