Easiest way to see is at night with lights off and shine the torch.
He might be preparing the nest for spawning. It will happen if the female is ready. Have a look at the female's bottom and see if you can see a white bit sticking out.
ron
Do a 50% wg and vac at the same time.
Then dose the tank with prazi. Wait 48 hrs and wc again. Redose and wait another 48 before a big wc and vac. Then go back to normal mantainance.
ron
NEVER mix formalin with any medication. It could react and turn very toxic killing your fish immediately.
A cocktail of drugs can be pottentially harmful.
ron
The male will be under the nest and constanly picking up falling eggs and blowing them back up to nest. Shine a torch at the nest and you'll see white dots in the bubble.
ron
No harm in dosing the tank with prazi to keep the flukes in check. Some of the symptoms of an outbreak of flukes are heavy breathing, flashing, darting and jerking and loss of colour turning pale instead of the shining look.
ron
Totally agree with Brad. Better safe than sorry especially when you got discus that is hard to replace in NZ eventhough you got the money. Same goes with some of the harder to find fishes.
ron
The male will try to get the female in to breed. It might happen pretty soon if you female is conditioned to spawn. You have to leave the light on so the male can pick up the eggs and blow them to the bubble nest.
ron
I put a plastic cover floating on the surface in one corner to encourage the male to make the nest.
I introduce the female into the tank inside a coke bottle so the male can't get to it and to let them get use to each other.
Once the male had made the nest I let the female out and if both of them are ready they will spawn. I left the bottle in there so if there is any fighting the female have somewhere to hide. You can also put some plant at the other corner of the nest to give the female somewhre to retreat to and hide from the male especially after spawning. The female have to be taken out pronto or she'll ended up badly bashed.
hth,
ron
It depends on strains too, some grow faster than other. With 2 feeding a day and in a planted tank the growth won't be fast. Probably 6 months before you need an upgrade.
ron