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hello!

i have three mature discus (that i have had for about 3 years now). they are each about 5" long and 5" tall. two are tangerines, and one is brown.

i have noticed two of them (one tangerine and the brown) displaying behaviours that would indicate that they are a pair. for example, they rapidly 'flick' their fins at each other, stick close together, exclude the other tangerine, etc... also, i can see their genital papilae (?) and they appear enlarged/swollen.

they have been displaying like this for at least a year, and i have yet to see any eggs! is there anything i can/should do to encourage them?

my tank is about 40 gallons, and i do weekly water changes of about 50%. my pH is low (about 6.2) and the water stays around 80-82F. there is no ammonia or nitrite, and nitrate stays below 20ppm. i normally feed them once a day (sometimes twice) on a frozen food that i made (containing beefheart, shrimp, salmon, snapper, spinach, garlic, sweet potatoes, etc... ). they also occasionally get brine shrimp, flakes and discus pellets.

why aren't they breeding for me?! any suggestions would be appreciated! : )

You can try to trigger a spawn. What you are trying to do is to simulate the onset of the rainy season. Steps to take are:
1. Feed them live blackworms or other rich food for a week or two,
2. Bump the tank temperature to 86F to increase metabolism,
3. Then do a large water change of 75%,
4. Water should be cooler than the tank to drop tank temp to 81 or 82F,
5. If possible reduce the water hardness to below 3 dGH during the water change.

Each of the above forms a "trigger" for spawning. You should start in the morning as evening is generally when discus spawn. Do them all for Valentine's Day!

Considerations are that you may have three same sex discus, probably male as you have not seen eggs. Males generally have wider bodies and their dorsal fin develops a bit of a whip.





__________
"To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism; to steal from many is research."
researched from Steven Wright

Hi,

Bobs right you can stimulate them to spawn by doing water changes over a period of about 3 days.

They could already be spawning but you are just not seeing it as they may be eating the eggs over night so that the other fish dont eat them, something discus are e to do.

Have you been able to see the genital area clearly? are there differences between the two?
If they are a pair can you move them to their own tank and let them go from there?

Read my article on breeding discus that is posted above this section and see if that can help you.

HTH

Trace

By the way good luck I hope they are a pair as there is nothing better than to see these guys breed

Let us know how you go.

i think you might have all one gender, and as said, probably boys, hence no eggs... they'll 'pair up' when the other gender is not available.

Jase is correct. In fact, I have one discus who is female but is convinced that she is male. She will attempt to make fertilizing runs when another pair are spawning. I call her "Ellen".



__________
"To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism; to steal from many is research."
researched from Steven Wright

hmmm... that's interesting. i will have to have a closer look at their 'parts.' the males' should be more pointed, whereas the females' will be rounded, right? i think they look fairly similar, but i'm not sure, so i will investigate.

i'm not really able to seperate them, unfortunately, as tank realestate is prime in my house... i'm running out of spots! plus, i'd hate to lose any of them as a result of stress from moving...

so, i'm going to make an effort to condition them and will try to do more frequent water changes (with the slightly cooler water) and see if that makes a difference.

i read your article trace, and it was very informative. thanks for all the advice!

I have actually seen Bob's fish doing there little dance. His fish "Ellen" gets right in there like she is the guy in the pair. Funny stuff!

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