help with pairing

[limige]

ok, i've gone over this before but it seems like the never ending question.

i've got 3 or 4 sets of discus that seem to have paired. but never seen wigglers out of any. two of the females have used the same male when the other female was in a different tank. but i've never seen this "male" even make passes.

i've trying to throw all 20 of my discus in my 190 gallon tank but my first pair, a pair of pigeons (1 is the supposed male) always seems to pick a territory near a cone and guard it to the point of making some of the other fish stressed out and others come down with hex.

they act like a genuine pair, the male will pair with my cobalt if i remove the female pigeon but still won't make passes. but as soon as i reintroduce the female pigeon he leaves the cobalt and pair with the pigeon again.

i also have a pair of turks that exhibit signs of a pair but the pigeons never let them get a chance on the cone. so two or three months ago i seperated fish up and dropped the tds. but i haven't been keeping up with water changes well cause i've had to do alot of car work lately.

so anyhow right now tanks are as follows
pigeon pair in 29gal
turk pair in 55
my bd, cobalt and 2 blue heavens are in a 40

and my rsg's and other turks are in the 190.

should i keep trying to breed these pairs and start heavy water changes or should i start putting everyone in the 190 until i see some wrigglers?

if i do put the fish in the 190 how many cones should i put in there?

i also have a young turk pair the 190 but i'm not ready to breed them yet.

please help, i've gotten no where so far. since i've divided my fish on the turks in the 190 have shown signs of laying eggs, the others stare at the cone but don't clean it.

[April]

how old are they?
mine did cone hanging for a long time till they got going. maybe their just maturing..and nt quite ready yet.

[McGilly]

8)

[hunterbeav]

When you say you droped the tds what was it???? Your not going to see wigglers unless the conductivity is between 80 and 150. Also water temp should be between 82 and 84. If water temp is too high the sperm dies. And you need to keep the water SUPER CLEAN. That's 30 to 40% w/c's daily. These are the things that work for me. Good luck!!!! :)

jim,
I'd politely like to disagree about the conductivity...my conductivity is anywhere from 650-800 at any given time, and all my fish are spawning successfully on a regular basis...that's just me, but to say somebody won't get wigglers unless it's btwn 80 and 150 is just not true.... ;D

p.s. i agree with your other statements though ;)

[daninthesand]

Dave, good point.

I think it is important to clarify that conductivity alone does not dictate the success/failure of breeding discus. Conductivity is such a grossely GENERAL measurment that could be high due to a low salt content for example. Whatever it is that might induce/prevent spawning can be low/high regardless of the conductivity reading.

Dave's success seems to imply that....

Daniel

[limige]

well my conductivity was 120 now is 60-80, temps are kept 82-84 but i've slacked on wc's. should i keep trying and just do more wc's and feed cbw's or what.

all fish except my youngest group of turks are at least 2yrs old. well except for the rsg's i got from alberto, no telling how old those wilds are.

age isn't an issue, they haven't been spawning because i haven't been changing water like i should but it boils down to, i've paired them from bahavior, i've never seen wigglers from any. many say put them together until i see wrigglers but then i run into issues of certiain pairs stressing out the others. so it seems pointless to put them all together.

i've been on the board awhile, i know the generals for breeding parameters. i recently did a prazi treament before i split them up and did get quite a few worms out but i beleive most came from one turk.

i just don't know, it would really suck if some of my pairs turned out to be two females. i keep hearing people say they will act like a real pair and fool you.

it just seems like they lay eggs more often in the community tank and less often when i put them in smaller tanks paired off. doesn't make much sense. i figured maybe they needed time to settle in but i'm just fusterated here.

[Carol_Roberts]

Feed cbw. Try an experiment. Take your most likely pair and put in the 29. Do daily water changes with water soft enough to hatch eggs. It may take a month or more for them to settle in after being moved - or they may lay eggs in a week.

Put the rest in the big tank and see what happens. Feed everybody cbw.

[hunterbeav]

David I've had my conductivity go to 400 and had about 5 % hatch rate if your getting good hatch rates at 800 conductivity your the man!! Has anyone else had spawns at that high of conductivity???? Wholy cow. And David I do mean that with all due respect!! :)

[limige]

thanks carol maybe i'll try that, i'm just in a spot right now cuz my 800 watt jalli that i ordered turned out to be bad from the start. so now i have 3 heaters in that tank and none left for my storage tanks. so for now all water changes have to be treated tap.

well today i plan to cut up some of the pvc i bought and rig up some drainage systems to make my job easier. i was gonna wait until i bought my new predrilled tanks but i'm pretty broke so that may be awhile.

for now i think the BD, cobalt and blue heavens will go in the 190 with the rsgs and turks.

i'll work on my pigeon pair and my turk pair like you suggested.

[limige]

:bounce: :balloon: :juggle: :bounce2: :balloon: :juggle: :jester:

hey looky looky i've made the 500th post mark!!!!!!!!!!!!