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My Discus have spawned!!

4K views 25 replies 10 participants last post by  aunt kymmie 
#1 ·
For the second time my mated pair of Discus have spawned. Today I was actually right next to the tank to see the entire thing unfold. Pretty darn amazing, if you ask me! My friends think I'm a geek, getting all excited over "a bunch of little eggs". Not sure when or if I'll ever put these two in their own breeding tank since I know little, if next to nothing, about what's involved in the entire process. For now I'm just happy knowing they are healthy and comfortable enough to go about their business.
 

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#3 ·
I know! I would love to see the offspring this pair would produce but considering there's at least a 100 eggs there, what ever in the world would I do with them all?? You're right around the neighborhood...ready to set up a discus tank?? ;-)
 
#7 ·
I'm not sure. As for my pair, I *think* the orange pigeon is the male, and the red turquoise is the female. The reason I think this is that first I noticed them flittering in unison very close to an anubias leaf, then the red was over the anubia leaf, then I saw eggs, then the orange went over the eggs and he was gently "swishing" over them and when he was done I saw something extended from his vent area. It looked like, well, what is the male anatomy of a discus called?? I can't recall the exact name for that part of the anatomy...a gonapedia or something like that??
The best thing in all of this is that my girlfriend was dropping me off from the beach at the very moment this was happening. This is one of my friend's whose favorite fish saying is, "I don't like looking at fish, and they better not look at me". (Not sure why she's a kook in this way). Long story short, she was just as fascinated watching this whole process as I was.
 
#5 ·
No thanks, my wild columbian Rams I have to change the water twice a week and yesterday I added my Black Moscow guppy male to the tank with 1 female fancy guppyand I think the Rams shredded it's long tail. I had to take my guppy male out. I can't put Fancy guppy males in that tank. Females are ok as they do not have long tails. I might have to rehome the Guppies as I do not want to keep them in a 6 gal. tank. My 20 gal. has Bumblebee platies and babies but the females don't eat their own young like guppies do. Look at my pictures of my tiny snails on the Invetebrates site. Let me know what you think. Mordalphus want's me to send him some but I hate to charge for such tiny snails. How did you send your snails to that lady in Las Vegas? I have some breather bags and a flat rate smaller box and a reg. cube box that I can insulate with syrofoam if I do send them.
 
#6 ·
Look at my pictures of my tiny snails on the Invetebrates site. Let me know what you think. Mordalphus want's me to send him some but I hate to charge for such tiny snails. How did you send your snails to that lady in Las Vegas? I have some breather bags and a flat rate smaller box and a reg. cube box that I can insulate with syrofoam if I do send them.
I think they are Assasins. It was pretty simple for me to send her the MTS snails. All I did was wet a paper towel (REALLY wet), folded it over a few times, and then I placed it in a zip lock back with the snails inside. I sent it to her in a flate rate priority envelope. It was only here to Vegas, a two day transit. Where is Mordalphus, I forget? If you have breather bags I would think the snails would be fine in a few days transit. Snails are tough little buggers.
 
#11 ·
This is one of the great pleasures and joys of this hobby; when fish, esp "difficult" fish feel "at home" enough to spawn. And watching the on-going saga will be fascinating. B.
 
#12 ·
I can't wait to see babies but I do have a question about Discus.

When 2 fish of different colors mate and birth, how do you know what color the babies will be or will they sort of be mixed batch of the 2 colors the parents are? I am thinking of Labrador Retrievers, you can breed a Chocolate Lab to Black and still have Black, Yellow and Chocolate in the batch or all of one none of the others etc...

Could you get yellows, reds, blues and mixes from the same batch? Just curious.
 
#14 ·
I can't wait to see babies but I do have a question about Discus.

When 2 fish of different colors mate and birth, how do you know what color the babies will be or will they sort of be mixed batch of the 2 colors the parents are? I am thinking of Labrador Retrievers, you can breed a Chocolate Lab to Black and still have Black, Yellow and Chocolate in the batch or all of one none of the others etc...

Could you get yellows, reds, blues and mixes from the same batch? Just curious.
To answer your question yes you can breed different colors and depending on the genetics of the fish(dominance of the gene) some will be one color and some will be another. Angelfish are the same way as well as many other fish.

I know this thread is a little old but I just wanted to congratulate you on your success. Cihcilds IMO are one of the most interesting species to spawn because of thier will to protect and gaurd thier fry. IF you let the parents grow up with the fry(not sure if Discus suffer from inprinting) then you can see the babies feed off the slime coat of the adults. The babise will actually switch from parent to parent as they do this froming a swarm around the flank of one of thier parents.
 
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#13 ·
LOVE IS IN THE AIR!! Kymmie, you Discus are beautiful. This is the first time I am seeing a picture of them. I hope some make it this time. It would be interesting to see what the offspring of these two would look like. Real beauties I'm sure! I thought my angels would breed again by now. They say that if they lose the eggs, they usually spawn a few weeks later. However, I have a feeling I threw off their little thrill fest when I did my big changeover. Hopefully soon though! Good luck! Keep us all posted on the progress.
 
