discus breeding cones

[Ben]

What do we use for our discus to lay their eggs on?
discus breeding cones can be brought from the larger aquarium shops, but cost around the $24- mark.
terracotta pots from plant nursery's are cheap, but i believe they dont quite have the height for which discus need to spawn.
plus the plant pots dont have a "ridge" to save the babies from falling to the tank floor and bieng lost.

example 1 show's a standard discus spawing cone, while example 2 show's one with the ridge.

Are there any discus keeper's out there that are into pottery as a seperate hobby and make there own discus cones? or does anyone make and sell ??

this could open up a small little income for all us discus breeders!

[wyldchyld01]

prodigydiscus,

yeah i (probably a cheap scrooge lol) use pots, but i take a larger one and cut down the sides so i have an almost rectangular shape, from this i attach it to two pieces of glass (made in to a right angle).

i end up with something that almost looks triangular with the terracotta bit sitting slightly higher than the glass upright and the base a little bit wider than the terracotta (for stability), all of this is held together with aquarium safe silicon, easy to make if you have to right tools, ceramic cutter on a disc grinder and a glass cutter.

as you said to buy the pots is really cheap, to get glass i go to window makers (or if desperate the tip) and get offcuts, again really cheap

somehow the fish lay on the terracotta side only, works like a charm

hth

Brenton

[Merrilyn]

It is my experience, over thirty years, that when discus are ready to spawn, they will spawn on anything you provide for them. And if you don't provide anything, they will spawn on the glass. A lot of the big breeders use pvc pipe which is easy to clean and sterilise. If you use terracotta pots or cones, make sure you scrub them very clean with lots of salt and warm water. Then rinse, rinse, rinse. This is going to be the home for your eggs and fry. You don't want them to be battling bacteria right from the beginning.

[nicholas76]

I agree with lady red

also

in my experiences I believe the smaller cones are by far the best,, why you ask.

1. when eggs / wrigglers fall off the distance from the lay spot to the ground is usually less, making it less work for the parents to travel up and down.

2. parents spend less time deciding on were to lay as the area itself is smaller

3. You can buy pots! but dont be tight :P !! they are discus after all and you will get lots of use out of them!!