Spawning The Heckel Discus by David Dollman        

Today the domesticated strains of turquoise discus gracing our aquariums are very popular and rightly so.   But there is a discus which many discus breeders push to the wayside.   This is a distinctly different species of discus known as "SYMPHYSODON DISCUS HECKEL".

First discovered in 1840 by Dr. Johann Jacob Heckel, this fish was the first discus ever discovered. The Heckel discus comes exclusively from the tributaries of the Rio Negro and it has a color pattern unlike any other discus.   Blueish-grey striations against a honey-brown background with the first, fifth and last bars darker and thicker than the other verticle bars.   This is what makes the Heckel discus a favorite of mine and hopefully, it can become a favorite of yours also.   To the best of my knowledge, a Heckel to Heckel discus spawning is very rare and I was one of the fortunate few people to accomplish this.

I first acquired my Heckels in December of 1986.     These were about 3 to 4 inches in size and remarkably healthy for wild discus.   They looked like brown discus with the distinct Heckel bar.   Over a period of months, bluish-grey striations started on the forehead and eventually spread throughout the body.     These three Heckels grew fast on a diet of beefheart and frozen brine shrimp.     Over two years, I acquired about 8 more discus, royal blues, browns and a turquoise.   All of these fish were young adults and were showing no indication of breeding so I decided to do something special for them.   I went all out and built a 100 gallon plywood aquarium complete with a homemade trickle filtration system and live plants including Aponogeton Crispus, Amazon Swords and Water Wisteria.   Within a week, I had a pair of royal blues pair off and spawn.   A few weeks later, a friend of mine and I were admiring my fish and my friend noticed some eggs in a corner of the tank.   In the meantime, I had taken the pair of blues and moved them into a tank of their own and was able to raise a spawn.   As luck would have it, my 100 gallon began to leak and I had to tear it down.   In the process of tearing down the tank, I noticed the Heckels had laid about 200 eggs on the back of a piece of driftwood.   I didn't want to discard the eggs so I decided to try something.   At the same time, my blues had babies feeding on them that were eating brine shrimp and were ready to take off the parents.   What I did was hatch the Heckel eggs artificially and, when the fry were free swimming, I substituted the Heckel fry for the royal blue fry.   The royal blues raised the Heckel babies as their own.   I didn't realize until a few months later that breeding Heckels was quite an accomplishment and tank raised babies were quite valuable.   I encourage everyone to try breeding Heckels because I would like to see Heckels as easy to breed and to acquire as any other discus.   Over the last year or two, it has become very difficult to find any Heckels at all.   These are the variables I think came into play in the Heckel spawning.

1. A large tank - Most Heckels are wild discus and I feel they have a need for more space to feel secure enough to spawn.

2. Trickle filtration and live plants - I believe trickle filtration is great for discus and the live plants give the water quality that little extra kick to induce the Heckels to spawn.

3. Water Conditions - pH 6.8 and water hardness 60 ppm

This is what worked for me and I believe Heckel to Heckel spawning would be much more common if more people would just try it.   I think it is essential to establish a tank raised population of Heckels.   With the destruction of the Amazon rainforest, who knows, the wild population could disappear and then it's too late.   Try something different in your tanks try Heckels.

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SPAWNING THE WILD TEFE LAKE DISCUS by Jim E. Quarles N.A.D.S. originally published in "Our Discus" March 1993.

First let me state that wild discus keeping and conditioning is not for the beginning discus hobbyist. I know that some of you out there will disagree with that statement and you might even be able to offer a case history where new discus keepers have been able to keep and spawn wild stock.   For each case where this may be true, I can site you a hundred cases where wild stock suffered and died in the tanks of beginners.

Wild discus offers the advanced hobbyist the chance to test his or her skills in a way that no hybrid can ever do.   To be successful with spawning wild stock requires the "FEEL" that only comes after perhaps years of keeping and working with the King and Queen of aquarium fish.   I will tell you how I spawned the wild Tefe Lake green discus.   In reading it, perhaps you will be able to get an idea of the "FEEL".   Last year, I was in the market for some wild discus stock and contacted Dr. Axelrod in New York to ask who could I depend on for some reasonably nice wild discus.   I have known Dr. Axelrod since 1956 and I knew that if anyone would be able to point me in the right direction he could, additionally I was sure that if he referred me to a source I could depend on, they would provide me with   what I would pay for.

