Breeding My Discus

nanoMama86 said:

I googled the torf pellets, and it says to not use activated carbon at the same time. Did you step up water changes to cope?

My male angel is supposedly a hard type to breed, as is your red spotted turq discus,I think that is what your pair is? My male is a German black ghost angel. My female is a wild-black koi cross. I am attempting to breed in some vigor in the German line. I have a German female coming in another month or so but it is a long ride from germany to here and I will have to drive to pick her up and re-package her like I did the male. It almost killed the male and I am praying the female survives the trip. She is going to be my birthday present!These guys are RARE and I am really hoping I can get them breeding.


You are always a pleasure to converse with and I totally appreciate your time and advice.

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I don't use carbon in any of my filters, as it is not good for the fish or the plants. IMO it is for small tanks where maintaining water balance is more difficult. I do such regular water changes that even in the little breeding tank carbon would serve no purpose. It also removes trace elements that Discus need to maintain health(and I would guess Angels too). In my breeding tank I am changing about 30-50% of the water twice a day. Sounds a lot, but even a tiny build up of ammonia and the fry will perish, so I am being super careful. Down at the Discus farm here, they do 90% water changes twice a day, but they have no filtration running.

This pair are Pigeon Bloods, and are very difficult to breed pure strain. Even the fish farms here don't breed them in high numbers, because they are a pain in the butt for them. I have to be honest and say that I know little to nothing about Angels, but I am guessing they are just as tough to breed at home. The difference between us and the fish farms, is that we are trying to get a single pair to breed, while the farms have 100+ pairs all going at once. So they have great odds, which makes it seem easier.

I don't know how they package the fish for you, but they should be OK in a bag filled with pure oxygen, and then in a polystyrene box with a couple of chemical heat packs, for at least 24 hours. Good luck with the trip though ......... and let me know how you get on.

One of these: One of these: And one of these: .................. Just about sums it up! I just came in from work, to find all my fry gone! She must have eaten them again! I have no idea why, because she had been so relaxed with them for 2 days. I am so confused

Am going to try and seek some advice from my friend at the fish farm, see if it is something I am doing wrong.

Oh no, I really thought everything was going to be good this time. Almost feel like crying for you! It's certainly a challenge and you've done well to stick to it this far - try again and after talking to your friend you might have some other ideas to try too. Don't give up, I'm sure it will happen eventually!

I moved the tank from the kitchen into the bedroom. I am worried that there is just a little too much disturbance in the kitchen, and it made her nervous. It is nice and quiet in my bedroom.......well most of the time!

I moved the tank, at midday while she waited in a plastic bucket . I then popped her back in the tank, and grabbed her lover from the main tank. It's now 7 hours since I did it and they just laid about 300 eggs!!!! This bit is getting so easy it is almost silly. I actually felt sorry for them, as they have been in that little tank on and off since October. However, if they weren't happy and healthy then the last thing they would be doing is breeding, so I guess they are absolutely fine?

I have to nip to work for 3 weeks, so they will be left in the care of my girlfriend............. If she manages to get the fry to make it I will never live it down!

LOL like you say, the easy bit is done again! Better luck after having moved them. I was wondering if it would make any difference to have some sort of meshtype divider in the tank so that when the fry are freeswimming that they have somewhere to get through and hide if (or when LOL) the parents decide to eat them?

Nitaree said:

LOL like you say, the easy bit is done again! Better luck after having moved them. I was wondering if it would make any difference to have some sort of meshtype divider in the tank so that when the fry are freeswimming that they have somewhere to get through and hide if (or when LOL) the parents decide to eat them?

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That's not a bad idea, and I think the easy thing will be to leave the cone in there with the wire guard on it. Whether it will stop the parents eating the fry or not I don't know as the parents constantly take the fry in their mouths to give them a bit of a clean.....but anything to up the odds is worth a shot!

I just went down the fish farm and had a chat about my pair. They said that it is actually quite common that young pairs will eat the fry for no apparent reason. However my friend suspects it is nerves, and that the fish are a little nervous, which can also trigger the fighting. They put their new pairs in to painted tanks, so that they cannot see out, until such time as they have gained experience and confidence in breeding and raising their young. So I have completely screened all sides of the tank with white card so that I can now only view them from the top, and they cannot see out. I must admit that they do look very relaxed right now.

Now I am going to try and squeeze a couple more days off from work, as I am due to travel tomorrow, ready for Monday(have to fly about an hour away from home), but will try to stretch things out to Wednesday, for a few extra days with them, before my girlfriend takes over

Now I need to show her how to culture baby brine shrimp for feed

Here's a shot from a pair at the farm(I should have been this far with mine by now!)...........HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Well let's hope this latest trick works! If it does we'll never know if it was your girlfriend who had the success or the extra privacy they get with the cardboard up LOL

Nitaree said:

Well let's hope this latest trick works! If it does we'll never know if it was your girlfriend who had the success or the extra privacy they get with the cardboard up LOL

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Oh, believe me, she will claim every bit of any success!

And then she'll say they are hers, and you'll have to get her a separate tank and setup etc etc etc and before you know it, she'll take over all your fish...

Nitaree said:

And then she'll say they are hers, and you'll have to get her a separate tank and setup etc etc etc and before you know it, she'll take over all your fish...

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Oh,I do believe you are in fact a mind reader! I've already been told that

It's a real house of love here at the moment! Another pair are at it in the main tank It will be interesting to see them trying to fend off their tank mates, who will be looking to get a free meal of Discus Caviar

Awwww, c'mon, give em their own private honeymoon suite Actually I'll be interested to see if anything comes of this with them in the main tank - do you intend to pop them into a breeding tank at all? or just see what happens for now?

Haha, as for being a mindreader - maybe it's something to do with knowing how women think since I am one too

Nitaree said:

Awwww, c'mon, give em their own private honeymoon suite Actually I'll be interested to see if anything comes of this with them in the main tank - do you intend to pop them into a breeding tank at all? or just see what happens for now?

Haha, as for being a mindreader - maybe it's something to do with knowing how women think since I am one too

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This might sound nasty, but I am not fussed about getting any fry from that pair, as they are not the prettiest fish I have ...........Although Murphy's law probably means I will, without doing anything! I have had fry to free swimming stage in the main tank before, but they don't last more than 24 hours before getting gobbled up by the other tank residents. Interesting to see what occurs though

These guys were born in the main tank around 10 months back, but they disappeared shortly after I took this video

No it doesn't sound nasty, just practical. No point putting effort into trying to breed them if they are not what you want to breed - but if they get fry to survive in the main tank, well then, bonus

I am so excited this morning - I have my first fry, they were born last night sometime. Admittedly they are only platys but still, very exciting for me. I have managed to catch about 17 or 18 (hard to count em!) of them and put in a floating homemade trap, so will be exciting to watch them grow - shouldn't have the hassles that you have tho LOL

Nitaree said:

No it doesn't sound nasty, just practical. No point putting effort into trying to breed them if they are not what you want to breed - but if they get fry to survive in the main tank, well then, bonus

I am so excited this morning - I have my first fry, they were born last night sometime. Admittedly they are only platys but still, very exciting for me. I have managed to catch about 17 or 18 (hard to count em!) of them and put in a floating homemade trap, so will be exciting to watch them grow - shouldn't have the hassles that you have tho LOL

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I'm sorry to hear about your Discus troubles Hopefully breeding them will work out eventually.

As far as your platys, good thing you saved some! I have had three births in my tank and have yet to see fry! I quit saving them though. They overpopulate too quickly.