Help Sexing Discus Please

[mattlee]

i was sold this albino discus as a female. i have a male but all the 2 do is fight.... not sure if its courting or fighting but it looks more like fighting to me! i thought adding a female would be the safest bet....

here is my male apparently....

can anyone give me an idea? i know its not 100% until they pair up and you see the tubes but ive been told dorsal fins can give it away sometimes

also can someone tell me the strain of albino please.....

 

[spearsy]

Sexing Discus:

There are all kinds of theories and ideas on how to sex discus. Here are the facts.

Juvenile discus cannot be sexed accurately without surgical examination. That's it, bottom line, end of story.

Here are the differences in male and female mature discus that can be used with some degree of success.

1) Male discus often have an elongated and pointed dorsal fin. If the discus has a elongated, pointed fin, it is almost always a male. Depending on the strain, many males do not have an elongated, pointed dorsal fin. The elongation usually does not show up until they are about six inches, well after they are sexually mature.

2) The breeding tube on the female is larger than the male and is farther forward from the caudal fin. This can be used reliably, if you have done it many times and you take the discus out of the water and examine it under a magnifying glass. It is best to sedate the discus before attempting this.

3) Males lips are slightly larger than the females. This is a very difficult means of sexing discus, but can be used with success on some strains. I have particular success using this technique with wild caught discus.

Myth. The dominate discus is the male. UNTRUE, the female is quite often dominate and I have had many males killed by an over aggressive female. The only time that the male is consistently more dominate is when they are spawning. By that time they have laid eggs and there is no question of the sexes.

Myth. The female is thicker as she is carrying eggs. While this may be true to a VERY small degree, it CANNOT be used reliably to sex discus. Some of my skinniest discus are my best producers. After a successful spawn, a female would naturally be skinnier, but she would be no less a female. So if you are looking at a discus and do not have the correct spawning history, using this method would be worthless
just for you knowlage it came from
http/www.discus-somethingsphishy.com/
any more help needed
contact me
andrew

 

[DiscusKeeper403]

My educated guess would be the top one is a female. How long ago did you introduce them? Sometimes it takes a little while for them to settle down and get their spot in the hierarchy of your tank. Keep in mind Discus (both male and female) can get quite nasty with each other, even courtship can get pretty nasty. Some pairs are incompatible because they will beat the junk out of each other. Just keep an eye on the aggression and we will see how things turn out, you may want to get a tank divider in case things get a little too rough.

Good luck,

Connor

 

[mattlee]

Sexing Discus:

There are all kinds of theories and ideas on how to sex discus. Here are the facts.

Juvenile discus cannot be sexed accurately without surgical examination. That's it, bottom line, end of story.

Here are the differences in male and female mature discus that can be used with some degree of success.

1) Male discus often have an elongated and pointed dorsal fin. If the discus has a elongated, pointed fin, it is almost always a male. Depending on the strain, many males do not have an elongated, pointed dorsal fin. The elongation usually does not show up until they are about six inches, well after they are sexually mature.

2) The breeding tube on the female is larger than the male and is farther forward from the caudal fin. This can be used reliably, if you have done it many times and you take the discus out of the water and examine it under a magnifying glass. It is best to sedate the discus before attempting this.

3) Males lips are slightly larger than the females. This is a very difficult means of sexing discus, but can be used with success on some strains. I have particular success using this technique with wild caught discus.

Myth. The dominate discus is the male. UNTRUE, the female is quite often dominate and I have had many males killed by an over aggressive female. The only time that the male is consistently more dominate is when they are spawning. By that time they have laid eggs and there is no question of the sexes.

Myth. The female is thicker as she is carrying eggs. While this may be true to a VERY small degree, it CANNOT be used reliably to sex discus. Some of my skinniest discus are my best producers. After a successful spawn, a female would naturally be skinnier, but she would be no less a female. So if you are looking at a discus and do not have the correct spawning history, using this method would be worthless
just for you knowlage it came from
http/www.discus-somethingsphishy.com/
any more help needed
contact me
andrew

thanks andrew

 

[mattlee]

My educated guess would be the top one is a female. How long ago did you introduce them? Sometimes it takes a little while for them to settle down and get their spot in the hierarchy of your tank. Keep in mind Discus (both male and female) can get quite nasty with each other, even courtship can get pretty nasty. Some pairs are incompatible because they will beat the junk out of each other. Just keep an eye on the aggression and we will see how things turn out, you may want to get a tank divider in case things get a little too rough.

Good luck,

Connor

Hi Connor,

that is what i was sold them as, top one a female and bottom one the male. the female has only been in the tank about 4 days so it still may be a case of settling in, i hope so anyway!
they would sit side by side then chase each other, then i caught them lip locking then they would swim together. they also just stared at each other accross the tank. the new female has made her home behind a large piece of wood but she will swim accross the tank to kind of warn the male whos boss, then sometimes they will peck at each others sides which does get a bit hard sometimes...
fingers crossed it will become peacefull again soon.....
all the other discus get on fine and ive never seen any chasing etc between them, its just the newest one seems a bit of a bully!

have you any idea on the strain the female is? i think the male is an albino pigeonblood but not sure with the female....

thanks,
Matt.

 

[DiscusKeeper403]

Looks like an albino turq to me. The behavior you are describing to me sounds like it could be dominance or even pairing. Only time will tell...

 

[mattlee]

Looks like an albino turq to me. The behavior you are describing to me sounds like it could be dominance or even pairing. Only time will tell...

thanks again Connor

is that a turq in your avatar?

 

[DiscusKeeper403]

Looks like an albino turq to me. The behavior you are describing to me sounds like it could be dominance or even pairing. Only time will tell...

thanks again Connor

is that a turq in your avatar?

That is a Blue Knight, the strain is created and bred by Wayne Ng. I believe the strain is a cross between a blue turquoise and a blue diamond (might be wrong), but once they reach maturity they become more solid blue.

 

[discus_lover]

Discus fish is the most beautiful fish of all, but it is funny that one of the biggest question asked frequently of the discus breeder is "how do I determine the sex of my fish?" There are very few easy identifiers in this process. It’s very astonishing that sometimes even I don’t understand which sex of the discus is.
For juvenile discus fish, sex determination is almost impossible. It is only when they begin to pair off that an opportunity arises to help in the determination of sex. Juvenile discus fish, both male and female, have a rounded dorsal fin, and it is not until they begin to mature that a difference can be detected. Therefore, you have to observe your discus carefully to find which sex it is.
The male discus will have thicker lips to aid him in his fight to protect the female, and male discus can become more aggressive. The male will be larger than the female, his forehead is thicker, and we have observed that if the discus is a bit shy, the male will have a tendency to stay between the female and the observer.
Moreover, we can distinguish the male and female discus by anus and the spine of the anal fin. Closer is female (Near the anal fin). The anus of the female is boarder for the tube to deliver eggs.
Check the colour and pattern of your discus fish; compare the discus to one another in the tank. Some fish will have more intense colour and some discus will have more pattern. Male discus fish tend to have less intense colour but have more pattern while the female tends to be more colorful but with lesser pattern.
Sexing Discus is the most difficult. The easiest way to do so is to raise a group of at least six to eight discus, so that they can form community and allow them to pair off when ready. It is a beautiful sight to see this happen, and makes the hobby well worthwhile.