Discus Gang Updates

[nikm128]

I'm pretty sure I have all females....or at least all one sex

 

[Decoy]

I have found the females are the more dominate ones in the tank, what they say goes. Until they pair up and then the males show aggression towards the others in the tank, and protects the female by chasing the others away from her.
I had a discus that I picked was a male that I sold to a lady that ended up breeding him awhile after when he had matured more. I even had some of his babies for a short time before I gave up discus keeping for the second time.
Here is a pic of when I had him and then the second pic is when the lady had breed him, he had turned out to be a beautiful specimen!

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• Decoy
• Nov 28, 2016

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• Decoy
• Mar 8, 2018
• 9

 

[nikm128]

Did you vent them or go off something else? I haven't been able to find a super reliable way to sex them without venting so I'm curious to hear what you did.

 

[Decoy]

nikm128 I'm not sure what vent is?
The way I sex them is by watching them, watching their attitudes towards others and their general personalities in the tank. I'm guilty of spending hours watching my fish and taking videos and photos, the more you watch the more you see. This is now the 3rd time over a period of 4 years I have kept discus, I'm not a expert and its not a fool proof way to sex them but watching fish tells you a lot about them.

 

[nikm128]

Well venting might not even be a thing for discus, it's essentially the same thing as rolling a dog over on its back and giving it a quick look lol.

I've done my best to do the same you're doing then, if I took a video (however long you'd need it to be) would you mind being my second opinion on their sex?

 

[Decoy]

Ah now I know what venting is haha... and no, ive never done that...
Yes of course, take a video when you can, not when feeding, just when they are at peace in the middle of the day, casually roaming and interacting in the tank

 

[nikm128]

Cool, thanks. I assume it would be better to just get a video of the whole tank and not all of them individually?

 

[Decoy]

Your welcome, yes the whole tank please

 

[coralbandit]

DecoyCat between the UV and a canister filter I can see your issues in timing.. Hopefully turning off the uv speeds things up along with plants and media..Even the gravel in pots counts now as surface area .
jmaldo
As far as any of my intentions to breed discus it would be for achievement only and then be done .Without much research I agree there is no real market for them at all even at my level ..Rams and rare swordtails are a very special niche I conveniently fell into ! I can't stop the disc from breeding but I can see an issue in keeping them long term ? Maybe I just sell the breeding pairs and move others[whoever they are] get moved up to the 180 when the EBA are gone ?

What does every one think of keeping the two breeding pairs in the same 65g ?

 

[nikm128]

What does every one think of keeping the two breeding pairs in the same 65g ?

I don't think it would be ideal, but it's probably doable. I think worst case they end up like two pairs of annoying apartment neighbors that get sick of each other and have a little tussle. Maybe if you divided the tank?

 

[jmaldo]

I have found the females are the more dominate ones in the tank, what they say goes.

Now with my "Blues" #1Alpha and #2 Beta both males are the dominate ones so far. This is the reason I moved #1 after the failed courtship he had with #3. I now realize this might be the reason he turned into a "Terror" in the tank, and why he was moved to the 29g.

But let me be the voice of reason hear

No ideas of grandeur at the moment. And I need to give breeding a "Break".
Agree with coralbandit Acheivement Only! What the future holds?

The reason I was asking about moving them to a 10g, (in my thread) was not for breeding but to give the other 4 huddled in the opposite corner a break from the parents protection mode. I have decided not to move the pair with the eggs. I did setup a divider to alleviate the stress to the others from the new parents. Pics to follow.
Right now will just be a spectator, gonna let "Mother Nature' handle it. What happens, happens.

 

[86 ssinit]

Lol. Well I put that out there for everyone else. Both you and coral would have the best chance to actually move fish. You’ve both been breeding and have the equipment to do it. For someone just starting it’s a lot to do. Hardest part will be getting rid of them. It’s one thing to have extra Cory’s all over the place. But what do you do with extra discus!!

 

[coralbandit]

I want to note I think mine breed first because instead of moving the shyest/weakest fish I moved the two alphas ...
IMO they were on a tare and they were /are going to be a boss no matter who is in tank . I believe we discussed moving runts often only replaces them and then if the issue is real they can never go back ..This back and fourth moving of fish is not good IMO ..Keepers don't do it goldies,guppies or angels and we shouldn't with our disc with out good cause and a firm resolution ? My snakeskins will likely never tolerate another disc without being moved to a large tank...
I had no plans except to spend my store credit when I got my disc and saw you all having so much fun so thought I would like to join in ?
I really have no solid plan for full grown disc ! I have the capability but really did not plan this out much ! I like the idea of selling breeding pairs .
Honestly I have found growing out the right fish and possibly pairing them up can be very profitable and fun ..My 6 Albino Dantums angels bought small and raised to breeding paid for themselves before the spawn was raised and sold .I made good buck off them and still have a huge breeding pair that laughs at me !

