Do discus have a mating ritual?

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180gz71

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Mar 5, 2007
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2 of my discus were seeming to "dance" with each other this morning. I couldnt really tell if they were fighting or what. Just wanted to see if anyone else knows if they have a ritual.
 

mobilecow

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Yep - they will dance around each other, mine peck a little and there's a whole lot of shivering / shimmying going on... am on another forum (discus specific) and was told about this yesterday (my discus are in a bit of a mating frenzy)
 

180gz71

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Cool, thats what they were doing. Pecking every once in a while and then kinda waving/shivering tails in front and beside each other.
thanx.
 

Star_Rider

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they will most likly chase the others away if you have other discus in the tank. heck, they wil chase other fish away too
 

180gz71

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Yeah, thats pretty much what theyre doing. Becoming a lot more aggressive towards the other discus and fish.
 

Star_Rider

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are they cleaning a spot in the tank?

sounds ike they maybe pretty close to a spawn. when the female drops the ovipositor they are closer yet.

if you want them to spawn.they will need to be in a quiet spot..they tend to eat the eggs or wigglers when they get upset.

it's best to move a breeding pair to a breeding tank.
 

180gz71

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are they cleaning a spot in the tank?

sounds ike they maybe pretty close to a spawn. when the female drops the ovipositor they are closer yet.

if you want them to spawn.they will need to be in a quiet spot..they tend to eat the eggs or wigglers when they get upset.

it's best to move a breeding pair to a breeding tank.
Well, I have a few spare tanks, should I catch them and move them now or would that upset them to not spawn? I would really like to see them spawn, and I dont want to ruin the chance.
 

Star_Rider

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you need a pretty big tank as discus should get at least 10 gal per fish..I lean more to 15 gal per fish. a 30 -40 breeder will work. if you have bonifide pair..then move them.. if it interupts their breeding don't fear..they will be at it again.
 

mobilecow

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If they haven't spawned before, it's my understanding that it's best to let them practice... Mine have eaten the eggs twice - next time I'm gonna keep them in a separate tank or maybe pull the cone with the eggs once the male gives it a going over... not sure if that's the best thing tho...

Oh - i noticed that on days i do a double water change it has triggered spawning
 

180gz71

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If they haven't spawned before, it's my understanding that it's best to let them practice... Mine have eaten the eggs twice - next time I'm gonna keep them in a separate tank or maybe pull the cone with the eggs once the male gives it a going over... not sure if that's the best thing tho...

Oh - i noticed that on days i do a double water change it has triggered spawning
Yeah my theory was to let them do it completely at least once so they kind of "bond" and then move them. The water change is what I kind of did because I accidentally pumped 1 months worth of ferts in one day(stupid timers). So Ive been laboriously cleaning.
 
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