Breeding Discus

[Cameronb_01]

Hi everyone,

• About a week ago I identified a breeding pair among my discus, (due to their constant proximity and the protective nature of the male).

• From that point forth I started doing 25% RO water changes daily, increased the temperature from 28°C to 30°C and also changed their food to contain a high proportion of frozen bloodworms.

• 2 days ago I noticed spasmodic trembling occurring with the female discus in question as well as pecking, (presumed cleaning), of the filter intake pipe by both parents.

• At that point I inserted a spawning cone into the tank, (no interest was taken in it by the parents who remained fixated on the filter intake pipe).

• This evening at about 19:30GMT, (just over 5 hours ago), the female discus laid her eggs on the pipe in question. The male discus rubbed up against them etc. for a while but they all remained white, (none turned black).

• To my horror, I watched as the new parents desperately tried to fend off their fellow discus tank-mates from eating their eggs: to no avail and by 20:30GMT not one egg was left.

I have my heart set on breeding discus- not for money, just for my own personal enjoyment.

I am aware that the orthodox thing to do would be to remove the breeding pair from the 450Litre/100Gallon planted community tank and put them by themselves into a completely bare 150Litre/30Gallon breeding tank.

Is this what everyone would recommend I do to have the highest possible chances of successful breeding or would people recommend going down an alternate pathway?

Thanks in advance.

Best wishes,

Cameron

 

[mikey11]

my experience breeding discus.....

its very common for them to lay eggs on filter tubes, or even on vertical heaters, very occassinallyy even just the side of the aquarium itself,

if discus lay eggs and there are OTHER discus in the tank, the eggs will never get to the point of hatching, they will ALWAYS be eaten, by tank mates or the parents,

a seperate tank for the pair is a must if you want the eggs to hatch,

when i see a pair like that who are just about to "do their thing" i remove them from the populated tank and put them in their own 30-35 gallon tank....this tank is kept "bare bottom" and all i put in there is a mature sponge filter with a heater....the heater i mount HORIZONTALLY so they will not lay eggs there,

i put in a piece of PVC plumbing pipe about 3-4 inch diameter standing up vertically, cut this pipe so its goes up to about 1 inch below the water surface......they will lay their eggs on that,

when i am sure they are finished "doing their thing" i remove the parents and put them back in the populated tank with the other discus,

wait for eggs to hatch and raise the fry.....i have also used this exact same method breeding angelfish...its fun but can be very time consuming with the constant cleaning of the tank and water changes, and hatching of live brine shrimp