#17 ·
LOVE IS IN THE AIR!! Kymmie, you Discus are beautiful. This is the first time I am seeing a picture of them. I hope some make it this time. It would be interesting to see what the offspring of these two would look like. Real beauties I'm sure! I thought my angels would breed again by now. They say that if they lose the eggs, they usually spawn a few weeks later. However, I have a feeling I threw off their little thrill fest when I did my big changeover. Hopefully soon though! Good luck! Keep us all posted on the progress.
I had to squish their eggs less than 48 hours after they spawned because they were getting really nasty with everyone in the tank. Once I squished them, they ate them and went back to being sweet.
I have a 75 gl that I'm in the process of setting up. According to the calendar I still had another week before they would spawn again. Yesterday I'm doing a water change in the display and I notice that they are cleaning yet another leaf. I'm thinking, "There's no way these two are getting ready to do it again??"
As soon as the water was changed they put down another clutch of eggs. I don't get it. Spawning less than a week later?? Is this because I squished the eggs? Now they are guarding these new eggs and even getting nastier than the last time. My poor fish...no one on this tank is happy! I'm not sure if I should squish the eggs again. :-?
I took a little video with my point and shoot camera. I need to figure out how to upload it.
 
#15 ·
Thanks rrcoolj. Do you have any idea how long it will be before the eggs hatch? How long from laying them to hatching them? Then how long until the fry are recognizable as Discus?

I really hope some make it and that Kymmie keeps us all posted with tons of pictures. It would be so much fun to see these beautiful fish develop.
 
#18 · (Edited)
Thanks rrcoolj. Do you have any idea how long it will be before the eggs hatch? How long from laying them to hatching them? Then how long until the fry are recognizable as Discus?

I really hope some make it and that Kymmie keeps us all posted with tons of pictures. It would be so much fun to see these beautiful fish develop.
I honestly am not sure. I have never kept discus. If I were to guese because they like very warm water I would say the eggs would hatch in 24-48hrs and for the fry to take on the shape of discus that could take a couple months. Again this is not based on experience with actual discus though but with angelfish.

Sorry to hear that aunty kymmie. I have never heard someone being dissapointed about spawning discus :-D. Are they in your 100 gallon? If they are I would say they are ok and the tankmates will be too. Discus will defend thier fry but rarely do any actual damage even when the fry are free swimming(which is when they are at thier most aggressive) You can seperate them into another tank if that suits you. It might take a while for them to become comftorable again though. GL with whatever you do.
 
#19 ·
Oh No! I hope that you can work it out for them. Who is going into the new 75 gallon? Maybe mama, daddy and babies? ha ha I hope that we will see some Discus babies, I think they are one of the most beautiful fresh water fish.
 
#20 ·
Here's the short video I took. Not the greatest quality as it was my first time using this feature on my camera. It takes a few seconds before the other half of the mated pair swims in and helps to do whatever it is they are doing to the eggs. I don't know which is the male or female. I hope someone who watches this video will be able to tell me?

Inga- The shoaling fish (inappropriate tankmates for discus to begin with-a major thump on the head to me!) in the 100 gl display will be moved to the 75 gl so my discus can enjoy uninterrupted time together.

rrcoolj- Not disappointed in their spawning behavior, just not prepared for it! I never thought I'd end up with a mated pair so I had no plans in place for this occurence.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYWf8ikOEXk
 
#23 ·
Here's the short video I took. Not the greatest quality as it was my first time using this feature on my camera. It takes a few seconds before the other half of the mated pair swims in and helps to do whatever it is they are doing to the eggs. I don't know which is the male or female. I hope someone who watches this video will be able to tell me?

Inga- The shoaling fish (inappropriate tankmates for discus to begin with-a major thump on the head to me!) in the 100 gl display will be moved to the 75 gl so my discus can enjoy uninterrupted time together.

rrcoolj- Not disappointed in their spawning behavior, just not prepared for it! I never thought I'd end up with a mated pair so I had no plans in place for this occurence.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYWf8ikOEXk
I hear ya it's not easy doing the whole breeding thing. I would guese based on what I can see that the blue fish is the male by the shape of the breeding tube. IF you could get a closer video of the vent area or pictures than I could give you a more accurate guese.
 
#21 ·
Nice camera angle to see the process, Kym. Very interesting, thanks.
 
#24 ·
Oh Kymmie they are so darn beautiful! Look how cute they are looking at their eggs and then looking around to make sure nobody comes by them. I LOVE their eyes. They have such huge...soft eyes. I am in love, totally!
 
#26 ·
Oh Kymmie they are so darn beautiful! Look how cute they are looking at their eggs and then looking around to make sure nobody comes by them. I LOVE their eyes. They have such huge...soft eyes. I am in love, totally!
Thanks, Inga. I really love them too. They are very sweet with each other and if I ever get to that next stage they seem like they would be really good parents. I target feed them (as I know they don't want to stray too far from their eggs) and they each take turns coming up to the syringe for food. They don't leave the eggs unattended, ever. I'm not going to squish the eggs this time. I know the eggs will not be viable but I'll let them continue with their natural behavior. I'll have their inappropriate tankmates out by this weekend and after that job is done I'll start considering buffering their water so perhaps a future spawn can survive. Still on the fence if that's a road I want to drive down.
 
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