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The first thing to understand is that you are not in full control. If Discus doesn’t want to pair up, there is nothing you can do about it. The only thing you can do is provide the right conditions so that they are more likely to mate.

If you have a sexed partner and it is the only disc in the tank, chances are, around a 70% chance, that they will eventually mate if left together for a long period of time.

To rush our potential young lovers, we provide the conditions conducive to fishy love. We put seven mature discs in a 125 gallon tank and let them acclimate to it for two weeks. Then we start to make some sudden changes in tank conditions to stimulate courtship. Some of the changes we make are:

• Change the water temperature to 78 degrees for a few days and then increase to 88 degrees for about 12 hours and then leave it at 88 degrees for the rest of a week.

• Let the tank get a little dirty, don’t do the daily water changes for a few days and then do an 80% water change.

• Feed them plenty for a few days and then stop feeding them for two days, followed by feeding them live food for three days.

• Make two 60% water changes four hours apart, where the pH goes from 6.5 to 7.0 on the first change and then from 7.0 to 7.5 on the second change.

• Leave the tank in the dark for two full days and then turn on the lights for two full days.

If we’ve tried all of the above and after two months they still haven’t paired, we swap four of those discs and start the process over with four new discs and three remaining.

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The spawning process is the pinnacle of discus fish farming. This has always been my favorite part of record keeping and still, 30 years after my first spawn, I find it fascinating.

The first sign that your discus is preparing to spawn will be your obsession with cleaning a rock, a filter tube, or the side of the aquarium. Once you see both of them doing this, spawning will generally follow within a day or two. You will also see them begin to do the mating dance. They will swim towards each other at a slightly upward angle. Once they are next to each other, they will glow and then swim away from each other at a slightly lower angle. The most spectacular aspect of spawning will be the colors of your disk. Whatever its color, it will become MUCH more intense and vibrant during spawning. This will be the prettiest you’ve ever seen on your album. They will also become aggressive towards other fish, including discus, at this time. They will aggressively defend the replay site from all intruders, including you.

At some point after your album starts doing all of the above, it will actually lay eggs. You will start with the female rubbing her belly and brood tube against the surface they have cleaned. She will always lie down with an upward motion. The total length of the spawning run will be between ½ and three inches. She will lay between 1 and 12 eggs per spawning cycle. The male discus will generally follow directly behind her with the same basic motion spraying the eggs. Usually you cannot see the actual cloud. The whole process can take between one and five hours.

This is when the fun ends and the frustration can begin. The first two problems you will face are ingestion of eggs, especially by the male, and infertility.

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Now we will go over what to expect after the eggs have been laid. This is where the frustration begins. The first two problems you will face are ingestion of eggs, especially by the male, and infertility. First we will review the intake of eggs. We will review fertility in the next part of the series.

The number one problem, and the one you must overcome, with disc farming is that the parents eat the eggs. While both parents eat the eggs, the male does so more often. This is often done while they reproduce and there is very little you can do if this occurs during spawning. The female will do her egg-laying race and then the male, instead of following her with a fertilization race, will follow her and eat the row of eggs. This behavior is more common in new partners. Most new discus pairs will eat their eggs. Fortunately, they will often stop this behavior as they develop into a more mature spawning pair. If you are lucky and the eggs are not eaten during spawning, it is very likely that they will be eaten before they hatch. Fortunately, if you go that far, there is something you can do. At this point, you can either take out the eggs and artificially raise them or you can take a mesh screen (home soffit screen works great) and place it directly over the eggs. This will allow the puck to still blow into the eggs and bond with them, but will prevent the eggs from being eaten. Obviously, you will need to have planned the spawning and you will need to have created the screen before the actual spawn. If the eggs are not eaten and are fertile, they should hatch in three days and swim freely in about six days.