# Discus Eggs!!!!



## gibmaker (Jan 3, 2007)

Ok, I need to talk to someone who has success breeding discus. I have 5 discus in my 125 gal tank with some other tank mates, I have been keeping them for a few years now. For the first time, (at least first time I saw) the female has laid eggs on a sword plant, the eggs did not last very long maybe a day or so and I think they ate them. Most of the eggs where white in color, some where clear I know that the white ones where no good or unfertilized. My question is, should I take my discus pair out of my tank and put them in there own 20 gal tank or what should I do? I would really like to get some discus fry, but since I have never tried breeding I dont really know where to go with this. Any info would be greatley appreciated. Thanks in advance!


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## gibmaker (Jan 3, 2007)

Anyone?


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## rdenn0822 (Aug 23, 2007)

I found a mesh divider that slips into the tank and fastened at the top. It kept the breeding pair on one side and tankmates on the other. Once the fry were hatched I simply moved the breeders to the other side. Worked well for me!


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## greenfish (Mar 7, 2005)

You might want to head over to SimplyDiscus. I am sure that by reading there you might find your answers. Good luck!


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## jazzlvr123 (Apr 29, 2007)

ok *takes a deep breath* what you have to do is put the discus in a separate breeding tank (usually 20-30 gallons NO bigger than 30 or the fry have a hard time finding their parents for milk) with NO substrate, a good reliable heater, a sponge filter that is not too powerful, and a good surface for them to breed on (if you don’t have access to professional discus breeding cones go to you local hardware store and buy a decent sized red clay pot, those work great) if you do not provide a breeding surface %90 of the time they will breed on the heater, which dramatically brings down your hatch rate. When the discus lay eggs, DO NOT do any water changes until the fry have been free swimming for at least 4 days. let the fry eat the parents "milk" its more of a mucus that they excrete out of glands that cover their bodies, You can tell when you discus are going to breed because they get a lot darker a couple days prior to breeding. This darkness is the discus "milk" that they are producing to get ready for the fry. Discus fry and ferocious eaters so you want to start introducing newly hatched baby brine shrimp about a week after they have been free swimming in the parent tank. (if you leave the fry with the parents for too long they start eating away the parents skin and the parents are so stressed from all the babies eating at them that they are unable to produce more milk) once %90 of the fry in the tank are accepting baby brine shrimp (usually in about 2 1/2 weeks) it is safe to move them from their parents into a larger grow out tank (not too much larger mind you usually about 40 gallons) if you move them to too large of a tank the discus juveniles will have a hard time finding food and will die. When the discus are moved from the parents into a bigger tank it is essential that for the first month of their lives you feed them at least 5-8 times a day and to a small water change after every feeding to remove all of the uneaten food. At this stage of the grow out process you must do a daily %15 water change in the evening on top of the small ones after feedings, Water quality and feeding is VERY VERY important to getting the discus to grow out in a timely manner. The great discus breeder jack wattley said that juvenile discus produce a growth suppressing hormone when they are growing up and it is important to rid the water in your tanks of this hormone by doing daily water changes. if you do not do enough water changes your discus will stunt their growth and if you do not feed enough the discus become weak and are more prone to getting fungus and gill flukes. at about five weeks of tedious care the discus should be from about a quarter to a silver dollar in size, at this point you must move them into a larger grow out tank (about 75 gallons) and you can reduce feedings to twice a day (one in the morning and one at night) at this stage you must start introducing larger foods to their diet like chopped up bloodworms along with newly hatched baby brine shrimp. at this point you want to slowly reduce the amount of baby brine shrimp and increase the amount of bloodworms to every feeding until eventually (at about 9 weeks) they will accept bloodworms as their full diet and will usually be around 3-5 inches (depending on how well you kept up with water changes). At this point the discuses are ready to sell..... IT’S JUST THAT SIMPLE ; ) 

Hope this helps, Best Regards, Kyle


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## gibmaker (Jan 3, 2007)

