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Discus - breeding maturity age/size questions etc


johnny

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Hi all

Will start off by saying I’m a newb when it comes to discus (so you may have to put your suggestions in simple language).

Anyway, I have four discus in a 180l tank.

1 very sickly looking Blue diamond 4-5cm (has been sick for months, still alive however)

1 Brown Discus 7-8cm (fairly good condition, same age as blue diamond, starting to get picked on by pigeons)

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I have recently brought 2 pigeon discus 7-8cm.

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The 2 pigeons have paired up and this morning I noticed 1 fanning eggs that were located on a large leaf. As I expected this afternoon when I got home they were gone.

I was surprised to see them pair up, are 7-8cm discus ready to breed or does it not matter on size? Or are they simply ready to breed cause they have tried?

I want to keep the pair in the tank and give them the best chance of raising fry, I know there are pros and cons of planted tanks but I would rather have them in there. So should I remove the other tank mates?

If their too small let me know. Also do I have to remove all tank mates? Even algae eater and corys etc?

If I need to remove the tank mates is there anyone who could look after my 2 other discus in Tauranga? (eg. dimebag, luke, livingart etc) I would give them away but I sort of got attached to them as they were my very 1st discus.

Anyway what do u all think?

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I'm not the Discus expert but what I do know:

The size of the Discus doesn't necessarily determine age- your pigeons may well have been stunted in their growth at an earlier age, eye size in relation to body size can indicate slightly stunted growth. That doesn't mean they wont successfully breed for you.

I would say that if you seriously want to attempt to raise a spawn then the all tankmates will have to go during the process. The pigeons will probably go through a few unsuccessful attempts as they seem to be a fish that need to learn the ropes a bit before they get it right. My friends use a ceramic cone to good success in their breedings. I think it depends how planted the tank is- you don't want to let the fry get lost in relation to the parents.

I hope it works for you as it is a fascinating process especially when the fry are feeding on the parents

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hey johnny awesome man that's so exciting the first time you see them pair up and then it's even better when you get your own babies. they're wicked fish to have breed too. both red eyes, interesting bright pattern, and most importantly both pigeon (as a turq/pigeon cross such as a pair on T* at the mo = ugly hugley peppered babies).

they don't look too stunted but if breeding at that size it is likely they haven't grown to their full potential that they could have. doesn't matter tho. if you raise the fry on daily water changes/great diet they can easily superceed the size of their parents.

go for gold with raising them in planted tank if you want the only thing is that as the parents are pigeon bloods the fry will likely get lost trying to find them cuz they'll go for anything dark. when i bred mine i had nothing in the tank even had to take out the black filter sponges around the key time of them going from wriggling to free swimming so they could find the parents.

i do have a big display tank i could put the 2 other ones in if you're stuck but it's at my friend's place so i just can't keep an eye on them everyday is the only thing. that small tank would be ok if doin daily or every other day large wcs.

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Luke, dude cheers for the response.

Have put them (the pair) in their own 60cm x 30 x 30mm tank (bit of organising around). Is that tall enough? I had to make room in my guppy breeding set up and turned it up to 28 degrees.

Heres some pics, is this O.K? not sure what I’m gonna do with the guppies. May have to get another tank for the discus if this is a long term thing and don’t want to have guppies at 28 too long.

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Any ideas on what I'll get if I'm successful? Checkerboard or stripy/spotted pigeon? or something else?

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  • 1 month later...

hi Johhy..

the background of the light is toooooooo...bright....try to change it ..!...

well..it depends the parent of your pair discus...if their strain is pure then you may get 50% Checkerboard or less....and the remaning is pigeon...if the pair discus is pure and with less black dot...thus/ you may get some beautiful baby....

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Hi Mate

I am no expert here and I stand to be corrected, but...

I would black out the back and sides of your tank.

Make sure that your water changes are maintained

Put in a breeding cone or red brick /flower pot or something for them to spawn on.

and finally

keep everything you have got crossed...flat fish arent as easy as they seem but some have great success with them.

Navarre

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hi All

This is a old thread.

They did lay a couple more times in this tank on a pot i put in there.

however i have move them to my planted display tank (by themselves) and currently have 10 baby discus in this tank (the one the pair are in, in the photo).

Cheers

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