Sexing of wild adult Discus - breeding?

[Ken Grimmett]

I have three 7" to 8" Wild Discus stated to be "blue manacapura". They look like the pictures in http://amazon-exotic-import.de/Gallerie ... /INDEX.htm for that fish.

Can you sex fish this size - Of the three - the largest is in constant display mode - for the two weeks I have had them. This is top and bottom fins extended, no black stripes and the body color is brown to red/brown. This one flashes the black striping for a few seconds and then they are gone. I am calling him "1" because of his straight lines. The other slightly smaller ones are Y1 and Y name after markings on their left sides. "1" and "y1" seem to be a pair and will bully "y" when food is added (black worms). After a while things go back to normal with "1" herding the other two. Mostly to the right side of the tank. These fish have been "in country" for a couple of months I was told.

I'm guessing that "1" is a male and the other two could be female. "1" does display fin movements to the other fish and then herds them over to a breeder cone I have in the tank. However I do not see any tubes down yet. There is hardly any cleaning gong on – what I am seeing maybe eating. Any body have an opinion on the sexing of these fish?

I just did a 20% water change and filled the tank with cold water (55F). and this dropped the temp from 86F to 80F. This caused them all to go dark black on their stripping over a light brown body. This lasted 5 minute and now they are back to there normal behavior.

I feed them once a day with a full worm cone. Most of the worms escape and settle down into worm balls on the sandy bottom (1/2” of sand). The discuses hunt them down over the rest of the day. Bellies are fat and the fish are very active. The strange part is that for wild fish – these are not afraid and will come and stare back at you. I also move stuff around to expose worm groupings which the fish then dispatch quickly.

I wonder if these were bred from wild and then exported to the USA. Are the fish exporters from that region breeding Discus now and calling them wild?

[Ken Grimmett]

I now have switch the fish over to frozen brine shrimp, flake, and cut up krill. All I did was change water 10% every day. Raise temp to 92F and not feed them for five days. They do not seem to be aggressive feeders at all. What they do is hunt a little, peck a little, ignore the food a little, then resume. I'd say it take's them four to six hours to make the food go away. I use a sponge on the aqua clear and two ATI sponges in the tank. No real build up on the sponges. I have also noticed when feeding at night all the food is gone in the morning. I do have 5 Cory sterbie in the tank and these are also large and fat. The Discus will pick off any food that collects on the sponge filters over a few hours. I never feed if I see food in the tank, and I feed allot at one time. Sometimes I do twice a day feedings.

They are healthy and fat for discus, and water parameters (NH 's) are low each time I check. I think I am changing the whole tank every 2 weeks through 10 water changes (75 gallon tank). The fish rarely show stress and I am not sure if it is a stress display. If I'm messing around with their tank they will bar up a little, otherwise they make the bars come and go as they intermingle with themselves. I love watching these fish because they make you think that more is going on than just aggression.

[Lisachromis]

Sounds like they are doing well for you.

[Ken Grimmett]

I have had Discus in the past with them being raised from small 2 inchers to adulthood. These are the first very large "wild" discus I have ever had. I have taken my fish room down for some major improvements to reduce maintenance time and improve its "feng shui". The room started off with a plan and then while putting it together we over crowed it to much and then had to work hard to keep it up. I have reduced my fish load to a dozen tanks in the house (4 - 75's and then smaller). I have an auction coming up in Feb. (OCA winter auction) in which I plan on selling my Cich. Bolivanse groups a few odds and ends. This will free up a 75, 37, and a de-populate another 75.

So If I see a good deal I'll have the space and if not - I'll move what I have around. I have always loved angles - so maybe the 75 will become an angle tank. ( its not in the same room as the Discus).

Then again I have my eye on a breeding pair of Discus. So who knows what I’ll do, but it will be a small (quantity not price) purchase.