Discus fooled me!

[DiscusnAfricans]

So I've had a group of discus for around 2 years now. I started with 10 around 2.5" and grew them out, sold a few, and kept 5 that currently reside in a 55 gallon community tank. I have a Marlboro Red, Blue Turquoise, Red Turquoise, and 2 "golden sunrise" (not an official name). I wasn't sure of sexes, but I put a cone in the tank to see if anyone would pair off and lay eggs. The Marlboro Red and Blue Turquoise have always been the dominant fish in the tank. I assumed they were the alpha and beta male.

Lately they have been acting more aggressive than usual. I was doing a water change and some cleaning. While doing some plant maintenance I decided to remove the cone because I hadn't observed any courting or spawning behavior. I went to pick the cone up and it felt slimy, so I began to wipe it off and realized the side facing away from the front of the tank was covered with eggs. I put the cone back down and the Marlboro Red and Blue Turquoise came over and began tending the eggs. They didn't appear to be eating them and 30 minutes later I could still see eggs remaining.

Moral of the story: I am really bad at sexing discus and I don't think I've been paying enough attention to my fish lately. I'm excited to try and observe the spawning behavior, but I think it may be a while before I set up a tank and start trying to successfully raise fry. Usually young parents take a while to get it straight anyways. The other tank inhabitants will have a richer diet in the meantime!

 

[bertolli]

sweet!!! i had a similar situation with some of my shellies which led to the fry being eaten and the female died before they could spawn again
Nice to know you have a pair congrats

 

[twisted fisher]

gotta love surprises like that don't ya?

what shellies did ya lose i may have areplacement for ya

 

[Tony]

That's incredible Mike. Really good to hear. I remember seeing those two just chilling together all the time, chasing everyone else, but each other... never really dawned on my that they were a pair. Congrats bro!

I'll stop by and see them sometime soon.

 

[iamzrad]

Nice Mike!
And everyone loves pictures,

 

[danger_chicken]

I like family photo's. Love the Blue Turquoise!

 

[Tony]

Must.... resist... urges......

No.... more.... different....fish......


I swear Mike, every time I come over there, I have bad thoughts of setting up that 110 with some of these critters.

 

[Cartel]

Do it

 

[danger_chicken]

^what he said

 

[chris_todd]

Go big or go home, LOL... get a 180, then go over to Hans and get 12-18 beauties. C'mon, you know you wanna, everybody's doin it.

 

[DiscusnAfricans]

I like family photo's. Love the Blue Turquoise!

Thanks. I'm glad Phil posted a picture he took, you may not have said the same thing if it had been a picture I took. I think the blue turquoise is the female but I can't be sure. It's ran the tank since I got it, so I always figured it was a male. The Marlboro Red is behind him to the right, but overshadowed from something. The Marlboro Red is about the same size but has longer pectoral fins. No points on dorsal or anal, but they're still young I guess. I'll eventually put them in a 20 or 29 setup, but they seem happy for now.

 

[DiscusnAfricans]

So there were still eggs present last night. I can't tell how many because they only laid eggs on the side facing towards the back of the tank. Usually one of the two is always guarding the cone, but sometimes they get distracted during feeding time. They still remain aggressive toards the other discus, but don't really bother the tetras, rasboras and other tankmates.

I noticed something that bothered me. I observed an otocinclus cat attach itself to one of the spawning discus. The discus was able to shake it off, but it happened again later. I suspect the discus are secreting the mucus that the babies would feed off, and this is attracting the otos. Then I saw an oto do this to another discus that wasn't a spawner. Could this be a learned behavior, or can non-spawning discus secrete this substance as well? I know the best bet would be to remove the discus or the otos, but I'm not prepared to do either yet. Can this hurt the discus long term? I assume in small doses it can't hurt because the mucus is supposed to be consumed, but I want to be sure. Thanks.

 

[DiscusnAfricans]

So the first set of eggs disappeared after 2 days, so the pair tried again. This time they laid eggs on the heater of all places. I guess they decided it was the cones fault the eggs didn't hatch. They seem to be guarding parents though. They keep close watch over the eggs and fan them regularly.

 

[cmcpart0422]

Wont the heater kill the eggs? Ill have snails crawling on my heater and when it turns on they all fall off in a matte of seconds.

 

[DiscusnAfricans]

Wont the heater kill the eggs? Ill have snails crawling on my heater and when it turns on they all fall off in a matte of seconds.

Probably. This wasn't a planned spawn so I'm too worried about the eggs surviving. Hopefully by the time I get them to their own tank they'll be a little smarter. What does a Marlboro Red crossed with a Blue Turquoise discus look like.

 

[Spine]

Wont the heater kill the eggs? Ill have snails crawling on my heater and when it turns on they all fall off in a matte of seconds.

You could unplug the heater and put another one in the tank until they hatch.

 

[DiscusnAfricans]

You could unplug the heater and put another one in the tank until they hatch.

Yeah but its a community tank so the fry would most likely get eaten anyways. I'd take the heater out but artificially raising the fry is beyond the amount of work I want to take on right now. they're young parents too, so the eggs aren't even guaranteed to be fertile.

 

[DonkeyFish]

I noticed something that bothered me. I observed an otocinclus cat attach itself to one of the spawning discus. The discus was able to shake it off, but it happened again later. I suspect the discus are secreting the mucus that the babies would feed off, and this is attracting the otos. Then I saw an oto do this to another discus that wasn't a spawner. Could this be a learned behavior, or can non-spawning discus secrete this substance as well?

I saw that happening in one of my discus tanks a few months ago. Made me SO mad, I'm retarded and think the otos can hear me when I yell at them. Needing both in the tank I let it go and started feeding more veggie stuff for the otos. Helped quite a bit. Haven't seen any leaching by the otos in some time now, and they had gotten to be so bad about it the discus weren't even trying to shake them off anymore (dumb? lazy? defeated? all three?). So you can always try that. Especially if you're not feeding algae or veggie wafers in the first place. Just a thought...

Go big or go home, LOL... get a 180, then go over to Hans and get 12-18 beauties. C'mon, you know you wanna, everybody's doin it.

OMG Chris. ESPECIALLY coming from you... heehee... 3 more days..........