pairing discus

[springer]

What would be the best tank set up for this situation. I have 8 blue diamonds that are 15 mos. old. They are very healthy and in excellent shape. I would like to have them start pairing off as I would like to breed them. I have raised them from very small and they have been always been together. Thank you for any advice.

[Bill63SG]

They will take care of it themselves.What type of tank are they in,decorated,bare bottom?Size?When they start to form pairs,then its up to you to move them and place them in thier own tank,preferably a 20H or a 29.

[springer]

Thank you for the reply. Right now they are in a 90 gal. tank. It has a bare bottem with a few planted pots. The only other fish are plecos which clean the tank. Their water is changed 80% every 3 days. I use sponge filters and the tanks are kept very clean. But there is no pairing off.

[Bill63SG]

try putting in a breeding cone or two to give them something to set territory around.Frankly,when they're ready,they'll breed antwhere,filter tube,side of tank.I belive I read somewhere that Blue Diamonds can take a little longer to mature,so they might not be ready yet.Anyone with other knowledge feel free to shoot me down.

[timmy82]

try putting in a breeding cone or two to give them something to set territory around.Frankly,when they're ready,they'll breed antwhere,filter tube,side of tank.I belive I read somewhere that Blue Diamonds can take a little longer to mature,so they might not be ready yet.Anyone with other knowledge feel free to shoot me down.

I have found BD seem to take longer to mature. I have a ring leopard female and RGD female that paired off young and small I would've much rather let them grow but regardless of weather they had a male or not they would lay so there for their growth did slow. On the other hand it wont fully affect what the fry grow to some of the RGD young are just over 6 months and around 3.5" - 4" and mum would be 4.5".

[John_Nicholson]

Discus will normally pair off between 9 and 18 months. I have never found that any strain was faster or slower than others. What are you water parameters? Lots of people keep their water hotter than needed. Set yours to 82 in the tank. Do a 50% change with water that is about 70 and I bet you see fireworks. If you have had your water hotter than 82 let them live in it for a couple of weeks before hitting them with the cooler water.

-john

[springer]

Thanks to all who replied. Keep the advice coming. Thank you.

[troysdiiscus]

dim the lights, Barry White and an evening mixed drink.....ohhh you meant the fish...lol Well guessing you have some females in there, everyone has given you the right advise, sometimes live foods will set the mood but the best is what John said, the temp. When they get that little shower of cooler water sets them on go..and when there ready they will lay.

[lgomezvi]

Discus will normally pair off between 9 and 18 months. I have never found that any strain was faster or slower than others. What are you water parameters? Lots of people keep their water hotter than needed. Set yours to 82 in the tank. Do a 50% change with water that is about 70 and I bet you see fireworks. If you have had your water hotter than 82 let them live in it for a couple of weeks before hitting them with the cooler water.

-john

Once they pair/dance after weaning temp down to 82 degrees & WC with 70 degree water, should one increase temp back to 86 degrees for spawn/rearing eggs or keep temp at 82 throughout? Thanks in advance. Going to try this with my adult discus.

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[timmy82]

Once they pair/dance after weaning temp down to 82 degrees & WC with 70 degree water, should one increase temp back to 86 degrees for spawn/rearing eggs or keep temp at 82 throughout? Thanks in advance. Going to try this with my adult discus.

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I leave my pairs at 82 - 83 I find that I have more sucess at that temp any warmer I seem to get less of a hatch. Maybe due to increase in temp decreases dissolve oxygen in the water.

[pastry]

John, so Blue Diamonds don't take longer to mature/pair off? Just asking because I always fed into that since having a few blue diamonds that while all of the other discus were pairing off, neither one of the two I had did. Such a small number but you could see how I always bit on that theory.

[John_Nicholson]

I have never seen any real different in the strains in terms of pairing off.

On the temp ...at higher temps the fertility of the male is affected. You get it high enough and they will be completely sterile until you drop the temp back down.

-john

[pastry]

I have never seen any real different in the strains in terms of pairing off.

On the temp ...at higher temps the fertility of the male is affected. You get it high enough and they will be completely sterile until you drop the temp back down.

-john

Had a buddy who's wife put him through hell when they were trying to concieve. She'd make him sit in a hot bath before hand due to something she read. I died laughing when he told me. From there, I said, "Why don't you just heat up some water in a coffee mug, set your balls in it, and watch some football beforehand?". I was kidding but think he seriously thought about. Anyhow, they finally got pregnant once they stopped with all of the shannanigans... funny that maybe what hurt the situation was too warm of a water temp :p

[John_Nicholson]

Could be. One of the first thing a fertility specialist will tell you is to wear boxers instead of whitey tighties so that the boys can breathe...

-john

[pastry]

AMEN! ... but now I'm just laughing more about him sitting in a tub... what an idiot

[lgomezvi]

A little over a week ago I read this thread and learned to reduce the temperature in my tank from 86 to 82 degrees F in order to promote pairing. At the moment after some recent loses, I only have 4 adult discus in the 45g tank currently, and have never had any hint whatsoever of pairing, spawning behavior or courting for over the 1.5 years which this tank has been running. When I bought the fish they were sub adult tending more towards adult but I suspect they have been fully mature for over 6 months now. In any case, I really though I had a bunch of duds on my hands.

Well, now it's been a little over a week at 80-82 degrees and for the first time ever I HAVE A NEWLY FORMED PAIR SPAWNING IN MY TANK!!! They didn't even give me a chance to try the 50% WC technique with 70 degree water because I was waiting to complete two full weeks at the new temperature but the fact remains that now they are currently in the "act." To be honest, I may have even overshot lowering the temp to ~79 degrees at times because my house got really cold at night this past week and my water heater isn't very accurate. But in any case, I have a pair now and they are putting down eggs as I write. Interestingly, despite several pieces of vertically-placed drift wood and vertical canister filter equipment in the tank they chose to spawn ON THE GLASS of the aquarium along the black backside of an old stick-on aquarium thermometer that is pasted to the lower left side of the tank (it doesnt even work any more). They are currently in tap water so I dont expect much, but I have my RO/DI unit filtering now.

This is so exciting!!

I learned if you want to inhibit any type of breeding behavior at least in my tanks, water parameters and with my stock then keep the tank at 86 degrees year round.

Thanks for the heads up! :)Im going to try to catch some video!