 

[jmaldo]

As mentioned decided to add a divider to the tank. I have done this before when I had an Angel Pair spawn with other Angels. I used a corrugated plastic panel with flutes.Kind of blinding, would have preferred a darker color but this is all I have at the moment. And yes even after adding the divider and a water change / tank maintenance, still have eggs.

 

[coralbandit]

My eggs have lasted 2 days . The longest so far I think ?

 

[jmaldo]

I want to note I think mine breed first because instead of moving the shyest/weakest fish I moved the two alphas ...
IMO they were on a tare and they were /are going to be a boss no matter who is in tank . I believe we discussed moving runts often only replaces them and then if the issue is real they can never go back .

Your theory/practice makes a lot of sense. The smaller 3 that I moved because of the pecking order. Did better/"Ok" (lost the smallest).
But after moving the Alpha into the 29 and the smaller 2 back into the main tank. I did notice a change in the behavior with the 6 in the 55. Well, until the spawn. But that is why I added the divider, and appears to be back to normal.
Thanks" coralbandit

Learning all the Time!

 

[BarbaraLocke]

I don't think it would be ideal, but it's probably doable. I think worst case they end up like two pairs of annoying apartment neighbors that get sick of each other and have a little tussle. Maybe if you divided the tank?

I was just going to say the same thing! And a divider is a lot easier than 2 20/30g tanks with all the fixin’s!

My eggs have lasted 2 days . The longest so far I think ?

And the gestation is what - 5 days! You should know soon if you’re in for a ride!

 

[coralbandit]

And the gestation is what - 5 days! You should know soon if you’re in for a ride!

All eggs are gone .. 2 days for the third spawn ain't all bad IMO..They need to work as hard as they plan on making me so they need to step it up before I jump in !
I am not sure on eggs but imagine 5-7 days like rams or angels ..The warmer water makes me think they hatch fast ...

 

[nikm128]

DecoyCat here's that video, it's from a couple weeks ago, I had to edit it a little bit so it wouldn't play upside down for you . 86 ssinit I know you'll scold me about the tetras in there but this time it was my little sister, not me. I'm also in the process of taking them out, only about half of them are left. Not easy when they have 4' of tank to run from me lol

 

[BarbaraLocke]

All eggs are gone .. 2 days for the third spawn ain't all bad IMO..They need to work as hard as they plan on making me so they need to step it up before I jump in !
I am not sure on eggs but imagine 5-7 days like rams or angels ..The warmer water makes me think they hatch fast ...

And, they’re still pretty young to be parents, too! They’re bound to get it right one of these days, though!

 

[86 ssinit]

Lol no scolding. Tetras are good it was all those other fish . No clue on sex though.

My belief with moving fish is you don't have to move them for long. Just a day is enough. When the fish is put back in it’s a new beginning for it. I doubt the others even recognize it.
When I started putting my discus in the 125 I took the last 2 I had bought. These 2 were being tormented by all the others. Left them in there by themselves for a day than added the others. No bulling just 6 fish swimming around.
Another member here had a betta sorority for over a year with no problems. He took 1 out to medicate a cut. When he put it back in the tank became a disaster. All were fighting each other.
Fish have no real memories of other fish. Now a pair may be different.

Also when breeding they do remove the bigger fish to another tank. This way all grow faster.
Another thing. Yes I know I’m going on here. I think the smaller tanks stimulate breeding. fa4960 have your fish bred in the 300?

 

[jmaldo]

What does every one think of keeping the two breeding pairs in the same 65g ?

Not sure it would work, I just have the pair along with the other 4 and either one would suddenly shoot clear across to the other end of the tank and poke or swat the others. That's why I added the divider. But... you never know. Hey, you could always add a divider?

My eggs have lasted 2 days . The longest so far I think ?

That's one day longer than mine so far. I have noticed she is getting rid of the white eggs. So there are less eggs than this AM.

Learning all the Time.

 

[fa4960]

Ok congrats Jmaldo!

But let me be the voice of reason hear . Folks breeding discus will take a fare amount of money and time and space. Just to start a breeding setup. Unfortunately discus are not in demand so selling will not be that easy. Look even breeders like Hans are now selling there fish to lfs to move them. So before you start think it through and ask your local stores if they are interested in discus and what they would give for them. Remember one store isn’t going to take them all. You will need a few places to move them. Not trying to stop anyone just want you to be prepared.