Kyle thank you very much for the info! After the eggs were gone I did another water change and I have not seen the discus lay any more eggs. I think it may have been from slightly changing the water parameters from the water change, I hope they lay eggs again so I can successfully raise some little guys. Again thank you very much for your time and for sharing your knowledge, with all of the info you gave me I am sure I can get it done right, thanks. -Nate-


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## taekwondodo (Dec 14, 2005)

jazzlvr123 said:


> ok *takes a deep breath* what you have to do is put the discus in a separate breeding tank (usually 20-30 gallons NO bigger than 30 or the fry have a hard time finding their parents for milk)
> 
> [yaddayaddayadda]
> 
> Hope this helps, Best Regards, Kyle


You forgot the part about getting a lawyer and prepping for the eventual divorce proceedings:

Because before you know it, you _have_ to have a separate tank for the pair [set that tank on the kitchen counter], but believe if you get even another pair your odds of a brood increase... so, to increase the number of pairs you have, you'll need several more juveniles so there's another 55G tank in the bedroom [and 12-15 juveniles] - and as they grow up will need 2 more 55s to grow them out and pair as many of them off as you can (those 55s go on a rack in the laundry room).

But when the juveniles pair off each will need a minimum 20G high per-pair so that's another 4-6 tanks (minimum) set up in the spare/guest bedroom/office - but a few more 55G discus tanks will also be needed for those other babies you get and eventually breed. Oh - and don't forget the shelf-space to grow discus artificially the first several broods ((I think most people who breed discus at least try this)...which will require several 5-10 gallon tanks).

Did I mention that you'll need a blower (I have a used one if you want to buy it...) so you can cut down on the number of airpumps - but you'll need to run 1 1/2" minimum PCV through most of the house (or at least to each room with a tank, or room that will _eventually_ have a tank, and have it connected to the blower...

But in the meantime, Angels breed easier so you get a couple pairs of those to "break even" and pay for some of your mounting expenses, but that requires a couple more grow-out tanks for the 5000 baby angelfish you suddenly find yourself having: minimum four more 55s in the garage (and spending your weekends making friends with every distributor in a 200 mile area).

But wait, aren't Blue Rams a cichlid too and they require the same conditions as discus, so 2 more 20Hs and 4 10s for the rams and grow-out...?

Oh - and didn't I see they have that new strain of Discus that no one else has (back in the day, it was the Pigeon blood...)... I gotta add some of those. Hmmm, it doesn't get cold on the porch here until mid-November. I can put a few tanks there - there's plenty of time to make some room _somewhere_ else in the house before November.

Are we up to 1000 gallons yet? I'm sure I can fit a few more tanks on a cinder-block rack in the bedroom - I mean, after all, the wife just left and no one left around here who will complain about the light/noise... (She left, because she accidentally reached in the medicine cabinet in the bathroom and downed a metrodiazinole tablet mistaking it for tylenol... and you, remembering your final words of the fight, "I'll show you, when these discus breed, I'll be RICH and you'll get NOTHING!!!)

[sorry, couldn't resist - My name is Jeff - and I am a recovering Disca-holic]


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## jazzlvr123 (Apr 29, 2007)

yup my discus breeding room has over 3,000 gallons, and that’s just for 7 pairs, I have no wife so no one complains to me, just my discus when something is wrong ; )


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## gibmaker (Jan 3, 2007)

You are a funny guy Jeff. I dont forsee myself diving that deep into breeding discus but if I could just get some fry out of the experience then I would be happy. forgot to mention.....NO MORE TANKS IN MY HOUSE!!!! I allready have floor jacks in the basement so I dont come home one day and find that everything in my living room is now in my basement. hahaha.


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## puttyman70 (Aug 7, 2007)

I can't stop laughing taekwondodo.

I recently quit racing bicycles because it took to much time to train, race, etc. I though spending more time on my aquarium and maybe getting another tank would allow me to have a hobby and not stress the family so much. Oh well. Maybe knitting? LOL


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