Getting Pairs to Mate??

[Cardinal]

Hello,

How do you get a pair to mate??

This is my situation. I have a 150g tank and I started out with 1 blue discus, then added two pigeon blood. They all were good togethor for a couple of months, but I did not have any idea which was a male or female. Then I added a nice marlboro red that a friend needed to move out. Now he bred the m-red before and knew for a fact that the one I was getting was the male.

When I added him to my tank, immediately the m-red and blue started to be aggressive with each other. The m-red appeared to be the dominate fish. It took a week or so but they eventually settled down and now are cool with each other. The blue one is actually holding his own.

Niether the blue or red one are bothering or being aggressive with the pigeon bloods and the p-bloods will peck at each other, but only a little bit. Am I correct in assuming the pg-bloods are females and the other 2 are the males???

The red & blue are both about 5-6in and the pigeon-bloods are about 4-5in.

If someone can confirm that I have males & females, what is my next move??They are all in a community tank so I can move a pair into a 30g and see what happens.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks
Dan

[DLock3d]

I'm no expert but from what I've heard. The best thing to do is let nature take it's course. If you're as impatient as me, here's a list from the main page of things you can do to induce spawning.


"Inducing Fish to Spawn
Cary Strong May 18, 2002


I will make a short list of tips (in my opinion) to get pairs to spawn. Keep in mind that all discus are set in their own ways. Once you learn the personality of your discus, breeding them is not so hard! I'm sorry to say, but they are just like people! Everyone is different.


Water Ways

1. Cold water changes of 4 to 5 degrees colder.
2. Big water changes daily of 50%.
3. No water changes for one week at a low pH of 5.5 - 6.0, sometimes lower.
4. Large R/O water change.
5. Large tap water change (if parameters are in your favor).


Parameters Way

1. pH changes with acid or R/O, either from high to lower or low to higher!
2. Peat moss.
3. Conductivity change, low to high or high to low.
4. Medications to clean up your discus to make them feel good and want to spawn.
5. Water from a tank of discus that are breeding.


Other Ways

1. High temperatures of 88 - 90° F.
2. Move the pair to a new tank.
3. Add a third discus to the pairs' tank. I prefer a female, but sometimes males work just as well. It all depends on the discus.
4. No lights with the sides, back, and bottom covered!
5. Direct sunlight.


The Best Way!

1. Good, healthy discus to start!
2. Daily water changes.
3. Good foods and a large selection (live is great to induce spawning).
4. Never try to rush things -- take your time and have patience.
5. Proper parmeters for breeders!
6. If you are able to perform numbers 1 - 5, YOU SHOULD HAVE NO PROBLEM BREEDING DISCUS AT ANY RATE!"

[Cardinal]

Thanks for the info, very good pointers.

Do you think that by the behavior that I descibed that I have the males & females that I think I have??

[DLock3d]

Cardinal,

Again, I'm not an expert but from what I've learned is darn near impossible to tell males and females until they pair off and start laying eggs/fertilizing. Otherwise, you're really just playing guessing games. Even when you do get your fish to start laying eggs, don't be disappointed if it takes a few times for them to hatch. This is all pretty normal. The biggest thing that I've learned from Simply is that patience and time is required for breeding Discus. HTH!

[Chad Adams]

I agree with DLock
I have never heard of someone being able to sex
based on behaviour alone? Let nature take its course
Good Luck
Chad