My fish seam to be pairing, what should I do?

[Mcmannus]

Hi, my close to six inches PB and Blue Diamond seam to be pairing up. They are doing the dance thing and cleaning up the driftwood. The thing is that they are in a planted tank with 7 other discus and a lot of other fish (over stocked, I know) they don't seam to be too agresive to the others, at least not more than what they usually are (the BD is boss and the PB follows right behin in the pecking order)..
I really don't care about breeding or fry since I know my water is too hard and they have no chance in a hevily populated planted tank. My question is, are going to get more agresive? To the point of hurting themselves or tank mates? I don't have the space to move them to other tank, and I don't want to get rid of the other ones. Is it possible to keep them in there safely?
Thank you,

Omar

[WMD]

ok here i go, from my experience i'd leave them in the same tank. they will definitely get a bit protective when the eggs are laid. since there is no chance of survival for the fry they only spawned for few times and now they dont even bother anymore. they went back to a happy normal family again:)

[Mcmannus]

Thank you for the quick response.
They are laying eggs as I type. PB is the male, BD is the female, they are at the center of the tank, so far ignoring everybody.

[Mcmannus]

so the eggs were gone this morning, and everybody is acting like before. the pair are hanging out close to each other but very calm and peacefully. is there a schedule for the next time they lay eggs or could it happened anytime or never again?

thanks,

Omar

[WMD]

the funny thing is they could spawn anytime, maybe once a fortnight. i found that my pair would eat all the eggs if they r stressed ( too many fish in the tank or movement ). now i want them to spawned but i've been waiting for months now. Mine always spawn at the wrong time for me. raising a batch of fry requires a basketful of time an commitment lol

[Mcmannus]

http://images3a.snapfish.com/232323232%7Ffp7346%3A%3Enu%3D%3C4%3C%3A%3E%3B62%3E 257%3EWSNRCG%3D34%3B8%3A5%3B26%3A348nu0mrj

http://images5a.snapfish.com/232323232%7Ffp635%3C7%3Enu%3D%3C4%3C%3A%3E%3B62%3E 257%3EWSNRCG%3D34%3B8%3A5%3B26%3B348nu0mrj

[Mcmannus]

thanks WMD. as today they are acting like nothing ever happened

[Jeapa]

http://images3a.snapfish.com/232323232%7Ffp7346%3A%3Enu%3D%3C4%3C%3A%3E%3B62%3E 257%3EWSNRCG%3D34%3B8%3A5%3B26%3A348nu0mrj

http://images5a.snapfish.com/232323232%7Ffp635%3C7%3Enu%3D%3C4%3C%3A%3E%3B62%3E 257%3EWSNRCG%3D34%3B8%3A5%3B26%3B348nu0mrj

That is a great photo! Beautiful discus.

[SeaDragon]

so the eggs were gone this morning, and everybody is acting like before. the pair are hanging out close to each other but very calm and peacefully. is there a schedule for the next time they lay eggs or could it happened anytime or never again?

thanks,

Omar

It seems to depend on the discus and their surroundings. Too muh action around them, temperature, WCs, or their own cycles.
One pair i have would spawn every 10days, but now their just chilling.


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[Melissa]

You don't need to do a thing if you aren't interested in breeding them. You'll find over time many pairs will form in your tank, and as long as none of them are being physically injured from bickering just let them be. Sit back and enjoy them :)

Btw, while they are individually beautiful fish- that pairing may not be a desirable one genetically speaking :P

[Mcmannus]

Thanks guys, I appreciate the answers and comments.
Melissa, I am really not interested on breeding them at all, I have no room for other tank (only the occasional QT tank) and I know they need their own BB tank and lots of maintenance. But I see what you mean of them not being a good pair.

Thanks again,

Omar

[Mcmannus]

so now i have a threesome going on, the pair keep doing their thing, the BD laid eggs last night and the PB was running over them, but then he was taking turns with the cobalt (you can see him on the second picture under the driftwood) and they were both running over the eggs.
anyway, two hours later there were no eggs lefts.
i was worry at the beginning about the extra aggression but since they paired up they are actually more calm, even at feeding time. go figure!

[Melissa]

In the past I had two females spawn with one male :) loads of eggs and even though the water was hard as a rock, ph 8.2 still had a good number hatch. This was in a community tank so the spawn amounted to nothing, but it was interesting to see the 3 work together to protect them for a little while chasing off tank mates and fanning : P

Funny fish.

[vizkid2005]

http://images3a.snapfish.com/232323232%7Ffp7346%3A%3Enu%3D%3C4%3C%3A%3E%3B62%3E 257%3EWSNRCG%3D34%3B8%3A5%3B26%3A348nu0mrj

http://images5a.snapfish.com/232323232%7Ffp635%3C7%3Enu%3D%3C4%3C%3A%3E%3B62%3E 257%3EWSNRCG%3D34%3B8%3A5%3B26%3B348nu0mrj

Gr8 fish .. Very nice angles with the photo's ...
They can be put on some discus breeders website ...
SUPERB !!!!