Pairing discus

[flynny1579]

HI Guys

Iam in the process of Pairing discus. Its all quite new to me I have a male in and female in a breeding tank atm. i recently acquired the boy, as my 10 fish i have had since them being 2 inchs , 6months ago, all seemed to be girls. well the mature ones are anyway.
anyhow i have the new boy and girl together in a tank at the moment, she is very keen he is not. she even layed eggs for him, which he decided was lunch, he is a bit aggressive aswell at times however not to bad, how long should i persist with this paring before i try something different, its been 2 weeks and the boy doesnt seem interested at all in her. i have been told he is about 3 year old.

Thanks for your help in advance
cheers

[Gabriel13]

I can't wait till mine pair off. It's gonna be a while since they are very young. Good luck with your pair. Sometimes it takes some practice before they get it right.

[danotaylor]

I am certainly no expert, but perhaps try putting your male (once QT'd properly) into the tank with the other presumed female discus and see if he naturally pairs off with one of the others...maybe he is just not "into" the one you picked for him...just a thought...I'm certain there are others with experience in the arena of your question that will chime in...

[flynny1579]

dano, thats a good idea however, he is a pb, and i have it with another pb female with him. The main tank has mixed colours, so it would be bad if he pairs up with a non pb. You cant breed a pb with a none pb.

[flynny1579]

I got excited when i had a pair, only to find it being two females.
I guess its because females mature at a younger age than males.
I separated them as they dont show much interest with anyone else.
I must say its so exiting to watch them these days now they are laying eggs etc.

[danotaylor]

You cant breed a pb with a none pb.
I do remember reading that somewhere here on SD...I have no clue when it comes to genetics and what you can & cannot breed with what when looking for certain traits to be present or not present...the big thing with PB's is peppering right?

[flynny1579]

yeah mate, turn out ugly babies if you dont have 2 pb together

[flynny1579]

so I moved my pair back into the community tank.
The big guy isnt so aggressive with the female now, and another female has shown interest in him.
however, he has no interest in fertilising eggs or even being part of the breeding process. both females have layed eggs for him, one in particular followed him and danced for him for a week before finally laying eggs yesterday. Im at a lost of what to do. all he wants to do is eat by the looks of things. maybe i purchased a dud.

[flynny1579]

The big male has no interest in any female in the community tank either. females dance all day to him, shimmer, bow etc. all he does is look out for me cause he wants food.
Think iam going to sack him. so disappointing