New pair(maybe)

[rdarnold]

I have 4 Discus in a community tank and 2 of the larger Discus appear to have paired up.
They started laying eggs on a ornament in the tank but the eggs turned white and were eaten within a couple days, I filled a 55 gal from the community tank and I also moved the active sponge filter to the new tank from the original tank. They have laid to clutches of eggs but again both times they turned white and were eaten on the second day. Water temp is 83 degrees, ph is 7.4 ammonia, nitrate and nitrite are all 0 or very close to it.
My questions are:
1. Is it common for 2 females to pair up in a community tank and appear to be male and female?
2. Could the male just not be fertilizing the eggs, although he seems to be going thru the motion?
3. I am in the country and have well water but run 90 to 95 percent of my water thru a RO system
Could this be part of my problem?

[Bill63SG]

1.Yes
2.Yes
3.probably not.Do you know what your tds is?

[rdarnold]

thank you, not sure what tds is but ill do some research

[Bill63SG]

Total disolved solids,the hardness of your water.Eggs do better below 100.

[rdarnold]

going to order a tds meter now, found a Hanna Primo2 for a reasonable price. I see the meters range from 15 to several hundred dollars. hopping the one i picked will work okay.
what do you think, should i split the pair up or give it some time.
don't want to give up on them but don't want them to get use to eating the eggs either.

[Bill63SG]

Theyre eating their eggs because they are going bad.Lets see what your tds is first.i paid $17 for my meter.

[rdarnold]

okay, thanks Bill

[rdarnold]

Bill just got my TDS meter and it looks like my water in the tank with the breeders is at 87 ppm, hoping it just that its a young couple and with time they will get a batch to hatch and not that they are 2 females.

[DiscusLoverJeff]

That is a good steady TDS for pairs. Give them some time.

[Bill63SG]

Yep,what Jeff said.

[rdarnold]

I have Wigglers!!!!!! Thank you every ones for the advice about being patient . Now i am in panic mode again, what do i do, just kidding, I am just excited, Monday they laid the eggs and yesterday morning they were gone. I figured they had ate them again and i was going to take the clay pot out and clean it as it was starting to get a little algae on the top. They had moved the eggs around to the back side.Not many maybe 30 or 40 wigglers. Guess i had better get some bbs started also they are in a 55 do you think i should put a divider in and shrink the size of the tank or let it go for now and divide after this batch.

[Second Hand Pat]

Breath and lets see if the wigglers attach. Congrats on the confirmed pair.

Getting familiar with your BBS hatchery is a good idea. :)

[rdarnold]

Know i am getting ahead of myself but i have to ask, The Male is a Lemon Discus and the Female is a Blue Turquoise will i get a mix of the each or some sort of combination of the two?

[Second Hand Pat]

If the lemon discus is PB based not a good combination. A PB/non-PB yields fry with lots of peppering....ie dirty pigeons.

[John_Nicholson]

If the "Lemon" discus ( which is just a madeup name by a breeder ) is a 100% PB you will get 100% PB. Most will have pepper and not be attractive. If the pb is 50% then you will get 50% crappy looking pb's and 50% something else....probably turqs.

-john

[rdarnold]

John, thank you, It has a little pepper already so i am guessing not a PB, both fish are from LFS and would never be anything special except to me. Hoping to get to Austin in June but its an outside shot right now. I have some really good looking Red Turq I got from Bill63sg so this is good practice for when they pair up.

[Second Hand Pat]

If your male has pepper it is indeed a PB.

[John_Nicholson]

John, thank you, It has a little pepper already so i am guessing not a PB, both fish are from LFS and would never be anything special except to me. Hoping to get to Austin in June but its an outside shot right now. I have some really good looking Red Turq I got from Bill63sg so this is good practice for when they pair up.

No ptoblem. If you have any chance at all you need to make NADA. You will not regret it. I have talked lots of people into coming and afterwards they have all thanked me for the experience.

-john

[Bill63SG]

Nice going,welcome to the deep end of the pool.

[rdarnold]

quick update, yesterday maybe a dozen babies swimming around mom and dad and eating off the sides, this morning I can find 6 or so and they were moving back and forth from mom to the sponge filter and back. I know i need to make the tank smaller as the parents were spending a lot of time finding strays and trying to put them back on the flower pots

Have to admit I was having a hard time understand Pat and John on what the young would look like, until i realized that PB meant Pigeon Blood not Pure Breed. I should look to see if anyone has posted a acronym list.

[rickztahone]

Here is a thread with some Discus Acronyms (http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?51485-Discus-Acronyms)

And here is One more (http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?21666-Common-abbreviations-used-in-Discus-posts) for you.