Breeding & Water (merged)

[killerchevelle]

I have a question for those of you who have had great success breding discus. What kind of adjustments have you made to the water to induce breeding ??? What are your water parameters ??? My discus pair are currently adapted to straight tap water. I was wondering what I had to do to the tap water to help achieve optimum breeding water ;). I was told by the person that I got my discus from that the female will not lay eggs unless the water is super clean. He said what he did and what I should do to trigger them to breed is to add half of the recommended dosage of Aquarium salt to the tank and do frequent water changes. As of rite now they are currently in a 29 Gallon tank and I now have 2 filters on it. I have a Whisper 30 and an AquaClear 30 with pre-filters on the inlets. They are currently in 86-88 degree water. I also have a fairly good size sponge filter in it as well. The water is super clean and crystal clear !!! By far its the cleanest tank in my house !!! Here is a picture that I took before I added the Aquaclear filter to it..... Do you guys add aquarium salt to your tanks ??If not what should I do ??? If so how much do you put in ??? Also, what do you do to new water that you add to the tank after removing water when doing a water change ??? Any help is greatly apprecieated !!! My ultimate goal is to achieve good water :love: ...... and then fry !!!:fish: Thanks.....:thumbsup:

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j275/killerchevelle/HPIM0242.jpg

Here is a pic of my babys....
http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j275/killerchevelle/TheBothofthem.jpg

[Stillwater Aquatics]

Can you post your water parameters please? or at least your General Hardness of the tap water?
I do not use any salt. Prime and airate new water for 24 hrs before W/C
To induce spawning drop your water temp to 82 degrees, in order to have a successful spawn you should have your GH down under 100ppm otherwise the eggs will not get fertilized.

[Carol_Roberts]

You want the water between GH 3 - 8. I don't add salt. 82 is a good temperature.

[killerchevelle]

I will have to pick up a test kit to see what my GH.... (GH = General Hardness ???? Rite ???) is.

As soon as I find out I will post the GH.

So thats it ??? GH & Temp are the factors needed to trigger breeding ???

[pcsb23]

I have merged this thread and the one from the Water section. Please only post your question in one thread.

Thanks.

[1977]

This is a tough question to answer because there are so many factors involved. Definitely lower your temp a few degrees and find out how hard your water is, if your water isn't soft then the eggs won't be fertilized. Certainly frequent wc and a clean tank is very important but you have to have the right chemistry also. It takes a lot of things going just right to have a successful spawn which is why it is so satisfiying when it happens!

[diamond_discus]

Well, I am no expert but here's my info :

40 Gallon tank, with Eclipse 3 hood, and one sponge filter.
I only use tap water but treat the water with Acid Buffer and Discus Buffer. This is to lower the PH down between 6.0 and 6.4. (My tap water PH is >7.0 and not soft). I use Amquel+ and NovAqua+ to condition the water. Temp is around 86 degree. And I do a 25% WC daily. I tried to feed only BBW and color bits, to keep the water clean. I also use a "water softener pillow" to help lower the GH/KH. Without the Water Softener Pillow, it will take me at least 8 drops for the GH/KH test. With the water softner pillow (after 24 hours), it will take me 3 to 5 drops for the GH/KH test.

My pair spawn 3 times in the last month. Seems like the female like to lay eggs shortly after I make water change. By the way, I don't have a RO unit (Don't have room for water storage).

[CAGE-RATTLER]

Im curious as to why you guys say keep the temp at 82?

Does the lower temp make it easier to fertilize?

Or are you saying the temp needs to be cooler for them to spawn at all?

Im curious because mine have been laying at 88 degrees and my last batch wasnt fertilized.

[AADiscus]

I would defiantly lower your water temp to around 82 like what has already been said. Why such filtration in a 29 gal tank? Your sponge filter should be able to handle that tank. JMO Depending on your water parameters, I would mix RO water and aged tap to get to the right water parameters you need. Until you test, it's hard to tell if you need RO or not. Some out there have really good water and don't need to soften it. I would also recommend changing your background on the tank. It's a little dark and when you do have fry they might have a hard time finding the parents. I would lightened it up quite a bit. You should not need to use salt in the tank.

Get a test kit and find out what your water parameters are. Then you can go from there on what you need to do to your water. ;)

[killerchevelle]

Why such filtration in a 29 gal tank?

I figured the more filtration the better... The filters are left over from other tanks that I had taken down. Instead of putting them away and letting them dry out I figured I would just put them on the discus tank.

10-4 on finding out the hardness first and go from there.

Any particular test kit ??? I have the multi-test strips that checks almost everything... would that be good or should I buy a hardness only test kit ???

[AADiscus]

If you don't have a test kit at all just the strips, I would buy the one that you can test all different things. You never know when you need to test for something and then you would already have it.