Fully agree and a good "warning" for anyone thinking of doing it for commercial reasons. The fact that I here locally got 42 discus of app. 3" size for around USD 350 at wholesale price told me that there is no money in breeding discus, unless maybe if you get to a setup like e.g. "Ricky Lim" from Malaysia who breed and sell fully grown discus but even then it is a costly approach, even if heating cost is not an expense out here. I know sales prices are higher in the US but so are your cost...

The above reason, as well as my wife for sure booting me out of the house if another tank as much as getting near our driveway, is more than enough for me to just enjoy the fish without thinking of breeding them. I can however see the temptation to just try it out once to prove to oneself that you can do it, but as 86 ssinit says it takes tanks to grow them and a plan to offload them sooner or later.

fa4960 have your fish bred in the 300?

My big yellow and big blue paired up and have had eggs twice I think. Ate them after a couple of days and no further attempts happening for the last 2 - 3 months. Suits me fine as per the other reply to your post on breeding.....

 

[BarbaraLocke]

I’ve been wanting to use up the Hans beef heart that has been sitting in the freezer since July, when I stopped using it because of the amount of grease I found in my Discus tank. The main problem with it is that even when you tear it up into little shreds, a fair amount floated around, and either got sucked into the filter, or stuck on things and didn’t get eaten. I think I’ve devised a way to let the Discus peck away at it without it breaking up into tiny pieces that they don’t eat! I made cones out of a needlework plastic sheet, stuffed the thawed beef heart down into the cone until it started coming out the little square holes, and stuck the cone into a glass stick-on feeding bowl. It works beautifully! Here’s a video - I didn’t get much of the Turqs ‘cause I didn’t think to get my phone out until they were almost done. This will give me a better idea of how much they’ll eat in one sitting so I can adjust the amount I put in the cone, and I’ll probably still only feed it before I do a WC. It was neat to see the 7 in the big tank go after it like they knew what it was all along, and see that even some of the pieces that got away were being caught! Oh, you can also see the UV blocking film I got and put around the 75g, rather than on the window, as it is expensive stuff. I got a ‘water’ pattern that I think compliments the tank - and I can still see out the window and watch the sunsets! What I forgot to do is turn on the light I just got for the tank, so the video is a little dark - darn! Turned out the 4’ fluorescent light hood that came with the tank was pretty rusty inside, so I ordered a $19.00 4’ LED shop light from Amazon. It works fine, and was a whole lot cheaper than a replacement Marineland!

 

[86 ssinit]

Nice idea Babara!!

If interested I have plants to get rid of . I have some hornwort,Westeria some straggly anacharis and 2 2” ball of java moss. Just pay shipping and it yours.

 

[BarbaraLocke]

Nice idea Babara!!

If interested I have plants to get rid of . I have some hornwort,Westeria some straggly anacharis and 2 2” ball of java moss. Just pay shipping and it yours.View attachment 585422View attachment 585423

Thanks 86 ssinit ! I won’t be getting any more beef heart, as I believe they’ll do just fine with carnivorous foods that are natural for them, but I didn’t want this stuff to go to waste since I paid over $100 for it!

Your plants look great! I don’t need any more right now, but I sure wish I’d known you had wisteria before I bought some!

 

[Decoy]

DecoyCat here's that video, it's from a couple weeks ago, I had to edit it a little bit so it wouldn't play upside down for you . 86 ssinit I know you'll scold me about the tetras in there but this time it was my little sister, not me. I'm also in the process of taking them out, only about half of them are left. Not easy when they have 4' of tank to run from me lol

nikm128 Hi, thanks for the video... Ok no real obvious pair at this stage BUT, the discus showing the stress bars(dark stress bars) looks to be a female by her actions in the tank and the big orange discus following her at one stage and pecking the driftwood with her could be a male as he seems to like her and she is not fussed by him. The other discus showing light stress bars is most likely female, see the way she nudges the patterned PB lightly? Not overly aggressive, just a small nudge.(ive noticed the females tend to do this light nudge as a dominate thing) the males tend to be more aggressive nudges.. Leaving me to suspect the patterned PB might be male but that one I'm not sure about totally yet. So that is 2 females and possibly 2 males, but don't take this for gospel, its just my judgement on their behavior in that video...
Please send me more recent videos if you have some or make some soon..

 

[86 ssinit]

Ok tell me if you need some. Plants are for anyone interested.

