discus forming pair

[ahsan]

how do i know that my discus is forming pair ??? Also can anyone kindly tell me the major visible differences between a discus male and a female??
cheers
ahsan

[chrissyoscar]

Hope this helps with sexing them. Be aware though that it's not always the case and some discus are very hard to sex.

[nicholas76]

Chris

I totally disagree with that illustration. Its proven to be wrong.


the only way you can pin point sex is at time of spawn

female has fat stumpy "tube" whilst male has a sharp pointy one.

when they are not in spawn mode " both sexes generally look the same IMO"



when a pair is forming they generally swim together , taek turns when eating , they Bow and also shiver - whihc his closer to spawning

Ill start a new thread of what mine look like when they bow


cheers

nick

[flukes]

Yeah it is a good indication for young fish, but i wouldnt be putting money on it using that method, much easier too tell iwhne spawning.
Or if you can try venting but i wouldnt recommend it to anyone who doesnt know exactly what they are doing.

[ahsan]

hello ,,
thank you very very much for helping me here guys ,, actually the dorsal fins of my both the discus are different , i.e , one having sharp ends , and the other one have a curved shape ,, but as you said this never ensures that i have a pair ..
Actually i am asking because my both discus acts strangely ,,i introduced them around 5 months ago , when i purchased the vendor told me that they are around an year old and he thought that it is a pair.. From the very first week when i introduced them , the larger of the two just seem to kick and hit the smaller one ,, not specifically at a certain time . but at any time it searches the whole aquarium to find the other discus and then hit em. So sometimes now the smaller discus hides its self in the plants . OK now telling you about the smaller one , he/she just seem to have some sort of liking for the larger one , every now and then he/she just goes to the larger one and swims near him . Although there are other discus in the aquarium but they are comparitively very small .... ONE MORE THING , DURING THE NIGHT BOTH THE DISCUS STAY TOGETHER ,, AND EVEN SOMETIMES DURING FEEDING , BUT ATTIMES THE LARGER ONE APPEARS IRRITATED OR SOMETHING ,, AND THE SMALLER DISCUS ,,, WELL IT ALWAYS LIKES TO BE AROUND THE BIGGER DISCUS,,, ONE MORE THING , THE BIGGER COUPLE WHICH I AM TALKING ABOUT DONT INTERACT WITH THE REST OF THE DISCUS IN THE AQUARIUM ,, THEY JUST KEEP ON PLAYING THIER GAMES WHICH IS BEYOND MY UNDERSTANDING .
PLEASE TELL ME ANYONE WHETHER , THIS IS AN INDICATION OF A PAIR OR NOT
CHEERS
AHSAN

[nicholas76]

Generally what you have said really dosent suggest pairing.

Its basic discus behaviour!

do they bow to one another?

do they shiver?

does the piar fight off other fish from the same area?

If your answer is yes to any one of these especially the first three then id say your on a winner. Then you need to ask yourself the next question?

are they a breeding pair and not just a pair!! well thats a wait and see propostion for you.

regards

nick

[ahsan]

Well sir , my fish are not showing any of these signs , so even if they are a opposite sex , they are ofcourse not forming any pair soo far,,
One more thing please ,, i just had a bad day today ,, i woke up and walked next to my tank and figured my smaller discus had strainght vertical lines on its body and its getting real dark and hiding behind the plantation ,, most probably the discus is under stress coz of a lot of chasing and hitting by the larger discus .. Please tell that could anything be done to stop the larger discus from hitting the smaller one ,, because the situation is getting worse and i fear once the smaller discus stop eating because of stress ,, it would certainly make it's survival difficult in the tank. SHE IS CERTAINLY NOT LOOKING GOOD AT THE MOMENT.

HELP!!!!!!!!!! PLEASE

ahsan

[flukes]

Seperation is really the only answer. Either that or adding more discus too the tank, but again if the bully is still the biggest it will continue to bully others. Id try seperating it and try grow it up a bit, plenty of water changes and live foods are great for growth spirts. Once its the same size as the other you can try them in the same tank again. Might still fight but hopefuly not.

[nicholas76]

ahsan


check your water parameters please. Ensure these are stable. What is your ph?


ps Vertical bars are normal in some strains. yes it is a sign of stress, but in most cases these will show up for the smallest of reasons.

now has the etire fish turned black? has it stoppped eating? is its poo black or white?? what are the other fish like??

discus hiding in the plants is normal like mine do, then come out , thn go back in etc.

Sit there and watch your fish for awhile. If you can estabilish that this smaller fish is getting bullied by another fish and you may just have to invest in a divider , sell him off, or throw him in another tank.

update me please and a picture would be good!

nick

NIck

[ahsan]

hi nick ,
thanks for showing soo much concern regarding my problem. anyway sir , i ve observed the fish in detail.
1. the PH is fine around 6.9
2. smaller fish is far better now
3. she has lost lots of its colour , maybe coz of stress but she is eating
4. poo is blackish
5. the larger discus continue to bully the smaller one
6.she just continue to get medium black coloured lines on its body.
7. Rest of the 3 discus are doing great and the two other smaller ones are not bullied by the biggest discus
8. What i have noticed is the larger discus kicks and pecks at the discus until she is cornered. Once she is cornered , the bigger discus stays there for sometime , so when the smaller discus try to move around in the aquarium or try to follow the larger one , the bigger one just start hitting again , cornering her again and again ..
I WILL SEND THE PICTURE OF THE STRESSED FISH BY MY NEXT POST. at the moment i am giving them a mixture of brine shrimps ,, blood worms ,, garlic and spinach , with couple of multivitamins and dried shrimps in it. i just make it a solution either by water or liquid vitamin and then binds the whole thing through unflavoured gilatin.
HAS FOOD SOMETHING TO DO WITH THE DISCUS HITTING THE OTHER?? I PREVIOUSLY WAS GIVING THEM BEEF HEART BUT SOMEONE SUGGESTED THAT IT MOSTLY CREATS INTERNAL PARASITIES IN THE FISH.
PLEASE CLEAR ONE OTHER THING , WHY IS THAT THE LARGEST DISCUS HAS PICKED ONE DISCUS FOR HITTING WHO IS AROUND HER OWN SIZE , JUST MINUTELY SMALLER.. WHY DONT THE LARGEST DISCUS HIT THE OTHER SMALLER ONES IN THE TANK?

THAT WS ALL I GUESS
ALSO I WOULD L IKE TO TELL YOU ONE MORE THING , I HAVE A 32 GALLON TANK ,, WITH TWO MEDIUM SIZED GOLDFISHES , COUPLE OF RED FINNED SHARK , A SUCKER MOUTH AND MY FOUR DISCUS ,, TWO LARGE ONES AND TWO SMALL ONES

aright sir i'll be waiting for your reply
regards
ahsan