Shimmering discus

[DiscusEden]

Hi,

I've been watching my albino turq, who seems to hold still, then shimmers or shudders, from side to side. It starts with a little movement in his/her head, then moves dowh the body, through the fins.

Just wondering why?

Is this worms, mating behaviour or do I have an epileptic discus?

It started a couple of weeks ago, but is becoming increasinly frequent. What on earth is he/she doing?

Oh, there's a bit of a lump in the middle of its body as well.

TIA

[fish_r]

maybe getting frisky and ready to mate, thats what mine do when there going to lay...

[chris]

This is normal behaviour before spawning. It may start after water changes. Seems like the rain we are having is helping our water. My fish are going off.
Can you post a pic of Your Albino Turq. Sounds interesting.
Chris......

[DiscusEden]

Thanks guys! That's a relief!

With one cat on blood pressure tablets & the other on steroids & valium, I hated to think how you get anti-epileptics into one fish in a tank!

Isn't he/she too small though? Only a medium size one. Or is this like telling teenagers they're too young?

Any guesses on gender would be much appreciated!

Always happy to oblige with pics of my fish! (So proud!)...

[chris]

You will find out soon enough, when he or she lays eggs. I cant make in pics, when ready to lay females vent is alot larger than male.
Silly question but is that fish a cross Albino and Turq, nice looking fish though.
When fish start spawning it means they are reaching maturatity, part of there life, and also your water parameters are good.

[DiscusEden]

Hear that Scott! My water parameters are good!

Thanks for the compliment Chris, I like him too. Keep alternating between him & the RDG as my favourite.

No silly questions here Chris (despite my best efforts, the guys assure me there's still no silly questions). Yes, as far as I know it's a turquoise with the albino gene (that's been crossed with an albino).

Which is why I'm getting my nose out of joint that it seems to be trying to pair with the First of the Universe (pigeon blood) instead of the Red Gold Diamond.

Then again, I might be able to breed an albino! Yay!

I might be able to breed a discus! Yay!

Does this explain why I could see the breeding vents on this & the FOTU the other day? They weren't holding them out enough to see the shape, just to see they were there.

I was looking 'cos I got Andrew Soh's book, so was looking to try & work out the sex of them. None the wiser though. Will try re-reading at some time before 2am. Got a bit carried away when the book arrived.

[scott bowler]

your a funny girl DE just keep the water parameters that way hehe hope you can things are looking up for you , i dont tink there is any think to worry about with the fish . but if it starts to dart around then there my be a prob. keep us posted

[DiscusEden]

Not darting except when it's joining the FOTU in chasing the RGD. Rotten fish.

Just keeps shimmering. Which is kind of pretty, now that I'm not worried about it.

Oh, and flicked once against a plant. I'm ignoring the possibility of gill flukes & hoping it's "cleaning" activity prior to laying.

[fish_r]

when i first started seeing my fish do this i got really worried too "thought they were having a fit or something" lol

[DiscusEden]

Yup. Crossed my mind. But happy about it now. Thanks guys!

Just have to work out how to buddy it up with the RGD now!

[samir]

if its shimmering its probably already decided whom it wants to "buddy up" with.
vents - male = V, female = U.

[DiscusEden]

Yeeess, but like most females, I'm planning to change his mind on this, because it suits me. I'm hoping not to be outwitted by a fish, but I reckon it's probably even money at best.

[DiscusEden]

5 minutes later & I think the fish has won. The FUTU is now shimmering back & the 2 are cleaning the same filter intake that the Royal Whiptail has laid on. Other side & down a bit further, but what is it with these fish & that filter?

This'll have to be a practice run for the discus, 'cos I'm sticking the net in there on Monday to resue whiptail fry. They need afew practice runs don't they?

I figured I'd try & breed them in 18 months. Looks like they've got other ideas. Yay! These are some good fish!

[samir]

it will be a good cross, you will get albino pigeons in f2. it will also be the most frustrating experience because the fotu looks very clean and with the albino it will be an absolute saga getting them to attach.
dont let them lay, feed them up for a couple of months and then have a go at breeding them.
what type of albino is it ???

[DiscusEden]

Albino turk.

Would an albino pigeon get peppering, or would it lose the ability to form pigment even in the F1?

How on earth do I stop them laying? Sticky tape? Shove them back in again?

[fish_r]

here's an idea for u DE sell the fotu to me and then it might pair with the rgd "depending on the sex" :lol: but like Samir said u would probably get nice fish out of that pair :) are u going to go RO water for ur breeding tank ?
i think u will have much better luck from what iv'e read ?
just let them have lots a practice first in the community tank first :)
my pair seem to have it sussed now after about 30 odd lays, was watchin em last night at feeding time, one would guard the eggs and one would eat then it would come back and watch the eggs while the other got something to eat :) "taking it in turns" it was soooo cool :P

[DiscusEden]

That's fantastic fish_r! Sounds like they're ready! Breed those fishies!

