Pair will not breed any more

[tdr1919]

Hi All,
Last spring I was successful breeding a snakeskin and a German Red, after a few attempts they got it right and I had a tank of free swimming fry. I left the fry with the parents and to make a long story short, I eventually lost all the babies.
Over the summer I moved my male back into my big tank and left my female in the 29 gal breeder. This sept. I put the male back in with the female.
They spawned twice that I can tell, each time eating the eggs, and the male seems to have lost interest and is getting pushed around by the female and not breeding.

Today I moved another male in the tank, with the idea that the snakeskin will get territorial and turn his attentions back to the female.

Will this tactic work ? (assuming my water quality is good)
or have I destroyed the bond.

Thanks,
Tom

[Rod]

Hi Tom,

Don't worry, your discus are behaving in a perfectly normal manner.
It is a falicy that discus pair for life, they are true polygamists and only pair for the one breeding episode. Each spawn requires them to re pair and retest each other for suitability.

I'd be placeing all the fish back into the community tank and see who starts dancing to whom.

Rod

[AADiscus]

I agree with Rod and alot of times they just need a break. If your female has been in the breeder tank since Sept then she probably needs a break. Try putting all of them back in the community tank like Rod said and feed them healthy. Keep them eating good and happy and try it again in a few weeks or a month.

[Apistomaster]

There is a darkside to this too.

It is not unusual for discus of SE Asian origin(if your's are?) to spawn successfully and raise some fry then start eating their eggs again.
What is more serious is that some of these will stop spawning altogether and never raise another brood.
Infertility seems common too.

It is for these reasons that I keep some of any of a good looking variety of Asian discus produced fry and keep them for future breeding stock and then surplus the originals as show fish.

It effectively doubles the time I have to take to get more reliable breeders.
Not all pairs have these problems but for my purposes it has been my way to get more reliable breeders in the long run. Good pairs can produce well for many, many years.

I can only say this is my experience and procedures. I am not disputing than many have never had these problems.
I get more reliable good pairs from a given group of wilds than I do from Asian farm raise fish using the same numbesr from the beginning.

I know this way, the entire life history of my domestic breeding stock. I make no money raising discus despite the numbers I sell. They just take so long to raise the breeders, then the fry and so much work and tank space.

I raise rare Corydoras or other rare small fish for profit. I have a small fish room.
I just happen to love discus enough that money is not my driving force for keeping and breeding them.

Larry Waybright