Inexperienced Pair, or Two Females?? Opinions?

[Discuschill]

We recently paired these two Red Dragons, hoping for a viable pair. Immediately after that, they laid an exceedingly large amount of eggs. Unfortunately, all their eggs fungused within two days. In addition, we noticed their courtship behavior seemed a little more chaotic, and different than what we have seen in the past in our successful pairs. Could they just be inexperienced, or actually two females? We are wondering. Any opinions, or comments?

Thanks!!!



https://youtu.be/tZL5WDiFPTg

[Wes]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=tZL5WDiFPTg


The one made a bunch of horizontal runs. Did you see a line of horizontal eggs?

[Discuschill]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=tZL5WDiFPTg


The one made a bunch of horizontal runs. Did you see a line of horizontal eggs?

That's a good observation. The runs were pretty much vertical, though.

[Wes]

Looks like the dude just has bad aim. :confused:

[Discuschill]

He just might.

[Cosmo]

I've had two females "spawn" many years ago. Was so excited to see one laying eggs so I watched closely, only to see more eggs coming out of the second one :(

[Discuschill]

I've had two females "spawn" many years ago. Was so excited to see one laying eggs so I watched closely, only to see more eggs coming out of the second one :(

Yikes!! I know. I think it was too good to be true: too many eggs.

Back to the drawing board :( Maybe better luck next time...

[DISCUS STU]

It's hard to tell from the video if the tubes on the Discus are different from each other, that's the only good way to tell the sexes. In any event I hope it works out for you, these really are beautiful fish.

I just bred a new pair successfully but it took them, ahem the male, 7-8 tries before he was able to fertilize his potential progeny. I remember from my old books that the male breeding tube can be blocked or calcified and may take a while before it clears up. Frequent RO soft water changes may have helped. The first clutch had absolutely nothing fertilized. Eventually it got better and better until the new couple have about 50-60 babies feeding from them.

It may just take some time, or you possibly DO have two females. It took my pair a few months to get a viable spawn. Time will tell. I really needed to have some patience with this.

[Discuschill]

I agree that patience is definitely needed with discus. Your knowledge about discus is really interesting. Had never heard about the male being calcified. I certainly appreciate your expertise!

I'm so happy your pair finally spawned successfully. Wish us luck!! (and patience, too)

If you can I'd love to see a picture of your pair.

Kathy

[DISCUS STU]

I agree that patience is definitely needed with discus. Your knowledge about discus is really interesting. Had never heard about the male being calcified. I certainly appreciate your expertise!

I'm so happy your pair finally spawned successfully. Wish us luck!! (and patience, too)

If you can I'd love to see a picture of your pair.

Kathy

Hi Kathy,

It was something I read in one of the older books possibly Bernd Degen, Wattley, or Schmidt-Focke, I don't remember which but having done some breeding, though not as much as some of the others on this site, this pair definitely proved that persistence pays off. Here's a thread I started re this pair and they're doing great with frequent water changes. The fry are growing in leaps and bounds.

The pair isn't perfectly compatible as the female gets very jealous when the fry feed almost exclusively from the male, which they prefer. She's nipped at his pectoral, tail, and dorsal fins and has caused some damage but I'm not ready to remove her just yet. I may make a divider that the babies can pass through to feed from either parent but one that keeps these two away from each other.

Here's a thread of the two that I started a little while ago
http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?123406-Finally-Getting-Down-To-It!-My-Breeding-Pair&highlight=

and some more recent pics. In the pic. of the two of them the small fry are attached to the male, though it's hard to see. The other one is a little later.

Best regards...Stu9576395764

[rickztahone]

STU, I really love the shape and halo of that discus to the right of the first pic. Beauty.

[DISCUS STU]

STU, I really love the shape and halo of that discus to the right of the first pic. Beauty.

Thanks she is a beauty. I found her in the junk Discus tank at a lfs for about $15.99 as an adolescent. After qt, deworming, metro etc. she grew to her current size which isn't large. Both of these are more medium sized fish but are doing well for their first hatch. Sorry I don't mean to "take over" someone else's thread but I was asked about pics.

[Discuschill]

Hi Kathy,

It was something I read in one of the older books possibly Bernd Degen, Wattley, or Schmidt-Focke, I don't remember which but having done some breeding, though not as much as some of the others on this site, this pair definitely proved that persistence pays off. Here's a thread I started re this pair and they're doing great with frequent water changes. The fry are growing in leaps and bounds.

The pair isn't perfectly compatible as the female gets very jealous when the fry feed almost exclusively from the male, which they prefer. She's nipped at his pectoral, tail, and dorsal fins and has caused some damage but I'm not ready to remove her just yet. I may make a divider that the babies can pass through to feed from either parent but one that keeps these two away from each other.

Here's a thread of the two that I started a little while ago
http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?123406-Finally-Getting-Down-To-It!-My-Breeding-Pair&highlight=

and some more recent pics. In the pic. of the two of them the small fry are attached to the male, though it's hard to see. The other one is a little later.

Best regards...Stu9576395764

What a beautiful pair, Stu! And wonderful shots of the fry, as well. That seems to be quite a big spawn! I find the sight of fry feeding off parents one of the best things about breeding. My husband and I have a Rose Red pair that breed frequently, and are quite compatible. We usually have to remove the female after about ten days, as the fry really are quite aggressive about feeding off of her. We also put a foam divider in the tank (20 gallon) so that the fry can stay close to the parents, and find them when they leave the cone.

Thanks for sharing, Stu!

Kathy