Female lays eggs, help identify male

[mmdiscus1]

Hi guys. So my dicsus have spawned in planted tank (you can find links to my planted 100 gallon tank from my previous posts here). I own my discus for over a year, this is first time they spawned.

They constantl ylaid eggs on a cone i put there, it happened five times, everytime about 100+ eggs, two weeks apart. Eggs stayed for about four days after what they have been eaten. During these 4-5 days, female(i think) was constantly fanning them. They never turned white opaque, and i could see black dot in thr middle(they were fertilized? I think).. And this "female" was guarded by my other large discus, which i thought was a male.. Although i have one more large fish which was constantly fighting with this guardian fish.

Tds in main tank is 450, and i read it here that because of high TDS eggs will have hatching problems and it was a community tank afteral...

NOW THE PROBLEM- i setup a breeder tank, barebottom, mixing RO water with a bit of tap, keep TDS 80-100. I put that "female" and the "male." They right away laid eggs, but this time the next day - 24 hours later eggs turned opaque white, this never happened in main tank.. Then again after a week this time(it happened much faster than in community tank), eggs were laid - the same way after 24 hours they turned white opaque :(

MY DIAGNOSIS: i know i definetely have female in the breeder tank, hence eggs are laid. But ive never actually seen female laying them, i only see one fish( i believe is female) cleaning breeding cone and viola next i kno there are eggs there, and that same fish fans them.. While other sticks around but soesnt fan them.. Does it mean that i have two females here? Or could it be that male all of a suddent doesnt want to fertilize eggs?

MY PROPOSED SOLUTION? - i have another male looking discus left in planted tank( i have three over 5inch discus, all others are smaller, all i have is discus fish) .. Maybe it was the one fertilizing. Maybe i should remove "male" looking fish from breeding tank, and put other male looking fish from main tank?

I dont want to stress fish, and not really sure why white egss.. Waiting for your help. Thanks!

[mmdiscus1]

And one more thing which i might have missed-- the reason i took this "pair" out of main tank and put in breeder is:
One was fanning the eggs all the time( i didnt see her lay them), and the other was guarding and not letting anyone close to egg area... When not laying eggs, these two would stick to each other in the tank, leaving other 4 discus fish i have on their own.

[MadMatt]

Depending on your set up you could do a few things, 1.put them back in to the community tank, once they lay eggs and your sure they have been fertilized by "a male", put a cage or mesh over the eggs, you need to have wigglers, once this happens you definitely have a pair.
2. Leave them in breeding tank for two weeks, change water 40% daily, (make sure your adding room temperature water to your breeding tank) thus will make the temperature of the tank bounce around and cause them to want to spawn.
I found if the temperature is 85.5°, then you add 40% room temperature water, this effectively brings the temperature down to 78°, the heater kicks on and brings it back to 85.5° in 3-4 hrs, this triggers them to spawn.
During this process you must watch you starts to peck the cone or post first, I usually see male start to clean then the female takes over and both are pecking like Nut bags, once you see this its not long till they will slide up the post! :)
Keep watching and see if they are both taking turns (at the same time can be OK too), this can go on for 1-3 hrs, once they are booth fanning and looking at the eggs and 4 hrs have passed your safe to cover the eggs and see if you get wigglers in 3-5 days.
If you do you have a pair.
Hope this helps!
I know I'm new here but me and my wife have been breeding for a while and currently 5 pairs on the go now.
Good luck and keep us posted!
:)

[nc0gnet0]

see if you get wigglers in 3-5 days.

5 days?



I found if the temperature is 85.5°,

No need to have the temperature over 82 degrees, 86 is too ho imo

[mmdiscus1]

I found male! I just brought other fish from community tank, and move oneout of breeding tank.. All based on intuition.
Now i have wriglers!!! Today first day, please help me with tthatttoo- i opened a new thread here.. A lot of reading these days, trying to leanr more, but u never know until u have actually experienced it,