Breeding Discus

Ok... I have a bunch of photos of my Discus but I will run this thread for breeding and photos...

I now have 2 CONFIRMED pairs of Discus. I am out of tank room now and have NO IDEA where I am going to go ESPECIALLY if I get lucky enough to get wilds spawning too!!!! (I dont think they are that far from spawning themselves....)

So.... Here is what I have:
Blue Turquoise x Red/Yellow Pair
Red Sunset x Red Sunset Pair

The Blue Turquoise and the Red/Yellow have not spawned in over a week... Nothing new with them....

Today I went upstairs and laid on my bed and saw 2 Red Sunsets in the 55 guarding half of the tank... after watching for a few minutes I notice that there is ALWAYS 1 of those 2 by this area on the back glass... I move up close and see this:


Now I have 3 others in the tank with them.... a Heckel that is not eating strong in a 20 gallon, the other pair in the 30 and 2 Heckels pairing in the 125 with another male in that tank (I tried moving him and he did not acclimate very well and I put him back in the 125)

This is NOT the way I saw this happening I was supposed to go to VA Beach and pick up 2 more wilds here soon but I HAVE NO ROOM for them?!?!?!? I have no room in the house either for more tanks.... My wife DID agree that I could buy a 75 IF AND ONLY IF I get the Heckels to spawn so I can grow out their babies.... but I no longer have a grow out tank, I dont have another breeder tank.... I need another tank just to hold the "non-breeding" fish.....

I cant complain but so much though...

 

So true!

And thank you... still awaiting the Heckels to pair... But as they say, wish in one hand...................... and see which one fills up first..

If this keeps up I may get them to do it though... And then I wont know what to do at all...

 

I dont think it works like that.... I also just shut down my filter on the left side of the tank (my penguin) leaving just the Magnum (on the right flowing back in along the back wall) and the Emperor (in the middle) to decrease or eliminate current on BOTH ends of the tank.

So now that each male is on each side and she dont like current equal chance of coaking her in.... If nothing else I go by the old saying "Keep dong what your doing and your gonna keep getting what your getting" so I figured I HAVE to be getting close to the right "formula" but have not got the formula quite right yet......

 

The eggs this morning are all still opaque. That is good... I dont expect this batch to live with the other fish AND this is the first spawn from this pair.....

 

This is this pair that spawned of the Red Sunsets

 

Problems with the photo uploading.... here is the Female

 

Ok, so this pair is down to about 10 eggs left. I think because they spawned under the filter the water movement made the male have a hard time fertilizing. All the eggs that are left are opaque with a black spot in the center (the baby) so I know they are fertile. I still dont expect them to live however in a tank with other discus.

Due to my 30 gallon tank with my 1st pair going out and leaking I had to move this pair with that sick Heckel..... They killed him. So, on a plus note I have a tank back for the other pair.

Also the pair in the 55 (the new pair) killed the little brown discus yesterday too! Pairing cichlids are VERY mean! So, I am going to put the pair with the blue turquoise back into the 30, put the new pair in the 20 (unless the 1st pair spawns while in the 20 sometime today....) and go from there.... I have to wait to move the red pair until though all of their fry are gone (again I dont expect that to be too long) as I want them to learn what to do!

I am trying to find a bright side to loosing 2 discus in 1 day due to 2 different pairs.... at least I have tanks back....

 

Yes I knew this was going to be bad when I saw the other pair spawn... even worse when I had to move the first pair in with the lethargic one... I just did not expect it so quick!

Today though the silicone will be dry and I can move all the fish to their own tanks!

Cichlids are great parents, but VERY aggressive defending the spawn! Even "peaceful" discus have their mean streaks especially during spawn! Angels too (one of the closest relatives to discus) are great in a group UNTIL they pair up and spawn... then the parents MUST be removed or all other fish are at risk!

Like I said, on the plus side I have tanks for each breeding pair now and I COULD get my growout tank back too if I need to! So, if I get to that point breeding them I do have replacements and then some for my fish I have lost over the years.... Still, lots of hard work ahead!

 

Things happen... I am low on tanks and there is the bright side to it now.

I do have 2 breeding pairs so that makes things feel better. Otherwise I would go nuts! Those 2 died BECAUSE of my breeding pairs and not my mis-handling.

The domestic brown was SEVERELY stunted from the LFS and the Heckel I am shocked he even lived as long as he did! So I am not so worried about it. Its just time to get the breeding project rolling at the best pace I can.

Hopefully my mistakes along the way are as minimal as possible.

 

Well the Marlboro Red pair is mid-spawn in the 20 gallon tank now...

Hopefully the Blue Turquoise x Marlboro Red pair in the 30 gallon will spawn again soon. Its been 2 weeks since the last spawn. I think they were distracted from the fish in the 55 as I put them upstairs 2 weeks ago. I covered the 55 on the one half by the 30 gallon so they pair cant see anything there and see if anything happens now.

I think the Marlboro Red (male) in the 30 gallon with the Blue Turquoise has ADD