how to get wilds to form pairs

[jimmyjoe]

hello all, dilema i've had some wilds now in QT for a month now. no sighs of parasites, worms or slime loss to date. what i need to know is why aren't they pairing off ??? when i do partial w/c's i replace with r/o water at the moment they're in about 130 ms , all they're doing is butting heads,sides alittle biting lips , but no one seems to be interested in each other. ??? ??? ??? ??? question: could they be to old to foal. what could i do to try and form a possible pair.... thanks for listening........................jimS

[O]

Jim,

You need to be patient. It sometimes takes months for wild discus to properly acclimate. Keep in mind they've never been in the tank before. Your water has a different chemical composition than they are used to. The food and it's source is new. Otherwords, give them time.

HTH,
Oleg

[limige]

lol, don't feel bad, i've had 8 rsg's for over a year now, i've had other fish pair off in the tank, but absolutely no luck with the wilds, they've shown no interest so far! soon hopefully .....soon.

If they're over their quarantine period try mixing in some domestic adults if you have them...at least if you get some half wild/half domestic pairups, you'll be able to get an idea of the sex of some of the fish...
david

[MonkeeFish]

why not try pouring some of the water from a breeding pair into the wild's tank hehe crazee thought

[JeffreyRichard]

why not try pouring some of the water from a breeding pair into the wild's tank hehe crazee thought


I've heard this before ... how is this supposed to work?

Jeff

[doron]

try it , u dont have what to lose ...
it wark's with altomes

[limige]

lol, as for the water from breeding pairs....
fish like most animals secrete hormones or feramones, whatever into the water. this will help perk up other fish. sometimes get them to form pairs or lay eggs.

i have done it successfully after switching the males of two pairs, as soon as i added water from the pair that just spawned, the other two came into the water i was adding looking for their old mates! well shortly after they began to lay their own eggs!

not sure if it'll help with wilds but it's worth a try. as well as dropping conductivity real low 40-50 and ph 5-6.5 from my knowledge. although i've seen wilds spawning in community tanks of 225ppm and 7.5ph!!!

all you can do is try, if one thing doesn't work try another, one at a time or all at once, you can try peat water, or cooler temp water.....

or the old standby
barry white and candlelight... ;D

good luck
mike

[Miles]

Jim,
Did you think that maybe there has not been enough time yet? Or maybe that they could all be males?
How do you know that even you have a pair in the tank?
Do lots of w/c's 50% daily and then once or twice a week try 80% and see what happens.
But I can tell you this much, if conditions are not correct, they will not spawn or even pair up.


Miles

[jimmyjoe]

miles, that's exactly what i'm trying to do. getting a pair to atleast form , as far as even thinking i have males and females i don't have a clue. there are 8 count'em 8 wilds in a 75 gal. bb tank water temp. 82 hardness around 50-60 ms, ph 5.5-6.0.feeding live cbw's .been in QT 6 weeks i guess i'll wait the out the next 2 weeks an be sure on parasites.i have proven males and female domestic's i'll try next hey thanks for all the responses ;) ;) ;) ;)

or the old standby
barry white and candlelight... ;D

good luck
mike


;D ;D ;D :thumbsup:

**Angie**

[Discusgeo]

Just sit back like the rest of us and wait. When they reach maturity and they are ready they will select their own mate. I have a 180 galon tank filled with Wild Red Spotted Greens I am waiting on. Things look promising but there is nothing I can do to get them to do it any faster than nature.

Update:

Hey, I didn't do anything to my tank. Nothing added and nothing takened away. In fact my tank is very unclean (to me and you) because I didn't do water change in about 7 days!! :o But for some odd reasons, my Tangerines (Golden) pair layed eggs and so has my Wild Cobalt with a Wild Green! Go figure because I can't any more.

I'm off to go and clean tank now. **Angie**

[heckelcrazy]

have you thought about oysters, romantic music and mood lighting? ;D

[iceman_373]

what is a wild cobalt??

[fishfarm]

Wild discus are seaonal breeders, during the high water which occurs in our winters (summer for them) Usually starting in Jan or Feb. So if they are freshly wild caught it just now may be coming into there natural breeding season. Lower pH and frequent water changes can stimulate them. Also pairing with domestic females works great. Males don't seem to worry about what time of year it is! :) I keep my fish on a central system and when one pair spawns the rest start also due to the phermones released by the spawning pair. Wilds are much harder to spawn, so be patient and enjoy the fish. You may never get fry out of them. If discus were easy to spawn they would not be so expensive! Angie, is that one of the Greens you got from me? I had them for about 6 months before I sent them you way. Ken

Angie, is that one of the Greens you got from me? I had them for about 6 months before I sent them you way. Ken

Hello Ken,

In fact yes, it is one of the Wild Green you've sent me. ;D

Hello Tom H,

I got this Wild Cobalt from a local fish shop on a whim. Lady in the shop said it was a Cobalt. But as I have books on Wild Discus and on Discus history, I see the classification (description) of my Wild Cobalt in those books. ;)

**Angie**

[wildthing]

good water, the closer to habitat conditions the better.......good stock...and work with the law of averages...the more fish you have the higher the probability of success...........finally....patience...lots & lots of patience and a high tolerance for frustration
:)

[fishfarm]

I agree with you there David, I have had a lot of trouble getting wild females to lay, but a wild male on a domestic female a much easier task. Males are just HO'S! ;D

[Fishin dude]

You guys are good.....
If I wanted to form pairs or breed( I don't breed), I would fatten the wild discus up on worms and live brine for at least a month in a community tank....skip 2 days of water changes( I change 25% a day). Have a 30 gallon tank ( with established sponge and aquaclear )that has been filtering for at least a week, 2 degrees cooler, with no fish in the tank.... awaiting transfer of the selected pair...should trigger a spawn within 5 days if the female is ripe. :fish: :fish:

[jimmyjoe]

hey fishin dude, you the man, i did what you suggested a wild RSG male and my F2 RSG female paired up. but >:( >:( once they got into the 30 gal. setup tank she laid he watched her lay and then watched as she ate them all up :'( :'( :'( so she laid again around 4 days later he watched her lay again and then again he watched her eat them up. never fertilized the batch and these where her biggest spawns to date. so now i'm just waiting for him to use to the smaller surroundings. so maybe he'll do his male duties i hope :love: :love: :thumbsup: :thumbsup: jim

[Fishin dude]

jimmyjoe,
Something is not correct with your lighting or the female would not have felt threatened enough to consume the eggs.
Try indirect light and maybe simulate the lighting of the big tank you pulled them from.....also try not to watch them... :fish: :fish: