The caring for discus can be difficult, but once you have gained the experience and are able to raise these fishes into adulthood, the next challenge would be to breed these beautiful fishes. The following are hints on how to start this process if you are up to the challenge:
1. To increase the odds of having at least one breeding pair you should keep at least four discus that are about 9 to 13 months in age in a tank. The reason for this is that it is very difficult to know what sex the fishes are.
2. Keep your discus fish in a large aquarium. Discus fish are more likely to pair off and breed in a larger tank. A 50-gallon tank for a breeding pair would be ideal. The tank does not have to be a fully planted tank and can be a tank only with a simple filtration system. This actually makes it easier to maintain the water quality of the tank.
3. Maintain the quality of the water by measuring and adjusting for nitrates, nitrites, and ammonia. Use test kits that measure these parameters.
4. Maintain other aquarium parameters.The aquarium temperature should be between 82 degrees F (27.7 C) or higher. The pH should be between 6.5 to 7.0. It should be noted that when making any type of adjustments, that it be done very gradually as to not stress the fish.
5. Peform water changes frequently. Change 10% of the water daily or 20% of the water twice a week.
6. Feed your discus high quality food. This would include live food if availabe, beef heart, and high quality flake food.
7. Add a breeding cone to the aquarium.
8. Watch for a breeding pair. The breeding pair will tend to hang out together and separate themselves from the other discus. If you see this, separate the other discus into another aquarium.
The breeding pair will tend to lay their eggs on vertical surfaces such as the side of the aquarium or on a breeding cone placed in the aquarium.
1. Watch for the eggs to hatch. Discus eggs hatch 2-3 days after being laid and the fish fry tend to stay around the breeding area and start feeding off the mucus secreted by the adult discus.
2. Feed the fry baby brine shrimp 4 or 5 days after they have started swimming. You can feed them frozen brine shrimp if live ones are not available.
3. Change their diet after about six weeks. You can start feeding the fry good quality crushed discus flakes, finely grounded beef heart, and other similar food that small enough for the fry to consume.