 

[coralbandit]

Snakeskins are laying eggs again !
Exactly 7 days since their last on 8/28 !
Are these fish trying to tell me something ??
Do they not see all the other tanks around them or do they ??
I have had rams breed every 7 days for a couple weeks when they were in prime breeding mode ..
These guys give me the impression they are nothing but beast !
I know I just spealled Joe on the difficulties of raising discus fry but if I had less experience and just a little more ' excitement ' these guys could easily take me on a long ride !
I can't wait to see how they are in a few more months ..The eggs are growing in amount and structure so I assume these 2 are learning as they grow ..

For those who ask questions this is spawn number 4 for these guys who I think are about 6 months old [that is a guess]. They are in a 65g with 1 pair of Gold rams .Temp 82f TDS 160 .Fed 1 time daily 5 days a week and spoiled the other 2.Water change 50-75% 2 times a week ..
3 drops of Orange extract added at all water changes ..
The eggs have been laid in exactly the same spot each time ??
Machines on a mission...

 

[BarbaraLocke]

Snakeskins are laying eggs again !
Exactly 7 days since their last on 8/28 !
Are these fish trying to tell me something ??
Do they not see all the other tanks around them or do they ??
I have had rams breed every 7 days for a couple weeks when they were in prime breeding mode ..
These guys give me the impression they are nothing but beast !
I know I just spealled Joe on the difficulties of raising discus fry but if I had less experience and just a little more ' excitement ' these guys could easily take me on a long ride !
I can't wait to see how they are in a few more months ..The eggs are growing in amount and structure so I assume these 2 are learning as they grow ..

For those who ask questions this is spawn number 4 for these guys who I think are about 6 months old [that is a guess]. They are in a 65g with 1 pair of Gold rams .Temp 82f TDS 160 .Fed 1 time daily 5 days a week and spoiled the other 2.Water change 50-75% 2 times a week ..
3 drops of Orange extract added at all water changes ..
Machines on a mission...

Ahhh, young love! Lol!! It must be that the orange extract is an aphrodisiac - and all that free time on their han....fins 5 days a week!

 

[nikm128]

DecoyCat I'll take another video soon, just to save you extra words in the future the one with darker bars is a Turq and the one with very light bars in just a plain brown. So for now I'll say that the turquoise and brown ones are females, and the orange one (unknown strain) and I believe blue pigeon blood are males. I'll make sure the next one doesn't have glare from the window too...
Based on how long I've had them though, I would say they won't be forming any breeding pairs in the future. Especially since the ones bandit and jmaldo have only took 3 months to pair.

 

[Decoy]

nikm128 Do you know how old they are? They look older by their sizes... Do you have means to set up a spawning tank?
I thing I noticed about my Angels, I know they are different but same species, they spawned when I changed them into a different tank on 3 occasions(3rd time came the babies), and it is know changing tanks will kick off their spawning in most fish, the slightly different water conditions do it. If yours have been in the same tank, same conditions for a long time maybe all they need is a push in the right direction... You could always try anyway, just an idea

Edit: that big orange one is a PB of some type...

BarbaraLocke your discus look good in that video, how wonderful
What a great idea with the uv film on the tank, I would never had thought of that, up there for thinking!!
They were really munching out on that beefheart lol

 

[BarbaraLocke]

BarbaraLocke your discus look good in that video, how wonderful
What a great idea with the uv film on the tank, I would never had thought of that, up there for thinking!!
They were really munching out on that beefheart lol

Thanks, Sabrina! The window the 75 gallon sits in front of is a large ‘picture’ window - which is my ‘view of the world’ of my land out back - which faces west. So I can not only watch the beautiful sunsets, but approaching storms, and the wild critters that show up. Since the film has some insulating properties, wrapping 3 sides of the tank should also help retain heat in the winter. Win Win

 

[nikm128]

nikm128 Do you know how old they are? They look older by their sizes... Do you have means to set up a spawning tank?

All of them except the pigeon blood should be around a year and a half old, the pb is a little bit less than a year old. I could probably figure out a smaller spawning tank.

 

[jmaldo]

Hey Gang.The eggs have left the building.
Woke up yesterday waited for the lights to come on and the eggs were still there. Yeah! But... it appears they fungused over.



Just an observation, I did notice the parents were not fanning the eggs as I normally see with the many spawns from the Bolivians and EBA. New / Inexperienced parents?

And before I could remove them the pair decided to start eating them. I did get a vid of them eating them.
(may post if anyone interested)

Within an hour the eggs are gone.



Mother Nature at her finest. I have decided to leave the divider in for the time being since the other 4 are doing better without all the stress from the pair. Let's see how long before another spawn?

coralbandit
Appears to be about the same time frame.

Learning all the Time.

 

[coralbandit]

I think you should keep the divider in for sure..
I have read reports on Filial cannibalism that seem to have proven that the parents 'build' better ,larger stronger spawns after they have re absorbed the nutrients from several spawns ..It does seem the eggs are getter better each spawn for my guys ..
My guys still have their eggs fourth spawn [24 hours tonight ]..