He referred me to International Fisheries in Florida and provided me with a person's name and telephone number.   Contact was made and they agreed to provide me with nine full grown wild Tefe Lake Greens, nine Red Alencers, nine Royal Blues and nine full grown Browns and at a very agreeable price I might add.   The fish arrived in Sacramento in short order and I placed them into four one hundred gallon tanks with aged conditioned water, 85% R.O. and 15% tap water with an adjusted pH of 5.8.   These tanks are homemade out of 3/4 inch plywood coated with fiberglass and epoxy paint that has been water cured for over a year.   The filtration was one Magnum 350 outside power filter per tank, plus two very large sponge filters inside each tank.

The fish arrived, as most do, with a real need for treatments to restore both health and proper conditioning before thought could be given to spawning. Let me state that when you buy wild stock from any wholesalers or import operation you will face the problem of weak and maybe very sick fish.   It is not the function of an importer to condition wild stock to perfect health and spawning condition before resale.

The best you should hope for is that the fish are in such shape that you have a fighting chance to bring them back from death's door with proper methods.   That is one of the reasons I do not look with favor on any but advanced discus hobbyist. trying to keep wild stock.   In all the years (36) that I have kept and loved wild discus it has amazed me that any live through the treatment and shipping methods from the Amazon to my tanks.   But on with the main subject of this article, spawning the Tefe Lake Greens.

I kept the lights subdued over the arrival tanks for a few days to let the fish settle down to their new conditions.   Then I started the conditioning and cleaning project I use with all new stock.   The fish were checked for physical damage.   Other than torn fins there did not seem to be any major problems.   The fish were very poor and underweight for their size.   The colors were faded and they just looked very unhappy withlife in general. (part of the FEEL).

Under normal conditions I do not feed live aquatic   worms to any discus but, with new wild stock, I find you must use them to induce eating in the discus.   The method used is quite simple.   For about one week the discus are fed three times per day.   They are given all the black worms they can eat.   I wash the worms in cold running water throughout the day.   The worms are cleaned of any dead or dying ones before each feeding.   In addition to the worms, they are offered a very small amount of Wardley's basic flake once each day.   All uneaten food is removed from the tank one hour after each feeding.   The power filters are turned off while the fish eat.   After one week, live worms are mixed with my own special mixture of beefheart.   The fish will start eating the beefheart in short order.

When the fish accept the beefheart without worms I then never again feed live aquatic worms to any discus.   When the discus are eating only flake and beefheart mixture it is time to start treatments to remove parasites both internal and external.

I setup both a short time and a long time bath of potassium permanganate.   Using two twenty gallon bare bottom all glass tanks, I add 1/4 teaspoon of potassium permanganate   and a strong flowing airstone.   This tank is the short term bath.   It has a water temperature of 83 degrees F.   In this tank I place two or three full grown discus for an absolute limit of ten minutes or less should the fish appear really stressed. When the fish are removed from this bath, they   are then placed in the second twenty gallon tank with only 1/16 teaspoon of potassium permanganate again, with the temperature adjusted to 82-84 degrees F.   I keep the fish in this bath for 24 hours.   You must remember to keep the airstone flowing heavily during both baths.   Do not feed anything to the fish while in the baths.   When this treatment is completed you will then need to place the discus in fresh clean water and adjust the pH to 5.8 again.   Next we need to get rid of the parasitic worms that are always found in wild caught discus.   I add a product called "worm out" to the beefheart mix that is now fed to the fish.   I feed this product for five days then repeat the worm out for an additional five days.   This should clear the fish of all adult tapeworms and some other varieties.   You will need to repeat this deworming process each quarter or every three months to keep your fish free of adult tapeworms.

After these two treatments are done you should notice a vast improvement in the overall condition of the fish.   They will eat better and start getting their colors back.   You should notice that they will appear to be enjoying life with you as their keeper.   The improvement in the condition of the fish should take only about thirty to sixty days.   With the Tefe's I was going to spawn, they seemed ready after about forty-five days.

