BREEDING AND RAISING DISCUS
Water quality is the most important element when it comes to the raising and breeding of Discus.

Water chemistry: Water quality is the most important element when it comes to the raising and breeding of Discus. Soft and acid is a must. The PH should be around 5.8 - 6.5. The hardness/softness can be measured with a kH/gH test kit. Waterlifes Correct Buffer 6.5 is a great way to get this achieved if you are using tap water (always conditioned with a good quality water conditioner of course, like Tetra Aquasafe or Sera Aquatan).

Mixing perfect Discus water: The best option would be to purchase RO water from your local pet store (Jungle Aquatics sell RO water) and mixing 3/4 RO with 1/4 conditioned tap water. Adding Sera Morena or Tetra Blackwater extract will promote perfect breeding conditions easily for your discus.

Selecting breeders: Selecting Discus breeders is very similar to selecting Angelfish pairs.

What's the best way to pair Discus? It is very difficult to know the gender of a discus especially if it hasn't reach maturity, therefore, it is advisable to put a group of 10 discus in an aquarium (the bigger the group the better the statistical chances of having pairs). It is recommended that the group of discus are of same size and more or less the same age (according to the experience we have gained - the big and dominant fish are usually the males, and therefore, also a few smaller fish should be chosen for the group, assuming they are the females).

As the discus reach puberty at about 10-24 months, territory battles and splitting into pairs begin. At this point it would be advisable to place in the aquarium equipment for egg laying such as - cones, plastic tubes, flowerpots, leaves and etc. In the event that a pair is spotted after at least one laying, it is then advisable to transfer the pair on the way to the next laying in a reproducing aquarium, so as to enhance the chances of the baby fish to survive.

Setting up the breeding tank: For the breeding tank you will only need a few basic things. A 120 liter high tank, reliable 150 watt aquarium heater (like a Jager or Sera), sponge filter (the kind that has suction cups that hold it to the side of the tank), small vibrator pump, lid(you don't want the fish jumping out) and a flat piece of slate which is placed at a 45 degree angle from the bottom of the tank to the one top side of the tank. If you can't find a flat piece of slate you could buy a big piece of PVC plumbing pipe (a pipe joint works great) and just stand it on the bottom of the tank. A discus breeding cone is highly advisable if you can source one. That's all you need for the pair. You don't need or want any gravel on the bottom. You want to keep water changes simple and clean...

Now that you have your breeding tank set up, pop your pair in there. A good idea would be to place the pair in a small tank (40 liter) with the water from your pair off tank and then acclimate them to the breeding tank water by taking a quart out at a time over a period of an hour, replacing it with breeding tank water.

Now the process starts: It will take a month or so for the pair to get used to their breeding tank. Just keep feeding them three times a day with high quality fish food such as frozen blood worms, Ruto discus mix, Tetra Prima or Sera Discus granules. Three times a week with live brine shrimp etc ..A good high protein variety is the key!

Now we will get these baby's to breed! To stimulate the pair to breed, start changing 10% of the water in the tank once a day. Keep the temperature at 28'C for two days. After two days increase the temperature to 29'C. The third day 30'C and the fourth day to 32'C. (Discus can take temperatures in the mid 33'C so don't be worried that the water at 32'C is too high) After the fourth day, lower the temperature 2 degrees per day down to 28'C, repeat the two day temperature changes from 28'C-32'C degrees up and down. Keep changing 10% of the water until they lay eggs. If it is a pair, they are mature enough and are a male and female, they will breed! Once they have laid their eggs, keep the temperature stable at the point where the eggs were laid and keep it there!

You have eggs, now what? Eggs will not be taken away from the Discus parents to be artificially hatched. The fry need the parents to take care of them for one critical reason. When the fry start free swimming in about 10 days and have absorbed their egg sacks, the first food that they must eat in order survive is a sort of mothers milk that both the male and female parent secretes that is produced in their body slime. The fry feed on this slime on both parents for about three weeks before you can start feeding them live or frozen baby brine shrimp. You should make a special effort to supply them with live baby brine for the first week after they have absorbed their egg sacks. If you can't provide them with live shrimp, turn up an air stone to a medium slow bubble when feeding frozen baby brine in order to simulate them being live. Once the baby Discus accept the frozen brine, you are in good shape. After 4 weeks you can start feeding them high grade fine flake food. You are on your way!

For about 4 weeks, the fry will be constantly feeding of the slime of both parents and won't go anywhere on there own. Keep the fry with the parents for about 6 weeks or when the fry start wandering around the tank, far away from the parents. Then, you can transfer the parents into another tank for a rest or another set-up breeding tank. If the parents start bickering for any reason, separate them with a piece of glass. In three months you will have Discus fry the body size of a dime.

Other tips:
Keep Discus with Discus.
Do not place a light on the top of the tank.
No power filters or anything that makes the water move fast. (Discus like calm water)
Don't try to hatch eggs away from the parents, you'll fail.
No gravel or live plants, just the slate or PVC pipes.
Siphon as much dirt as you can from the bottom of the tank while making water changes.

We wish you good luck.