 

[86 ssinit]

For all of the fry folks! Found this in my plant tank today . Believe it’s a bosmania rainbow that came into the tank when I moved some horn wort out of my 90.

 

[coralbandit]

Been thinking my pothos is going crazy in my fish room until I saw this picture ..
Somehow I thought of all you guys and girls !


I mean that is NICE !
I am willing to concede that possibly that amount of plants could really help with nutrients !

 

[86 ssinit]

Nice but look how much water evaporated!! Need to pay attention to the water level .

 

[BarbaraLocke]

Been thinking my pothos is going crazy in my fish room until I saw this picture ..
Somehow I thought of all you guys and girls !


I mean that is NICE !
I am willing to concede that possibly that amount of plants could really help with nutrients !

How in the world would you clean that tank?
I actually had one in my 50g, but the cats started playing with it, and I didn’t want them to get tangled in it and pull the hood off the tank - to say nothing of scaring the Discus!

 

[Decoy]

HI guys, just finished a nice water change in the 4 foot, all fish are happy with some fresh water. Ranga is moving around a fair bit in the 3 foot by herself which is a change for her, not sure she is eating yet though. Thought id post some pics in here I took a couple of days ago, that Turq is getting bigger by the day, really starting to fatten up in the head too. Big blue is getting more friendly and Little blue is a bit sad as Ranga was his best friend. Teeny and tiny are pigs, they are still searching for food scraps long after feeding time lol
Pictured below is the Turq (which for some reason I just can't give a name lol) Then Big blue and also Tiny who looks like his bloated but its just all the food he has devoured...

20190906_151630

• Decoy
• Sep 10, 2019

20190906_152609

• Decoy
• Sep 10, 2019

20190906_152426

• Decoy
• Sep 10, 2019

 

[86 ssinit]

Fish look great!! Luv the big belly look. My guy keep that belly for about a half hour. Than lookin* for more food?

 

[Thedudeiam94]

Can’t see pics

 

[nikm128]

Can’t see pics

Oh no, not again

 

[coralbandit]

I see them ..

 

[BarbaraLocke]

HI guys, just finished a nice water change in the 4 foot, all fish are happy with some fresh water. Ranga is moving around a fair bit in the 3 foot by herself which is a change for her, not sure she is eating yet though. Thought id post some pics in here I took a couple of days ago, that Turq is getting bigger by the day, really starting to fatten up in the head too. Big blue is getting more friendly and Little blue is a bit sad as Ranga was his best friend. Teeny and tiny are pigs, they are still searching for food scraps long after feeding time lol
Pictured below is the Turq (which for some reason I just can't give a name lol) Then Big blue and also Tiny who looks like his bloated but its just all the food he has devoured...

20190906_151630

• Decoy
• Sep 10, 2019

20190906_152609

• Decoy
• Sep 10, 2019

20190906_152426

• Decoy
• Sep 10, 2019

They’re all beautiful, DecoyCat !! It didn’t take long for Tiny to settle in and approve the menu!

 

[Katie13]

I really miss my guys now! I can't wait to get a 75 gallon soon!

 

[BarbaraLocke]

I really miss my guys now! I can't wait to get a 75 gallon soon!

Ahhh, another one has been bitten by the Discus Bug!ead:

 

[Katie13]

Ahhh, another one has been bitten by the Discus Bug!ead:

I used to keep them, but I sold them off as they weren't the quality I wanted and didn't grow very well. Now that I have room for big tanks again, they are the first on my list! Question, how often do you do water changes on your Discus tank?

 

[86 ssinit]

Ahhh, another one has been bitten by the Discus Bug!ead:

Yes it seems addicting!! . And since the dude bought more I’ve gotten the itch. And an empty 45g tank.

I used to keep them, but I sold them off as they weren't the quality I wanted and didn't grow very well. Now that I have room for big tanks again, they are the first on my list! Question, how often do you do water changes on your Discus tank?

This seems to be my problem. Coming back to discus I wanted certain fish. And I though I had bought them. Now all my discus are growing good and getting big but none of the ones I got from Hans look anything like what I ordered. Little disappointed.

Been looking at another breeder. Macs discus. This guy started my first time around and was just to expensive than to buy his discus. But now he’s pretty close to Hans. Free shipping if you buy 5. So I picked this grouping below. And emailed him to send me pics of them now. Still waiting but that’s ok cause I changed my mind to the second pic.will call tomorrow if I don’t here from them. But I don’t plan on buying if I can’t see what they look like now.