please help

[springer]

I have bought 7 young discus from the same strain. Reared then together in the same tank. Two pairs mated and started to lay eggs. I them moved them into there own tanks. Since then they have layed several batches but none seemed to be fertile. They are about 8 1/2 months approx. 5" and very healthy. My ph is 6 the gh is 30 and the kl is 80. The water is almost pure r.o. Are my discus just to young. Should I seporate them so they can mature and grow more. I am told that if they keep laying eggs they will not grow. Or would one be best to just leave them the way they are and let them mature. Any advise would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

[White Worm]

May just be too young still (the Male). If they have paired and layed eggs then just leave them to practice until they get it right on their own. Nothing wrong with a 5" fish. Some say the female will stop growing once laying eggs but they have already done the bulk of growth around 8 months to a year. They will still grow some but at a much slower and visible rate after a year or so. I dont quite understand your water parameters though. Are you using an RO unit? Are you talking ppm?

[springer]

Yes I am using a r.o. unit with the water almost being 100% ro. Those reading are in p.p.m. Thank you for the help.

[Trog]

They are probably still to young. I have found that the females mature earlier and lay eggs together acting like mated pairs because the males are not yet interested. So I would leave all 7 together provided their is no serious fighting going on, as they will eventually figure things out.

I just provide 2-3 different spawning sites so that other pairs can form and only separate the pairs when I'm sure of their sexes, just watch them when they spawn & check the breeding tubes and if one of them is doing fertilizing runs after the other lays the eggs. This kind of pairing happens more often than you would think. If separated too soon can be hard to correct later.

Good luck and all the best!

[cschwaderer]

Couple of my experiences -

I had a pair that spawned multiple times without success until the 3-4 time I caught them in the act and found out they were both females! That wasn't going to work:D So first, I'd check that.

Second, I've had pairs that will lay eggs that won't hatch successfully for multiple spawns, but eventually they finally had wigglers. I believe that the male just wasn't quite fertile yet when they started spawning, but he got there about 2 months after they started.

[AADiscus]

Sometimes it takes the males longer to mature than females. If you are not getting wigglers then I would keep all of them together in a community tank a while longer until maybe you get males. You don't want to burn your female out in a breeder tank by having her continue to lay each week for a long period of time.