what does this mean?

[zzbruinzz]

hi everyone,

two of my angel blue diamonds are literally having a faceoff. is this mating behavior? they would ram their lips against each other and keep struggling, then they would both turn very dark blue. they are still young fish maybe 7 or 8months old so i'm not sure whether it's just fighting. thanks.

[Smokey]

Sounds like typical mating behaviour, to me.
The disus are determining if the other is a sutiable partner, if the are male/female. If they are the same sex.. they may be testing each others strength.
Are there other discus in the same tank??? To males will fight over a female... lip-lock. I have seen two females fight, also.
Keep an eye open.. you may have to divide them.
the age is about right for the tertestirone to kick in !!!

Normal behaviour.. I think so..

Smokey

[Ryan]

IMO, Smokey is correct. I'm not sure I'd call it mating behavior though. Think of it as discus puberty. As they "come of age" so to speak you will notice disputes, chasing, nipping, jaw-locking, brightening of colors, and weird body gestures that you may have never seen before. This may go on for a while before any mating takes place (and blue diamond males take a long time to become fertile, so any males in your tank are probably at least a year away from raising a family).

If you have them in a bare tank, you may want to think about adding in some driftwood or flowerpots to break up the tank and give them all a little space to call their own. My fish are starting to show spawning behavior and they were constantly fighting and quarreling. Once I added some flowerpots they calmed down a little and it helps break up the aggression. Try it.

Ryan

[Smokey]

Great suggestions Ryan. My australian discus are just starting what zz described.(come on now Z, you nick is to hard to spell..lol). or I'm just to lazy to find all them thar keys.

Smokey

[April]

Smokey. if your little aussies do what mine did....they will be laying eggs in no time flat. mine were rather anxious to get going by 10 months. Must be my water....or maybe its typical of cold weather. nothing better to do. Rods took 18 months for the same siblings....maybe they were too hot ?
Think what happened in the ice storms of quebec? 9 months later.....babies everywhere. sound right?

[zzbruinzz]

it is a community tank w/ about 9 discus, and my oldest, a cobalt, is about 9 months but he/she doesn't do any fighting but chases everyone else around. After the "faceoff" they go to opposite sides of the tank behind the sponge filter, so i guess that's where they hide =).

[Smokey]

LOL .... Ape is so intuative !!!

Z - keep on watching. Fasinating behaviuors .

Smokey

[zzbruinzz]

yup smokey..it's great watching them!

[Smokey]

zzbruinzz; how you doing.
It has been 3 weeks since you noticed the behaviour of your discus. What developed, any hanky-panky!!!
Are they still fooling around?
what what what..

Smokey

[zzbruinzz]

smokey,
nothing!!! but they are all very aggressive towards each other now.

[Smokey]

OK.. sounds like a bit of ''testing'' each other. Like setting up a pecking order.
Keep us informed, you just might wake up to eggs in the tank.....

Mine still haven't do anything, other than eat. But thats ok, they are still young. Actually the females[?] are making eyes at the boys !!!!


Smokey