mating behavior

[DREW]

Well were to start. I bought a spawning pair of red mellons about 7 months ago from Cary and they are doing well. They are in a 55g tank, temp at 85-86, water changes 50% every other day and once a week I do a 90% water change, ph 6.5. They are fussy about eating anything but blackworms. I have tried not feeding blackworms for a week and thrown some other foods in there. Beefheart, bloodworms, redworms, white worms, brine shrimp, tetra bits and no luck yet. I want to color them up some but they are driving me nuts with being so picky. Anyway, they are always showing spawning behavior, shimmying, twisting around each other, pecking at each others naughty bits and so on. I feel they are ready because its getting more intense but I missing something to trigger them. I feel either the food might be a problem or something else. They are a very sturdy pair since I haven't owned any discus in some time and I have been learning along with them. They are about a year and 7 months old. Any suggestions.


Thanks

Drew

[McGilly]

Hi Drew,
If they are in a bare tank now, I would drop your temp to 83 for a week, do partail daily water changes with the exact temp and ph, Give them all they can eat morning noon and night for that week and then hit them with a large water change using a batch of peat water with a little lower ph and temp.

Is your ph 6.5 out of the tap or do you change it?

Jeff

[DREW]

its r/o water mixed with a little tap. I have been thinking of using straight r/o and using a r/o right product to help keep the ph stable. I also just added a new filter to the tank and I think the enjoy the water flow because they have been more active since the addition.

Thanks

Drew