Discus Pairing

[Seed_Lord]

Just wondering, say 2 discus have paired, if seperated and put with other discus would they pair up with a different partner? or once paired and bonded thats it?

thanks

 

[DevotedToDiscus]

They generally like to remain together with their first partner, but will pair with others. I have done this before. I had a bunch together and a very pretty female chose a rather ordinary looking Brown mate. These guys breed about half a dozen times, but I couldn't get the fry to survive more than 3 days. I put it down to a bad strain and removed the male. Within a month she had paired up with a very dominant male of the same strain as her, and the first batch of young they had made it all the way without problems. However, all said and done it is difficult to force them to do what you want them to do and you will always require a good old dollop of luck.

 

[Seed_Lord]

Yeah i thought luck would be biggest factor, i put her in with 2 male leopards and a male turq, she paired with the bigger leopard but would much rather her have paired with the turq, hes lovely, shes a blue scorp snakeskin if i wanted to cross would rather do that, but dunno if her rejecting him in the first place would make it harder for them to pair if i removed the leopard?

 

[DevotedToDiscus]

If you are certain it is a male(it can be hard to tell) then try putting them alone together for a month. You will soon see if he gets rejected as they will tend to stay at opposite ends of the tank, and everytime he comes near she will chase him away. If you see that they happily swim together constantly, then you will be in with a very good chance. Worst case is after a month, if the signs are not good she can go back with her original mate.

 

[Seed_Lord]

If you are certain it is a male(it can be hard to tell) then try putting them alone together for a month. You will soon see if he gets rejected as they will tend to stay at opposite ends of the tank, and everytime he comes near she will chase him away. If you see that they happily swim together constantly, then you will be in with a very good chance. Worst case is after a month, if the signs are not good she can go back with her original mate.

Yeah this turq is 100% male, he fertilized a melons eggs off the previous owner, atm obv shes paired with my larger leopard but doesnt mind the company of the turq or other leopard, yet chases away the penang, so dunno if that means anything, maybe shes a bit of a player But im going to chens next weekend if i can find a nice female for the turq ill get her, obviously i wont be able to tell if they'll pair till i get them together but if i not i can try mix and matching.


Cheers

 

[DevotedToDiscus]

That all sounds good to me. I have a friend who owns a discus farm, and am sure she must conduct forced pairing. I will see her on Saturday so I will ask her if she has any tips on ensuring you can get the pair you really want. Cheers

 

[Seed_Lord]

Ah nice one thanks When i go down to chens might get a female leopard so i can have a pure pair, so if i have to get rid for whatever reason can get a decent price for them if i dont get round to breeding and rearing them (chens giving me a free fish because i ordered a female for delivery but got a male, which is the penang hes on ebay atm), then hope the turq will pair with the scorp, if they have any turq or turq variations might get one aswell just incase the scorp wont pair with the turq (am interested in doing some cross's but wouldnt mind pure either), just looking to get myself 2 nice pairs then can easily ebay the rest, quality discus go like hotcakes on there.

 

[DevotedToDiscus]

I asked my friend at the Discus farm today, and she said that they actually don't do forced pairing, because they have such large numbers of fish that they never have a problem getting the strains they need. She just puts enough together of the breed she wants and lets them pair. However, she believes that it would be possible and suggests that you put the male and female you want together in a breeding tank for a couple of weeks, and if they don't pair introduce a third non dominant fish of either sex as this is a great spawning trigger and should force the original pair to spawn. Then obviously take the third fish away. Hope this helps, and if you do try it please let me know how you get on?......Cheers

 

[Seed_Lord]

Thanks alot much appreciated Have read of other people splitting up a pair and they've repaired, so will give it a go