buying a breeding pair

[cobaltblue]

When bringing a breeding pair home for the first time, is it best to put them right into a breeding tank by themselves or should i put them into my larger discus tank for the first while. Also, can the breeding tank have a piece of
driftwood in it with a anubias plant growing off it, or should i remove the have the breeding tank totally empty ( besides heater and sponge filter).

thanks for any suggestions.

[GulfCoastDiscus]

Keep them in their own tank. Remove everything except the heater and sponge filter.

[cobaltblue]

ok, thanks Dan.

[GulfCoastDiscus]

You can add the spawning cone in the tank.

[White Worm]

Listen to Dan, he knows what he is talking about. I just purchased my first breeding pair two weeks ago and yes, dropped them into their new home 35g corner, by themselves. Water, heater, sponge filter, breeding surface, thats it. Be prepared for a period of adjustment. Just because you bought them as a breeding pair, they may not start breeding again for a while. Patience is the key and keeping their water parameters clean and as close to what the breeder had them in. Good luck, I'll post if mine start the breeding cycle again any time soon, Mike

[hexed]

Yes Dan is correct and so is Mike. I just want to add one thing though when purchasing breeders. Ask for pics of the fry before you purchase the pair and ask why they are selling this pair? Most people have pics of the fry and are willing to show you. I did not do this when I purchased my so called breeding pair and I found out later that the male only liked to watch and not participate :( I payed a lot of money for them too :( The seller told me that both had successfully raised fry, but I could not see it because all he did was watch the female lay eggs and then fan them :(
Like someone said on a thread here awhile back, a breeding pair makes you money so why would a breeder get rid of a money maker? Just because they paired up or laid eggs does not make them a breeder. A pair can be egg eaters or fry eaters or nothing at all, a true breeder raises thier fry :)

[GulfCoastDiscus]

Yes Dan is correct and so is Mike. I just want to add one thing though when purchasing breeders. Ask for pics of the fry before you purchase the pair and ask why they are selling this pair? Most people have pics of the fry and are willing to show you. I did not do this when I purchased my so called breeding pair and I found out later that the male only liked to watch and not participate :( I payed a lot of money for them too :( The seller told me that both had successfully raised fry, but I could not see it because all he did was watch the female lay eggs and then fan them :(
Like someone said on a thread here awhile back, a breeding pair makes you money so why would a breeder get rid of a money maker? Just because they paired up or laid eggs does not make them a breeder. A pair can be egg eaters or fry eaters or nothing at all, a true breeder raises thier fry :)

Another thing is a pair might produce for someone then when move throws them off and not produce for the other. Especially young pair, you must be patient. I've gotten proven males from someone and not do anything for me.

In my situation I have new pairs coming up and lack the space. As much as I love all my fish, I can't keep them all. Then it becomes which strain do I want to work with.
Be patient. Try different things to make the pair comfortable.

[White Worm]

I received my pair from loverboy (kenny) on this site, he is really in the hobby for the thrill and not really the profit. Usually breeders will sell pairs because they need the space for more babies. Kenny had about 7 pairs raising fry and 4 55g tanks full of fry at all stages. He was also in the process of starting another 15 tanks to add to his already 30-40. Never hurts to make a few bucks to pay the electrical and water bill though ;) . He also showed me pics of the pair raising the fry before I purchased them and I saw his setup personally (awesome :D ). He gave me about 50 pics showing the pair at all stages of breeding with their fry. Mine are still going through the adjustment period and I think that the only diifference between him and me is that he had them up high out of traffic so they would feel comfortable and I have them about waist level in my bedroom in a corner tank. They see a little more traffic than what they are used to. All other parameters are as close as I can get them.

[hexed]

Mike then you got a great deal! Kenny did the right thing and for that he will get more buyers - WAY TO GO KENNY!
Unfortunately that was not my case but I loved the pair anyway! They are now gone and I still miss them each time I look at my tanks.
I wish you lots of luck and hope I will have the honor of seeing pictures of your fry ;)
Frank

[Kenny's Discus]

Thank you Mike & Frank. In my case the reason why I would selll one of the proven pairs to Mike is because I currently have identical proven pairs. Since their offsprings are quite similar (not exactly but close) I just don't want to "waste" the other 55gs for so many similar strain babies. :-) And yes I truly think that when breeders sell their pairs to hobbyists as "proven", they should at least have pics to show that those have indeed raised frys b4 since proven pairs cost quite a lot more than the other so-called "compatible pairs".

