Teaching discus to use their cone.

[yakfisho]

Just had a couple of my red turqs pair up in a community tank. They're not interested in logs, anubias leaves or (heaven forbid) a spawning cone. Nup... they'd much rather use the perfectly good filter intake instead.

I'd like to leave them in the community tank for a few spawns to "strengthen the bond" while they're still learning the ins and outs of breeding. Is there any way to get them to spawn somewhere where they might actually have a chance of keeping some wrigglers to defend for a little while?

They're actually real characters. They both decided they wanted bloodworm today so off they went... Took about a minute before the dad realised what was going on and bolted back to the spawn. Ah well, no one got to the spawn while they were on smoko. It's all practice I guess.

Cheers guys.

[ILLUSN]

my pigion pair had the same habbit for the first 20 something spawns, eventually they worked out what the cone was for.

[Merrilyn]

If they like the filter intake so much, then just give in and get them one they can use as a spawning cone.

It probably makes perfect sense to them.

It's vertical, fairly narrow and sturdy. Just the thing they're looking for.

I had several pairs like that. I just bought an extra piece of green tubing, secured it to the back glass with suction cups top and bottom, and they used it every time. :wink:

[yakfisho]

Cheers guys. I reckon I'll just let them do what they like for now then worry about it if they still don't take to the cone in the breeding tank. Got wrigglers now, had a good hatch rate and I dont think any/many have been sucked up.


Edit:

Thought I'd lost the spawn to a tank mate. Turns out the parents just moved them to a new home away from the filter intake. Most seem to have made it. They must be smarter than I give them credit for.