Experts plz reply

[novice breeder]

hi,

i would like to know how do u all positively identify males and females?

do u all put them in a community tank and let nature take place?

is there a process to induce spawning?


if u have a pair i.e. male and female that u don't want to be a pair do u split them up and successfully form other pairs that u want? any suggestion or inputs? how successful is the pairing up of known sexes i.e. placing only two discus male and female in one tank to get a breeding pair? how long will the entire process take before spaning occurs?

[AADiscus]

There is no way to positively identify a male or female until you either see them spawn or once they have spawned you will be able to tell the female will have a real fat blunt and a male will be short and kinda pointy.

I keep all breeders that are not being used in community tanks. Most I know what sex they are but new young adults I don't. Sometimes I watch to see who is dancing and doing what. If we aren't for sure on some and it is a good strain we will put the two we think is a male and female in a breeder tank to see if they will do anything. This has worked the majority of the times.

Everyone I think has there own way of trying to induce spawning. Some might do large wc's with room temp water. Live food....cbw;earthworms. If your water parameters are right they should breed. You will get a pair sometimes that will spawn and spawn and spawn and then won't for a little while. They just need a break is all. Once you set your pair up in there own breeding tank it might take them a week or two to get settled in. Now if you have a male that is not old enough yet he is not going to show any interest. Depending on the strain the males take longer to reach maturity than the females.

If you have fish in a community tank that are pairing up and you don't want that pair, don't worry about it. They might spawn together in the tank but you won't get any fry. Just let them do there thing and get the practice. IMO