Mike, I think the pair will produce soon as I told you that prior to leaving my tank they were doing the...... DISCUS DANCE!

Quote from Dan:
"In my situation I have new pairs coming up and lack the space. As much as I love all my fish, I can't keep them all. Then it becomes which strain do I want to work with."

Dan, I can't agree more...very true.

Best Regards,

Kenny
http://forum.simplydiscus.com//showthread.php?t=45944

[Kenny's Discus]

a "proven pair"... :-)

[Kenny's Discus]

another "proven pair"... :-)

[Kenny's Discus]

the "proven pair" I sold to Mike.

[Kenny's Discus]

a very, very "compatible" pair of mine... :-(

I actually told Mike not to get them since they are kinda "troublesome" if you know what I mean. :-)

[hexed]

Kenny,
Can you post some pics of your fry, the combinations interest me. I would love to see what the fry actually look like with some of your combinations :)
Frank

[Kenny's Discus]

frys from the 1st pair - it consists of 2 batches from 2 similar pairs (Mike's pair included) In fact the ones with vertical red bars are from Mike's pair. I called them "Green White" since it has a white-based body with fine light green pattern on fins & body.

Good luck on your pair, Mike!

[Kenny's Discus]

another shot...

[Kenny's Discus]

younger pics.

[Kenny's Discus]

final pic. They are very healthy eating like PIGS. :-0

[White Worm]

WOW!! They sure have gotten big since I last saw them. You are still probably dumping all that healthy food in there for them. I lost my two just recently kenny, I dont know what happened. They were both doing fine one day and eating like pigs with the rest and then the next day they started swimming bad and laying down (dark color and clamped fins). I put them in a 10g and added salt and fungus clear but I dont know if that was the problem and I think I just didnt catch them in time. Is there a problem feeding FBW to the smaller discus?? They love it but that is the only change I have made lately. I did a 90% WC and added all the stuff back but I dont know what happened to those two. The other three I got from you are doing fine. Then last night I stole their extension cord for xmas lights and duh,,, it was running their heater. I forgot to plug it back in and had some kinda cold discus this morning. So Stupid,, I hope they dont have any problems. I still fed them and they still ate. They were just not very happy with me @ 75-78 degrees. What do you think happened with the two green-whites??? Any ideas???

[Kenny's Discus]

I'm so sorry to hear about this strange loss, Mike. :-( Just 2 out of 5? If they were fine the day b4(even eating like pigs) then died suddenly like this, I would have to say it was Internal Bacterial Infection. But most, if not all of FBW should be safe IMO.

The others (including yours) that are currently in your community - are they exhibiting any kind of symptoms? Let me know Mike cause I need/want to know about this. The ones I have in my tank are really healthy and fat, and I'll gladly give you a couple of them whenever you're closeby.

Sorry again Mike and please call me (650) 922-2568 as I really want to follow up on this... :-(

Kenny

[Kenny's Discus]

Mike - this is how they look today, before feeding.

[Kenny's Discus]

This was when I approached the tank and I'm sure they thought "food are coming!".

[Kenny's Discus]

while feeding...as you can see I feed them FBW too.

[White Worm]

That picture when you approach the tank is absolutely hilarious. I have to smile everytime I see it with those three discus heads together right in the middle. They are like the three stooges.

For my 75g tank, I'm thinking of treating with a trio for everyone in there. Metro, Prazi and then a temp raise 94 degrees for a week. I think that is pretty much what some do during a QT period. What do you think. All my turqs in there have dark vertical lines and they just look dull and dark. It doesnt seem to affect the rest much though. Are turqs weaker as a strain?

[Kenny's Discus]

Mike - if the remaining discus in your tank do look "dull"; raising the temp + metro/prazi will increase their metabolism and also getting rid of any worms/flukes they might have. When you increase the temp. you will often see a marked difference of them being more active IMHO.

As for whether Turks are weaker as a strain, I do not believe so. I once ask Herman (Fairy Lake Discus) many years ago as to whether Snow Flakes were the weaker strain and he disagreed at that time as well. I did experienced that sometimes (not every time)certain gene's frys that are produced in very smalll # (i.e. 2-3) in a batch will sometimes be smaller, weaker and die off easier. But for Turks I think many people actually think that they are considered to be the stronger strains, if there's actually any difference in the first place.

Kenny