Who gets stress bars male or female discus fish?

[Mazain]

The discus group has established the pecking order however, the past 2 weeks the red turquoise discus are showing stress bars.
I don't know if it's mating season but want to know which discus darkens out of the 2 fish?

 

[Colin_T]

Any fish that is stressed, in breeding condition, or is showing nocturnal colours will have the dark bars on the body. Sex has nothing to do with it.

Make sure the water and tank are clean. Monitor and make sure nobody is being picked on. Make they are all eating well.

 

[Mazain]

Make they are all eating well.

This they are doing without fail.

 

[Colin_T]

They might be excited due to feeding time

 

[Death by Fish Tanks]

Discus are Amazon River fish that are sensitive to water quality fluctuations. Try smaller, less frequent water changes and feeding less(1-2 times a week).
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Edit: be mindful with how much water you pulled during water changes. While you're removing waste, you're also removing beneficial bacteria and minerals The fish needs to survive.

 

[Mazain]

They might be excited due to feeding time

Yes they do get excited. Active and healthy. However, I still see there are more males than females. Wondering if that's causing the stress.

 

[Mazain]

Discus are Amazon River fish that are sensitive to water quality fluctuations. Try smaller, less frequent water changes and feeding less(1-2 times a week).

You are Right, they are pretty sensitive to water quality. Hence, in contrast you need to do more water changes in order for them to adapt to your tap water or other water you use. Mine have adapted pretty well.
I would probably cut down on feeding after the discus have fully grown. They are still adolescents and need some growing.

 

[Colin_T]

Yes they do get excited. Active and healthy. However, I still see there are more males than females. Wondering if that's causing the stress.

How are you sexing them?
To my knowledge the only way to sex discus is when they are breeding and you look at the ovipositor (egg laying tube). Males have a longer thin ovipositor and females have a shorter wider one.

If you do have a lot of males they might be bickering among themselves but I haven't seen discus get stripes when arguing. It might be the reason they have it but I just haven't seen them with stripes when having a fight.

As long as the fish are eating well, doing normal coloured poop, swimming and acting normally, I wouldn't worry too much about the stripes.

 

[Mazain]

How are you sexing them?

I check the dorsal fins tip on the back and the caudal fin tip on the top and draw a line to check if it's crossing or overlapping. This is however not that accurate when the fins are not optimal.

To my knowledge the only way to sex discus is when they are breeding and you look at the ovipositor (egg laying tube).

They haven't still layed any eggs so this might take time to observe however, I'll watch out for it.

If you do have a lot of males they might be bickering among themselves but I haven't seen discus get stripes when arguing.

Mine keep lip locking and pecking on the body when they argue. Some get chased away.

The moody ones usually loaf on top of the amazon Swords with optimal colors under stable light and the group stay close to the glass wall under less light.

 

[fishorama]

If you are hoping for line breeding of the same strain, you need to separate the turks from the others, Then, see what happens. A 29g or better 55g is enough. They might like a change of scenery or some alone time to see where it might go. You can always put 1 back in their former tank & try again with another possible partner. Mixed strains may produce fry but they'll not likely be as pretty as they might.

I raised young 2 inch discus but it wasn't until I sold them to a friend that they paired up in his tank. Before that they were just sparing siblings...but all the same strain with possible different parents.

I had tried to guess sexes by looks & behavior before I rehomed them. I was wrong pretty much all the time, lol.