Do Discus Fish Mate for Life

Return to: Discus Fish Sale

 *The short answer to this question is no. What I have observed in my years breeding Discus Fish is that once a female decides to spawn, pheromones are released by the female enticing any males in the vicinity to take interest in her spawning activity. It does not take long for one or two males to take interest, at which point territorial disputes might break out between all involved. Once things calm down a dominate male will emerge and start the fertilization process. At this point both male and female Discus fish will defend the spawning site. If the male is old enough and successfully fertilizes the newly laid clutch of eggs, in three day the eggs will turn dark by the developing embryo, three more days and the fry will be free swimming and swarm the new Discus fish pair and the surrounding aquarium.

Fortunately for the Discus fish hobbyist, this lack of monogamy for the species has led to an explosion of vibrant new colors and strain which would not normally be found in their natural habitat. Once a breeder has sexed a male and female they can breed for specific color and pattern straits just by switching out males or females of different colored pairs. Then line breed or cross breed for the desired colors and patterns.

In the 60’s and 70’s there was predominately earth-tone brown and blue colors of Discus fish available either from the wild or tank raised. Over the past 50 years there has been an explosion of new colors, ranging from solid red, white, yellow and blue to patterned and spotted in these same spectacular colors.

My guess in the not-too-distant future, we will see an array of marbled patterns on various bright back ground colors, similar to Koi and Angel fish. 

Learn More: Discus Fish Blog