Advise from experienced breeders needed

[Charlienola]

I consider myself an experienced aquarium hobbyist and have kept discus successfully in the past. I have a very small fish room "fish closet" that have 75 gal, 30 gal, 2-20 gal and and a 10 gal tanks. I wanted to dip my toes into breeding discus and purchased a "possible pair" 5'5" fish, blue turquoise . After getting along for 2 weeks, they decided that they don't like each other, constantly fighting with each other.Female started to show her stress bars and I have relocated the female to almost empty 75 planted tank and keeping the male alone in his 20 gal. The question is; do I purchase other adults(same strain) and introduce them to my 75 to see if I can have a new pair or show I try to put them together again to see if they will make up? Thanks in advance for your advice.

[jeep]

I'm glad someone didn't sell you this pair as "proven". It's all too common.

I would separate them, get some more and put them in the 75 (after QT) then put the other one in. Hopefully you'll get a pair out of them...

[Charlienola]

I'm glad someone didn't sell you this pair as "proven". It's all too common.

I would separate them, get some more and put them in the 75 (after QT) then put the other one in. Hopefully you'll get a pair out of them...

Thank you for your reply. Would you buy the same strains or would you get different ones?

[peewee1]

Why not buy what you like or something that you would like to experiment with? i have a proven pair Red Alenquer and Ica Red, which is what our German friends call a Red Alenquer that has a double Heckel bar. They spawned twice but the male drove the female away. I seperated them for a few months in the meantime trying differ pair combinations with no luck. I have since reintroduced the proven pair but so far they are not spawning but occasionally pecking at each other instead of the cone. I suspect that these fish will spawn but since they are wild types that their spawning might be seasonal and this is not the season for them. I have another pair made up of a Blue Scorpion and a Blue Alenquer. They have been pecking at the cone for about 6 months, remain paired, chasing others away from their territory. I believe they are both male. I have tried them with females with out luck and when I put them back into the same tank they go back to their same sex preferences. I think best to try different combinations of fish that you would like to see as pairs rather than, as they call them in the dog world, "mongrels." Unless your aim is to pursue a new strain.

[Iminit]

What’s the reason for breeding? You will need all you have for success. If your going to full the 75 hoping for a pair you will than also need a grow out tank. Does take a bit to breed them. Next what will you do with all the fry? Do you have someplace to sell them? Not trying to discourage but just like to see what people expect. I have 3 pairs in my 125 now. Just can’t think of a reason to follow through. I would like to give it a shot but just don’t know what to do with the fry when grown. Lots of pet stores by me. But all buy from wholesalers. I never see any local bred fish in there tanks.

[jeep]

If your goal is to breed discus then what you cross with is up to you. I would do some research and see what possible combinations may produce. For starters, a PB x non-PB is not recommended as they can produce heavily peppered fry. Even PB x PB can produce throwbacks that are peppered.

While you're in the research mode, read up on the breeding and raising process itself. Discus fry require very clean water, the right foods and plenty of room to grow...