Are they a pair? - Experience breeders pls help

[nabilbb]

Sometime ago in the community tank I found 2 Discus having signs of being a pair and good enough they had eggs but got eaten. after that I moved the pair to 25G breeding tank and they have eggs every week I see the process when the female lay the eggs and the male (I think) fertlize them (I think) they take turns. this process hapened 4 times once a week but everytime the eggs get fungus then the parents eat them.
The male is 2 years old

now I am confused about the following
1. Do i have a male or they are both females?
2. are the eggs get fertlized?
3. Do i put the fish back to the community tank for the female to find another partner?

any suggestion would help.

Thanks

[DonMD]

Well, we know that one of the fish is a female, but we don't know about the other one. Maybe a male, maybe not. But in order to find out you have to control the fungus so that if the male is fertilizing, the eggs have a chance to mature. How to control fungus? I always use Methylene Blue, it works perfectly. Add according to instructions as soon as the fish appear to have finished laying and fertilizing, then after 24 hours follow your normal water change routine. Good luck.

[nabilbb]

I always use Methylene Blue

Thanks Don,
Is this available in LFS? I am in canada!

[DiscusDrew]

You will probably have to order it honestly but I agree methylene blue is your first step, it could also be an infertile male, we really don't know. In my city there is one store that has methylene blue, its not as uncommon as some other drugs but still not gonna find it at pet smart or any chain store. HTH

[dpete9]

You asked if they are a pair. My answer is "they seem to think so". My guess is if they are both doing passes and you only see one of them laying eggs and they only lay once a week versus every few days. they are a male and female pair. Get some Methylene blue. :balloon:

[Moon]

Thanks Don,
Is this available in LFS? I am in canada!

You can get it at MOPS.CA. Dan will ship it to you.

[deepflyball]

The females tube will round and cupped on the end. Also her tube is much bigger. The males is small and pointed. The water flow in you tank may not let the male do his job as well. The eggs should hatch into wigglers in about 2 /2.5 days from being layed. Jerry

[mmorris]

It took my blue sapphire eight tries before he started fertilizing. Personally, I wouldn't start adding mb unless I was having a very poor hatch rate, rather than a '0' hatch rate. I would keep the tank spotless and wait patiently.

[nabilbb]

Thank you all, that was really helpfull, I guess my 1st step is to get MB then see

[nabilbb]

ok please correct me if i am wrong,
1. when the fish lay eggs I put the MB
2. remove the carbon from the power filter
3. do WC as regular

[DonMD]

ok please correct me if i am wrong,
1. when the fish lay eggs I put the MB
2. remove the carbon from the power filter
3. do WC as regular

Add MB after, not when, the fish lay eggs.
I never use carbon, because I change water daily.
As for WC, when I've had eggs and then wigglers, I always change water daily, but gently, and wipe down the inside of the glass. By the way, if you have a power filter, once the fry go free swimming, they'll get sucked into the filter. I use a sponge filter, hopefully you have a cycled one. But even if not, with large daily WCs, you could be OK. My advice: treat it like a biology experiment, and don't expect great results at first. Good luck!

[nabilbb]

Thank Don,
1 more question if you don't mind,
Do i keep putting the MB after laying eggs to the time they hatch? I am guessing with daily WC the MB will be gone and need to add more

I just called LFS and they have MB this tuesday the Discus will lay the eggs as usual (every Tuesday)

[rostick555]

IME everytime I have a pair that will start making dry runs I shut off all filters until they are done and are fanning the eggs. I then turn the filters back on and wait about 30 min to one hour and then I take the MB in a syringe that you can use from any test kit that is rinsed thoroughly and take upto 1ml of MB and squirt it directly on to the eggs again after atleast 30 min to make sure all of the eggs have had time to get fertilized. You do not have to readd the MB if you dose per the instructions on the bottle it will work but you will not see your pair for about a week and it will kill your bio. The method I use works great with a 90% hatch rate! Good luck

[DonMD]

Thank Don,
1 more question if you don't mind,
Do i keep putting the MB after laying eggs to the time they hatch? I am guessing with daily WC the MB will be gone and need to add more

I just called LFS and they have MB this tuesday the Discus will lay the eggs as usual (every Tuesday)

I only treat with MB once just after eggs are fertilized. Your water will get VERY dark blue. But don't worry, even if you can't see the fish, they can see you. Then you do your next WC, and the water gets a little lighter, and with each successive WC, the water clears up more. So, just ONE treatment with the MB. After 5 days, it will mostly be gone, and the eggs will have zero fungus. Keep us posted.

[nabilbb]

ok, today the fish laid eggs, i put the MB 1 hour after that and waiting fingers crossed.
Thank you all

[nabilbb]

Another Question,
It is almost 40 Hourse since they spaw. no Fungus so far because of the MB but I noticed about 5% of the Eggs are white (Not fertlized I guess)
Do I have to remove those white Eggs so it wont spoil the other Eggs?

Thank you

[DonMD]

I would not remove them. You should have wigglers by now.

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[abhayshah83]

what is the size of breeding pairs..???

[abhayshah83]

I would not remove them. You should have wigglers by now.

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What is the size of breeding pair? i have discus fish 2 to 2.5 inch. of fish.

[nabilbb]

what is the size of breeding pairs..???

They are about 5-5.5"

They apwed 5 times every week I used to get eggs every Tuesday. But this week they didn't know, can I assume they are taking a break?