??ARE*THEY*BREEDING??

[fishkid951]

Hi everyone.
I woke up this morning early and when I turned my fish tank lights on all the fish were tired and adjusting to the light. I came back aproximately 20minutes later and found one of my red/blue turquise pecking at a peice of driftwood and then running its belly along it. It kept doing this. I soon noticed a longer breeding tube about 0.7cm long(7mm ish). I was amazed when I saw this and thought I may have some eggs this afternoon. Looking from a distance, I saw some shaking/flickering when another discus(also a blue/red turq) came near the driftwood. This second dicus stayed around for a little bit but didn't do anything. This discus pecked it a little bit on the side of the body but nothing else. Only one of the discus had a spawnig tube droped. The one shimmering and cleaning the driftwood.

The discus are still fairly young. I have had them for about 8 months I think and they are currently about 12cm long(just a guess).

This afternoon, there were no eggs, and no spawning tubes.

I have another discus for over two years. It was king of the tank. However, this morning I found he had a few small abrasions. There was one on his forehead, one just above the lateral line and one at the back end of his dorsal fin. They looked like scales missing and red in colour.

There are three discus in the tank and one bristlenose. 165L plantedtank(if spawnings occur I will move the pair. Tank is getting re-stocked)

QUESTIONS
(1)does it sound like I have a pair?
(2)does it sound like they did lay eggs?
(3)when should I expect this to occur again?
(4)does it sound like they were breeding?just inexperienced parents?
(5)How will I know when I have a true pair?
(6)Would adding another discus be a bad idea at this point in time?(I was going to get one soon, but now I am not sure. I know three is not a good number to have especially when breeding. This discus would help reduce aggression on the odd-one-out but not solely for that purpose. It wasd always ment to be a community tank and I will get another tank to breed.)
(7)How can I trigger spawning?
(8)The two fish that near driftwood were bought at the same time from the same shop. One was in the front of the shop but one was in the back in quarentine tanks out the back because they always quarinteen the fish when they first arrive. Would they be brother andd sister? Will this effect fry in the future(if they do breed)?
(anything else I should know?)

Thanks everyone in advance!!
(PS sorry for the long post.)

[White Worm]

QUESTIONS
(1)does it sound like I have a pair? You may, it does sound like someone is trying to mate.
(2)does it sound like they did lay eggs? Not unless you saw eggs after the runs
(3)when should I expect this to occur again? It may just be dry runs right now depending on their exact age. Sometimes the inexperienced male just stares and doesnt quite know what to do yet. They may attempt it once a week.
(4)does it sound like they were breeding?just inexperienced parents? yep
(5)How will I know when I have a true pair? When they both make runs like you saw the first one do. Then you will know they are confirmed when they have wrigglers and proven when they carry fry.
(6)Would adding another discus be a bad idea at this point in time? probably not a good idea. let them practice and see what happens.(I was going to get one soon, but now I am not sure. I know three is not a good number to have especially when breeding. This discus would help reduce aggression on the odd-one-out but not solely for that purpose. It wasd always ment to be a community tank and I will get another tank to breed.)4 is really not that much better than 3 to risk bringing in a new one especially since you would want to QT it first.
(7)How can I trigger spawning? cool clean w/c's, live foods, using RO water.
(8)The two fish that near driftwood were bought at the same time from the same shop. One was in the front of the shop but one was in the back in quarentine tanks out the back because they always quarinteen the fish when they first arrive. Would they be brother andd sister? Will this effect fry in the future(if they do breed)? No way to tell if they are related. After some in-breeding, you could really have problems.
(anything else I should know?) Look in the breeding section here and read lots of threads and the stickys

Thanks everyone in advance!!
(PS sorry for the long post.)

Just be patient and let nature takes its course and give them some time to work it out.

[discus_boy]

just talking about the two year old discus. if the scales are missing and there are red dots coming out then this could be hook worms. I don't know a med to treat hook worms but i'm sure someone else can help you out. I would put him in a quarantine tank away from the others.

[fishkid951]

The red was just from the discus pecking at him I think. They are healing up VERY nicely. No breeding actions going since I saw them the other day(when this thread was made).