Breeding Discus

Breeding Discus

If you venture into the hobby of Discus, there is little doubt that at some stage you will want to have a go at breeding them. Breeding will happen as a matter of course in an aquarium with adult Discus in it. Problems will arise in a tank that has more than just the parent fish present, so it is best that having identified a pair of fish that you put them into a separate aquarium. The size of the breeding cube not too important, but in my opinion, 80 litres is about right; you will of course need a mature filter, a heater and a good deal of luck.

Part 1

Part 1

Breeding Discus has become easier in recent years, but the downside of this is an explosion of genetically poor fish. Breeding a strain of Discus that will breed true is a time consuming skilful task. That said nobody should be put off from trying to breed a few Discus from "what they have" because the whole procedure is a wonderful experience and one that hardened breeders never tire of.

Although experienced fish keepers can get their Discus to breed in fairly hard water, to have a better chance of success you will need some soft water, this usually will mean filtering the water through an RO filter to remove the dissolved salts and contaminants. A pH of around 6 and hardness values of 1DGH or less will give your fish a fighting chance.

Part 2

Part 2

People like me can write as much as they like about breeding but the best way to learn is to have a go. Once the fish are settled they will display to each other and clean the chosen spawning site. This can be any vertical surface, but usually on a "spawning cone". They will then take it in turns to guard the eggs, gently fanning them and ensuring a flow of water over them, until after about 60 to 70 hours they hatch. At this point we refer to the fry as "wrigglers" They cling to the breeding site for a couple of days until they become "free swimming" The fry will seek out the parents and cling to their flanks.

Part 3

Part 3

The parent fish will turn dark at this point as they produce mucus for their offspring to feed from. This goes on for about a week, the fry grow very quickly. It is essential at this point to hatch out plenty of baby brine shrimp and offer it to the fry several times each day. I personally remove the parents when the fry are the size of a small finger nail (14 days) they are then fed on baby brine shrimp and beef heart mix.

Conclusion

The above is a very simplified version of how to breed Discus, there are of course many problems to overcome, such as egg eating, disappearing fry, mal formed fry and so on. It is not easy, it can be very frustrating, but when successful there is no better feeling.

At Devotedly Discus we raise our fry in 2 litre tanks, this ensures we can keep accurate records of their progress and they find their food very quickly and easily. We feed the fry on freshly hatched brineshrimp.





Ornamental Aquatic Trade Association