I placed a known male turquoise in with the nine   Tefe fish and placed a couple of clay bricks in the tank at each end.   I was sure that out of nine Tefe   fish, the odds were in my favor that there would be one or more females.   Well, it only took a week for the turquoise to pick his mate.   I was very sure he had picked a female.   I moved the turquoise and the fish he had chosen to a square twenty gallon tank with one box filter and one sponge filter.   I had previously adjusted the water to a pH of 5.8 and since my tap water here is soft I did not use R.O. water.   At this point, both fish were fed a   beefheart mixture twice each day and live brine shrimp once.

The female was really making a pig of herself at feeding time.   She ate so much that at the second feeding of the day she would drop her breeding tube just long enough for me to see that she was indeed a girl fish.   When I was sure of the sex, I removed the turquoise male and picked what I guessed was a male and another female from the remaining Tefe's which I now added to the twenty gallon tank with the known female.

It was only two days before the two fish were picking on the girl fish and keeping her away from the food and driving her behind the filter most of the time.   So I assumed that I indeed had another female and a male in the tank.   But which one is which?   Using the "FEEL", I removed the smaller fish which I hoped was the second female.   After just two or three days I was sure I was right.   The known female and the fish Mr. X seemed to be getting along.   I had been changing 1/4 of the water each day all along and now dumped 1/2 of the 82 degree water and replaced it with cold water from the tap.   In most cases if the fish are in proper condition and well fed and adjusted to the new setup this will bring on spawning within twenty four hours.

In this case nothing happened.   The fish were fed more live brine shrimp, wingless fruit flies, white worms and more beefheart.   I played with the pH, taking it up and down for about two weeks again dumping water.   Again nothing, so I replaced fifty percent of the water using R.O. water.   When this was done they started cleaning the side of the brick.   After another few days nothing happened.

The fish were getting too fat with all the good food, so I cut way back on the feeding and made massive water changes with R.O. water, about 90%.   Again they started cleaning the brick like mad.   I had the "FEEL"   I was near the answer but could not quite figure it out.

I then had an idea! (It happens even with me from time to time).   I set up another twenty gallon tank right next to the pair so they could look into the other tank.   In this tank I placed the turquoise male and turned on a hood light in his tank.   I turned off the light in the mating tank.   Boy, did this get action!   The Tefe male went after the turquoise in a big way.   He was very upset!   I am sure the only thing that saved the turquoise from torn fins and a bloody nose was the two glass sides of the tanks.   The Tefe male spent half his time butting the female and half his time trying to get at the other male with mayhem in his eyes.   I put a glass partition in the turquoise tank to keep him on the far side of his tank away from the glass wall next to the mating tank.

With this done the thought occurred to me that the bacteria in the filter culture might not be quite right.   So I took a sponge out of a tank where a pair had very recently spawned and exchanged it with the one from the Tefe tank.   Again I did the cold water trick and adjusted the pH to 5.4 replacing 90 percent of the water with pure R.O. water.   That did it!   The next morning I found that the pair had spawned about three hundred eggs on the middle of the far side of the brick away from the turquoise tank.   Both fish seemed to be fanning the eggs so there was no reason to break up the pair.

I removed the turquoise male to another location and waited for the wrigglers to develop and after another two days I had about one hundred and eighty fry on the sides of the adults.   I was able to sell all the fry at quarter size after eight weeks.   Since that time, the pair spawn about every sixty days with no problem other than the fact that they require 90% R.O. water and a pH of 5.4 to spawn.

The Tefe Green is a very colorful fish and is currently being used to breed wild strain back into some of the recent hybrids to restore vigor and new colors.   With its bright red eyes, reddish brown body color, the red spotting throughout the body and almost perfect round shape with intense red and green marked fins makes this fish an outstanding new gene pool for future hybrids.

Sometime in the next year I will cross the Tefe Lake Green to both the best Turquoise and Red Alencer strains.   I will then breed this line back to the Red Alencer strain.   I look forward to the result of this line of hybrids.