desirable crosses

[ngarci13]

So I have a a tank that has a pretty big assortment of discus. I've had them for a little while now and they starting to get to the point where I'm hoping to be getting some pairs soon, so my question is when they are pairing off what type of crosses should I not be trying to promote. I have checkered pigeons, green snakeskin's, red melons, golden leopards, turqs, and golden leopards. Any helpful hints are appreciated. Thanks

[warblad79]

None of those are desirable crosses.

[Mgus]

I think the snakeskin and the turq would be your best bet

[John_Nicholson]

The golden rule is no PB's with none PB's. You will be miles ahead if you work within a strains instead of creating mutts.

-john

[rickztahone]

The golden rule is no PB's with none PB's. You will be miles ahead if you work within a strains instead of creating mutts.

-john

I must agree here. I have seen this in many peoples tanks, but somehow some discus manage to find their own strain and pair up with them. I think this is an exception rather than the norm, but I would use my time to determine which fish is M/F and then I'd get the same strain ones and pair them if they are M/F.

[Rod]

I agree with mgus, ss x turk could work out nicely. Snakeskins are controlled by a dominant heterozygous gene, this means that it will never breed true on that mutated allele, and it has been repeatably shown by breeders that the throwback, is a turk. So breeding with another snakeskin or breeding with a turk will only change the ratio of throwbacks, neither breeding will mean "pure strain". So a rational crossing i think. I would try and match the colors a bit i.e.: solid blue turk with solid blue snake, or red base snake x red turk etc etc. That is where i would concentrate my choice of breeders, on these more subtle traits.