Do you rotate your breeding pairs in and out of your display tank?

[DonMD]

Right now I have two active breeding pairs each in their own 29 gallon tank, and I may have more develop soon in my 150 gallon display tank that I might like to try to breed. My problem is that I don't have very many tanks, and the extras that I do have I use for growing out and selling fry. And anyway, I only want to breed one batch per month, as it's a lot of work!

What happens when you take a proven productive pair out of their breeding tank and put them in the display tank? Do they loose their bond with each other? Do they pick fights with the other fish? Do they keep trying to breed even though they're in the display? Would they be successful again in a few months when I put them back in a breeder tank? Just wondering if it would be a mistake to try it. Thanks, -Don

[GeauxDiscus]

I'm doing this now with no problems. I only have one breeder, and I have one breeding pair that I've had to put back into the display twice now. Both times they started spawning again around 7-10 days after being returned to the breeder. They produce fertile eggs that hatch. Now, my success (or lack of) at raising fry is a whole other matter...

[LizStreithorst]

I do that all the time. Mine have almost stayed bonded. Once in a while they will find another fish that turns them on more. If it'a a good match I'll let them have a go at it when I'm ready. If not, I put the original pair back in the breeding tank when I'm ready and wait for them to fall in love again. They do spawn for me in the community tank but less often than in the love nest. The eggs either fungus or get eaten before they fungus. They're usually gone around 48 hrs. The water in my community and grow out tanks is harder than the water I make for my breeding tanks.

[MKD]

Same here. Sometimes it happens to 1 pair which takes 1 or 2 tries then back breeding normal.

[DonMD]

Thanks for the responses, that's heartening!

[GeauxDiscus]

I do that all the time. Mine have almost stayed bonded. Once in a while they will find another fish that turns them on more. If it'a a good match I'll let them have a go at it when I'm ready. If not, I put the original pair back in the breeding tank when I'm ready and wait for them to fall in love again. They do spawn for me in the community tank but less often than in the love nest. The eggs either fungus or get eaten before they fungus. They're usually gone around 48 hrs. The water in my community and grow out tanks is harder than the water I make for my breeding tanks.

Liz, does harder water make eggs fungus quicker? I'm constantly fighting fungus, and I'm wondering if part of the reason is our hard water.

[Knick]

Shane, I'm not sure about your area, but I'm in the Keller area, not to far from you, and I have had issues with the water being too hard for quite some time (180-200 TDS). I've been using pure RO (not RO/DI) water in my breeding tanks TDS around 45, and that's where I've had the best luck. Have some fry that went free swimming this morning. I'm hoping they will all attach, as I haven't had any luck with that just yet.

Weird thing here, I have a 300g display tank, with plain tap water in it. Two pairs regularly spawn in it, never gotten any wigglers just fungus. Added a UV filter last week, and the very next time one of the pairs spawned in the 300, they got wigglers. The only change was the UV filter. Not sure what to make of that, if anything. Of course the wigglers were all eaten by other fish presumably, which is fine, not a good cross, pigeon blood and a carnation.

[DonMD]

I have a 300g display tank, with plain tap water in it. Two pairs regularly spawn in it, never gotten any wigglers just fungus.

So, do the two pairs ever fight with each other, or do other discus try to pair up with any of them? Any issues with breeding pairs in your display?

[Knick]

They both like to spawn about a foot away from the each other, the only time they fight is when they are actively spawning, and one of the other fish get too close, but even then it's mild, they just run the other fish off. Haven't had anything major, and no injuries to any of the fish involved. I keep an eye on them as much as I can, if I ever see any issues or injuries, I'll break the pairs up by moving one of them to another tank. This has been going on for several months, and I don't foresee having any issues. Time will tell