I've got a San Merah coming I hope. I'd be just as happy if it took an interest in that. Don't tempt me with the FOTU. It might still be on the cards. Nice try though. (Ate my whiptail fry & taught the others how.)

Wasn't going to do the RO. With the kH at less than 2, I'm not sure I see the point. And if I get desperate, I've got 5,000L of rainwater at the side of the house. Who needs to fight fires when you can raise fish? And if they start breeding when the rains start, it'd refill anyway. I'm still hoping to get away without RO - it just seems wasteful if it's not necessary.

[fish_r]

if think it's more ur gH thats the concern for breeding not the kH, but i could be wrong ?
but the rainwater might do the trick ?

dont have the money for a while anyway DE. had to get a new graphics card for my stupid computer today so that has broke me for a while, one thing after another is going lately :(

[samir]

Would an albino pigeon get peppering, or would it lose the ability to form pigment even in the F1?


you should get some clean fotu in f1, breed those together and you will get some albino fotu. albino will not have any peppering. even if the parents are spray painted with black peppering.

[DiscusEden]

Saw the breeding tubes tonight. None the wiser really. Thought if I posted some pics you might be able to give an opinion. Looking at the photos, you might not. Never realised when I got fish it required photography skills.

They're starting to do runs over the inlet pipe & back corner. No eggs though.

The breeding tube on the albino is shorter than the tiny stump on the FOTU, but I don't think I'd call it V shaped.

Anyway, with no further ado, here are the remarkably bad pics:

[DiscusEden]

One more:

[chris]

Just out of curiousity where did you get your Albino Turq x from :?:

[DiscusEden]

From Xtreme, last shipment.

He's a bold little thing & I'm very happy with him.

I saw a couple in Adelaide that looked stunted, and couldn't believe the size & shape of him when he arrived. I was thrilled! Xtreme did an amazing job for me - buying fish unseen sounded dodgy, but I have no hesitation repeating the exercise! And now he's trying to breed!

I know the pics were bad, but is anyone willing to take a guess?

[samir]

female ??? :lol: :lol: :lol:

[DiscusEden]

Thanks Samir!

I got confused, 'cos I can't see a V on either of them. The FOTU's is only about 1-2 mm long, and about that across.

The albino's is about 3-5mm long, but I can't see a V for the life of me. Having said that, I looked at the sticky photos, and can't see which is which, even with the labels.

If they're both females, that might explain why they were both doing practice runs up the pipe. I didn't see any eggs, but when I got home from work tonight they'd both lost interest, but were beating up the other fish that went to that corner, even though they weren't hanging out there like last night.

Didn't know if they'd laid & eaten them maybe?

[samir]

keep a close eye on the beaten up fish

[DiscusEden]

Why? Is it going to hold up a sign saying which is male and female?

[samir]

it may get sick if they stress it out too much.

[DiscusEden]

Yeah, working on getting more in there. Will keep an eye on it. Fixing feeding at the moment, 'cos the FOTU doesn't like eating until I drop the food, so I just hold it long enough for the RGD to pig itself first. The albino doesn't seem fussed.

But you seem to be missing my subtle point about how to identify gender....

[fish_r]

maybe there are eggs in there that u cant see ?
are they hanging around in one particular spot ?
cause that might account for the harasment of the other fish ? they lay on the wood in my tank too so maybe there in a spot u cant see ? "just a thought"

[DiscusEden]

Had a good look. The albino ended up coming up & getting in my face.

They seem to be swimming around the tank & with the RGD tonight, no particular spot, although last night they were doing cleaning of & practice runs up the inlet pipe & the corner of the tank near it.

You could be right though, I could be missing it?

[samir]

if the albino is 3-5 mm then I'd say its a female. most males look like a V, I have on male that looks like a U, its the exception, not the norm.

[DiscusEden]

So the short one on the FOTU is male then??

Thanks Samir!

[samir]

probably.
In my limited experience I haven't come across any females pairing up unless there were no mature males available.

[DiscusEden]

That might have been the case. I just put the anakonda back (don't ask), and within 10 minutes he was shimmering & seems to have paired with the FOTU, leaving the albino hanging out with the RGD. Yay!

I say "he" because it was suggested he might look male? I hope this proves it! 'Course I don't know, but have a hopeful nature when it comes to fish.

Did I mention yay! The FOTU looks for all the world like she's back cleaning the same corner of the tank. Or she might just be waiting for the rest of the whiptails to hatch, same as I am.

[scott bowler]

any updates DE hehe good luck with it

[DiscusEden]

Still shimmering away every few minutes, and the FOTU occasionally shimmers back, though they don't seem to have been cleaning anything since.

[Merrilyn]

That's okay. They're a young pair still courting.

Give them some time. This could go on for weeks before they actually settle down to laying eggs.