Discus - Having A Tough Time Telling The Boy From The Girl

[cheesemaker]

Hello fellow fish addict....

I've decide to come back to the hobby and managed to get myself a pair of lovely discus that I thought had bonded. They were swimming together at a LFS on multiple visits, so I just assumed.

Got them back to the tank for at least 3 months now, the tank is doing nicely fully planted

Problem now is that one is showing aggression, I don't know if they are both the same sex and therefore no chance of forming a bonded pair.

This fellow is bigger more rounded and dorsal fin less pointy, my guess is that it's a SHE

this one is slightly smaller, but more aggressive and has pointy dorsal fin, I thought this is a HE

what do you guys think?

 

[DiscusKeeper403]

It's pretty much impossible to tell, but if I had to guess I would say you are right with the top being a female. If you can get a high quality close up shot of their breeding tubes that would help. They still look young though, don't know if they will breed for you yet.

If they have been in your tank for three months, and have not bred then they are definitley not bonded. Sometimes you can force pair Discus, but it doesn't work as well as just letting a bunch of fish pair off naturally. The aggression you are probably seeing is due to the hierarchy. If you have less then 4-6 Discus you are pretty much doomed (unless it's a proven breeding pair, which unfortunatley yours do not seem to be) I would recommend getting another 3-4 Discus depending on your tank size.

 

[cheesemaker]

It's pretty much impossible to tell, but if I had to guess I would say you are right with the top being a female. If you can get a high quality close up shot of their breeding tubes that would help. They still look young though, don't know if they will breed for you yet.

If they have been in your tank for three months, and have not bred then they are definitley not bonded. Sometimes you can force pair Discus, but it doesn't work as well as just letting a bunch of fish pair off naturally. The aggression you are probably seeing is due to the hierarchy. If you have less then 4-6 Discus you are pretty much doomed (unless it's a proven breeding pair, which unfortunatley yours do not seem to be) I would recommend getting another 3-4 Discus depending on your tank size.

Thanks for your comment, you're right, they need to grow a bit more. My tank is only 180L, don't think i can squeeze anymore in, since increasing feed, seems to have calmed down a little. fingers crossed.