I’ve been meaning to write about these amazing creatures for a while now, having kept them for over five years and at one point, catering to my best efforts, a breeding pair or two. The different behaviours of these Amazonian fish are complex and varied, frustrating and also incredibly rewarding.

Apart from the usual ‘pecking order’ found in most animals, the most amazing and intriguing behaviour in these fish shows when they come into heat. Sexing discus, is difficult, and often the only way to know for sure, is to study the mating ritual and the reproductive area which swells during this time. Of course you’ll know as soon as the eggs are being laid.

It all starts with a flare of the fins; a female who feels it’s time, will sidle up next to a suitable male, slow down and from a slightly raised head position, stiffen and extend her dorsal (top) and pelvic (long, thin, bottom) fins, showing her colours – set to maximum brightness and intensity. She dips during this flaring action and comes to a near stop. Of course, the reaction she is after is a reflection of her own. A perfect reciprocation.

Around three years ago I rescued a tiny fish from a local shop, emaciated and very frail, and named it Titch. Now, she’s a good 7″ long and has just recently started this flirting behaviour with the only two remaining adult fish in my tank, Nev (leopard snakeskin) and Flash (Callico White). At first she was trying it on with both fish, but soon came to favour the larger and eldest of the two, Nev. Who incidentally, has never seen eye to eye with Flash.

Flash even though second in command generally holds dominance over the left hand side of the tank. Nev on the other hand, has the right, and being the alpha male as such, first picks of any food I put in the tank. This end being more open in its architecture and landscape, as well as where I drop in the food. Titch therefore, had a problem!

The left hand end of the tank is where the long outlet pipe dips into the tank nearing the sand on the bottom. An ideal spot to lay eggs on; straight, smooth and easy to waft. Waft? – I’ll explain later. It’s also the stillest place in the tank just below the water inlet. So when the current comes back after hitting the other end of the tank it is very weak. The right hand side is where the air pump releases a cascade of bubbles, and being at the receiving end of the outlet a lot more turbulent.

Nev and Flash would face off on a regular basis, whenever each felt the other was encroaching on their territory. Looking like an angry kiss, the two face each other and dash mouth against mouth as they nip and bite in quick succession, two or three times – fins erect and in a strong stance, until one backs off and ends the bout. If they all hide under the log while I’m cleaning the tank I see them constantly nudging and nipping and tail slapping each other.

So, Titch and her dilemma… Flash has the higher ground with respects to a suitable place to lay her eggs, but Nev is proving to be the more popular choice in partner. Maybe as he’s the elder, but also the larger of the two. Either way, she seemed to have made her mind up. She tried for a while to entice Nev over to the left, with her dancing and bright red eyes, but to no avail. Each time Nev even went close to the pipe he’d be under attack from Flash. Instead of fighting Flash for the ‘chosen ground’ he flicked back over to the right, under or round the log and to safety. Titch therefore resigned herself to the fact, she’d have to spawn at the right hand end of the tank.

She then starts to clean the area, with Nev joining in with the duties, picking small bits of algae and debris from around the area, even going so far as to nudge out of the way, the plant which sits in front of the bubbles. Once happy the area is prepared and she has ample space in which to manoeuvre, she starts a dummy run up the side of the tank on the glass. Fluttering her pectoral (side) fins like a butterfly, she slowly, slowly glides upwards with her undercarriage facing the side, eyes fixed in concentration.

To get to this stage she must have built a reasonably strong bond with her partner and be trusting in that cohesion – as both will play an important part in the next few weeks, with the upbringing of up their brood.

They lay their eggs generally in the evening, and occasionally just when I’m about to turn off all the lights, which happened to be this time. I noticed Titch being more determined and regular in her efforts. Nev hanging close, being very attentive and nudging her now and again.

When I had my breeding tank set up, with a purpose terracotta looking plastic breeding cone, Sky would flutter up the cone making delicate, sticky beaded rows of eggs along her way. After making one or two passes the male, Patch would swim to the same area next to her and mimic the same fluttering action as he fertilises her eggs. One after the other they perform this life-making ritual, synchronised with each other in a strange innate harmony and knowledge. It’s amazing to watch. The result can vary, but sometimes, a patch as large as 2.5″ of almost transparent eggs are laid. They are a little bit orange coloured and some with a speck of life within them. The ones not fertilised turn white within 24 hours or more, and are diligently removed from the area, less bacteria takes a hold and infects the other good eggs.

This is a very nervous and frantic time for the fish. They need to both eat, tend to their tiny eggs and make sure there are no predators around. When the tank was full, I had quite a few tetras of one sort or another. The hardy ones that cope with soft water, cardinals for example, would shoal together and as soon as the mother left the eggs to find food. They would dart over to the pipe and steel the eggs wrestling them off the pipe with a twist of their little bodies. I saw quite a few disappear like that, as one female Discus learnt the hard way about the responsibility involved in having a successful spawning.

Nev’s seen this all before, as the above mentioned female spawned once with Nev before defecting to another male. He’s been quite forceful with Titch this time, nudging her out of the way when he’s looking after the eggs, bringing his fin forwards and wafting it over the eggs gently, giving them fresh water and keeping debris off. Then swapping duties with her as they pass with a reaffirming flare of fins to each other. Titch, once the eggs were laid, has become increasingly aggressive towards the other two fish in the tank, heading full pelt into them to warn them away. And from that to a hyper attentive mother to be, who on the third day is expecting her eggs to hatch and then she must catch.

Sky and Patch, as mentioned earlier, a long standing and relatively successful breading pair, most have spawned together 30 to 40 times at least. Both isolated from the main tank in their own 75 Litre love nest. I kept them as happy as I could to allow them the right conditions and attention to help them have a fruitful batch. They were so dedicated, admittedly I think Patch, the male, lost interest in the whole affair after a while, but they were forever a couple. She was so intensely fixated on breeding he would match her with his loyalty and I ended up being the proud owner of around 50 fish at some points.