Whew! They Finally Did It!
by Mike & Robin Kays
From the Youngstown Aquarist, November 1996, Youngstown Area Tropical Fish
Society
Aquarticles
Years ago I decided to take upon myself the task of spawning the fish known as the Discus.
Only now have I finally succeeded, after dozens of fish, hundreds of hours, countless
nights reading and locating untold lost articles about secret formulas, and piles of money
buying all types of water conditioners and equipment. The misconceptions about this
species of fish and the conditions under which it will spawn can be vast and confusing to
say the least. The subject of water conditions alone is staggering. Reverse osmosis,
distilled, de-ionized and a whole dictionary of pH altering techniques can cloud the
judgment of even the most seasoned hobbyist. After years of taking others' advice, I
decided to try the KISS method (keep it simple stupid!), by using straight Youngstown tap
water and good fish keeping common sense.
Now that the intro. is finished, we can explain the process by which we (Robin and
myself) spawned these fish. For this attempt we purchased six high finned Red Turquoise (Symphysodon
discus) at considerable cost. The retail name was referred to as Wattley High Finned
Scribbled Red Turquoise Discus! They are Jack Wattley stock. We introduced them into a 75
gallon tank with a sand substrate. The tank was heavily planted with dozens of species of
plants. Driftwood was placed throughout the tank along with several medium sized rocks.
The filter system was rather simple - a Fluval 201 and a Hot Magnum with a bio- wheel
attached. The media in the Fluval consisted of ceramic cubes, peat moss and a sponge. The
Hot Magnum contained a sponge pre-filter, an internal sponge and charcoal. Besides
bi-weekly water changes there were no other special water conditioning techniques used.
Besides the Discus, there were also Corydoras catfish, a Rubber Pleco,
glowlight and neon tetras a Brochius splendens, Blue Rams, and a couple other
dwarf Cichlids. I know this seems like a little much but at the time I set them up I
wasn't trying to spawn the Discus. Once I noticed "spawning activity" among the
Discus, I removed most of the other fish. They were fed a wide variety of dry and live
foods, and here again, we enter an area of vast controversy. I chose to feed only high
quality and frozen foods. The fish grew well and seemed healthy and contented.
At about fourteen months of age, the first pair spawned on the glass. I was much
surprised at this event but my continued elation wasn't to be. By the following morning
the other fish had eaten the eggs. This pair spawned every ten days without fail .
Sometimes the eggs would hatch, only to have the fry eaten a day or two later. My only
alternative was to separate the pair to a twenty gallon high tank with a spawning cone,
air driven sponge filter and a Fluval 203 with peat moss and a sponge pre-filter. The next
three or four spawns were still disappearing as the eggs were still being eaten.
Frustrated and perplexed, I finally decided to raise the temperature to 84 to 89 degrees
Fahrenheit. I had once read an article by a breeder who had success at this temperature.
The next spawn BINGO !! The parents seemed to be raising the fry, so I took the
opportunity to document the event on video tape. Sixty days later they are raising their
third hatch. Ah yes, Finally after years of failure, SUCCESS ! The reward was in watching
the young fry feed on the parents' sides as they tended them. At ten days of age the fry
were fed newly hatched brine shrimp. They grew fast and, after sixty days, were about the
size of a quarter. They were separated from the parents at two weeks as they were eating
baby brine well and beginning to irritate the sides of the parents.
I had another pair spawn, but it was a mixed pair and I want to keep my strains pure,
so I destroyed the eggs.
In summary, Symphysodon Discus are one of the most interesting and rewarding
species any aquarist could ever have to fortune to keep and spawn..
To get more information on the Wattley line of Discus check out his web site at
www.wattleydiscus.com
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