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Thread: Do Discus Prefer Spawning with Similar Colors/Patterns?

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    Default Do Discus Prefer Spawning with Similar Colors/Patterns?

    I have a 135g with 13 discus in it. I have a Golden Lollipop and Gold Diamond spawning now. They are the only two solid yellows in the tank.

    It seemed unlikely to me that out of all 13 these two would pair up. Which got me thinking...do discus prefer to spawn with tankmates of similar color/pattern?

    I know there are several factors that determine pairing. But could color and pattern also play a role in who they choose?

    Thank you!

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    Default Re: Do Discus Prefer Spawning with Similar Colors/Patterns?

    I've had Discus 'spawn' 3 times so far and I've only seen 'same-type' pairings each time, even though there were several other breeds in the same tank.

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    Registered Member Larry Bugg's Avatar
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    Default Re: Do Discus Prefer Spawning with Similar Colors/Patterns?

    I don't think a discus know what strain he or she is. It is the animal kingdom, survival of the fittest. Do color and patterns come into play....sure but not because they are the same strain.
    Larry Bugg

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    Registered Member zhuls1's Avatar
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    Default Re: Do Discus Prefer Spawning with Similar Colors/Patterns?

    Quote Originally Posted by Larry Bugg View Post
    I don't think a discus know what strain he or she is. It is the animal kingdom, survival of the fittest. Do color and patterns come into play....sure but not because they are the same strain.
    I really don't think we can make a conclusive answer to that. In my limited experience have seen more same strain discus breed in display tanks than cross breeding between strains. Remember, most of the discus we have come from farms where they were raised in a tank with discus of the same strain. It's possible, whilst completely hypothetical and I have no scientific evidence for this, that the discus are used to similar looking discus. Also, again hypothetical, these fish are modified in captivity, so it is possible that different strains have slightly different ratio's of pheromones. I am not saying that this is the case, I'm just saying that we can't really say for sure either way.

    I did, however, read a while ago about a study conducted on a discus that was investigating whether discus are capable of facial recognition. The researchers made a model of a discus that was mating, they than put the model in with its partner. In this tank, the discus showed spawning behaviour proving it thought the model to be real. They had then put models of different discus into that tank and the discus did not show spawning behaviour. The researchers than put the original model of the discus back into the tank, but this time they had replaced its head with the head of another discus and the discus did not show spawning behaviour. Finally, a discus model with the original head but different body was put into the tank and the discus did show spawning behaviour. The researchers concluded that discus do indeed use facial recognition to identify other discus. I hope that explanation of the experiment was understandable. http://journals.plos.org/plosone/art...l.pone.0154543

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    Default Re: Do Discus Prefer Spawning with Similar Colors/Patterns?

    Quote Originally Posted by Larry Bugg View Post
    I don't think a discus know what strain he or she is. It is the animal kingdom, survival of the fittest. Do color and patterns come into play....sure but not because they are the same strain.
    Thanks Larry Bugg. I agree I don't think they know what "strain" they are. But similar colors & patterns could be recognizable. Sounds like you and a few people have experience that would support that. Thanks for the feedback.

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    Default Re: Do Discus Prefer Spawning with Similar Colors/Patterns?

    Quote Originally Posted by zhuls1 View Post
    I did, however, read a while ago about a study conducted on a discus that was investigating whether discus are capable of facial recognition. The researchers made a model of a discus that was mating, they than put the model in with its partner. In this tank, the discus showed spawning behaviour proving it thought the model to be real. They had then put models of different discus into that tank and the discus did not show spawning behaviour. The researchers than put the original model of the discus back into the tank, but this time they had replaced its head with the head of another discus and the discus did not show spawning behaviour. Finally, a discus model with the original head but different body was put into the tank and the discus did show spawning behaviour. The researchers concluded that discus do indeed use facial recognition to identify other discus. I hope that explanation of the experiment was understandable. http://journals.plos.org/plosone/art...l.pone.0154543
    That's a really interesting study zhuls1. Thank you for sharing!

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