Royal Ruby Red(Golden Based) x Red Turquoise Pairing........good or not???

[onthetee]

I have a weird pairing in my discus tank.....

My Royal Ruby Red (3R) Golden Based x Spotted Red Turquoise has paired up and I'm wondering if this is an acceptable pairing? Both discus came from Forrest through Kenny Cheung. I let them pair up because I was trying to see if my water parameters were okay for breeding. I have a pair of 3R's (male and female) that keep laying eggs in another tank and they keep turning white. Didn't know if the eggs going bad was a case of water or infertility on male's part so far.

Pics of this pairing are below......[ATTACH]119622

[onthetee]

I removed them from my community tank where they were hanging around together to their own breeder tank a few days ago. Well........within 2 to 3 hours they laid eggs for the first time. They probably laid 200 eggs, but she laid them all over the cone.......I guess from inexperience. This morning when I checked on them it looks like about 20 to 30 of the eggs have darkened up and I already have two wigglers on the cone.

I haveN’T heard any comments on what the pairing should produce.......I’m hoping some of the very knowledgeable discus people on here will give me some idea. I read this site everyday and I’m always impressed with the knowledge that is contained in this forum.

I’m going to let them see if they if they will raise them the first time anyway. My first goal has already been complete I think. I have another female that is identical to 3R that is pictured. She is paired with a 3R Intermediate (mostly brown with reddish highlights) and they lay all the time. They have probably laid 5 to 6 times at least. They lay a ton of eggs and they end up always turning white. My breeding water is low 6 in pH and usually 50 to 70 ppm TDS. I was starting to question my water or the males fertility. So when this pair (3R x Red Turquoise) paired I wanted to give them a try to at least confirm I’m doing something right with the water. Now I’m seeing eggs hatch......I think the male is not getting those eggs fertilized (maybe because he is too young) or maybe infertile.

Anyway.......give me some feedback on what you all are thinking!!

[brewmaster15]

Hi, I am guessing the lack of replies is because its not a typical cross and few could even guess what it will make. I will start by saying they are gorgeous fish. :)

Typically if you cross a striated fish to a solid you get mostly striated fish. The Royal Ruby Red being golden based should be a safe cross that doesn't give you peppered offspring unless there are some peppered genes still in it. Golden was used to breed out the pepper in PBs but you never know what will express itself since you are crossing to a non Pb , non golden line. Even with goldens you can get some fry that look like they have "smut" on them, an almost light colored charcoal dusting or shadow look. This can fade in time.

If had similar stock of each I would breed each to their own since they are so nice, but I am not a purist. Crossing discus is the best way to learn what makes what in a case when its not been done before or commonly so. I would do the cross, and see what it gives. Report back please so we can all learn more.

Good Luck!

al

[onthetee]

Al......thanks for the response. I was thinking this should be a safe cross with the 3R being Golden based and not having to worry about the peppering. I was hoping for maybe some striated discus maybe with a deeper red coloring to them. I was just surprised to realize that the 20 to 30 wigglers I thought I actually had........is 50+. Also.....looks like I have two real good parents on their first attempt at it.......they are not even a little bit aggressive with one another. Will keep everyone posted on the cross!!

[brewmaster15]

Excellent! look forward to watching the outcome grow out!
al

[onthetee]

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[onthetee]

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[onthetee]

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Parents with fry.....day#2 of free swimming!!

[Second Hand Pat]

That is a mighty fine looking sight :) Congrats with this pair :D
Pat

[danotaylor]

They look amazing. Nice pics

[onthetee]

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The parents and the fry are doing great. The fry are growing quite a bit and look to be very clean. I haven’t lost any fry from this group. There are 60+ of them.

[onthetee]

Fry growing pretty quickly......almost 3 weeks old. Starting to see stress bars appearing on some of them which would make them probably Red Turquoise. Others are very clean with no markings yet....hopefully they will look like the 3R female.


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[Maddie]

Congratulations! They look awesome!

[Pices]

Wow! I’ll be watching this one. Congratulations!
Patty

[Pices]

I’m told that if you crop your pics a little they won’t be sideways.
Patty

[onthetee]

Thank you for telling me that.....it has been driving me nuts!! I will give it a try.

[onthetee]

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[onthetee]

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Fry are starting to get to nickel size now. I’m seeing some Red Turquoise (9 bars), Snakeskins (14 bars), and some solid barless fry.

[danotaylor]

Sweet mate. Watching with interest :p

[Mando]

Can you actually subscribe to a thread? I want notifications from this one!!

[Second Hand Pat]

Can you actually subscribe to a thread? I want notifications from this one!!

Yes you can Mando, go to the top of the thread and under Thread Tools you will see where you can subscribe to this thread.
Pat

[SNap0283]

How are these guys coming along?

[onthetee]

They are doing well......they are about 6 weeks old and are about 1 1/2"....a few bigger. Looks like I have Red Turquoise, Red Snakeskins, and some I'm not sure of yet. They are barless so I'm hoping they will turn out like the mother Royal Ruby Red. The pair just spawned again last week and I had over 300+ fry in the spawning. It was the first time I used Methylene Blue and had only 7 eggs turn white. I think I putt too much Methylene Blue in the water.......a lot of the fry had swimming problems so I just scrapped the whole spawning and look to try something different when they spawn in the next few days.

Here is a couple of pics of the fry.....this was from about a week ago.....they are starting to get more reddish now. I will try and post some new photos of them in the next few days.122196122197

[onthetee]

They are not very good pics, but you can see the Red Turquoise are going to be 9 bars and the Snakeskins are going to be the 14 bar ones.

[onthetee]

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[onthetee]

Here is a few more pics of the babies and another pic of the pair. The pair is a really nice looking pair!!

I will probably start selling some of the fry in about about a week or so. They should be around 2” when I start selling them. I will have Red Turquoise and Red Snakeskin Fry available at first. I’m going to try and raise the barless ones up a little before I part with them. I will be selling them for $20 each or 6 for $90.00. I will consider bigger discounts the more you buy. NO SHIPPING.......PICK-UP ONLY!! I live in McGaheysville, VA (22840)