breeding silver dollars

[grokz]

i bought my two large silver dollars as a breeding pair but did not know you could breed them in a tank till recently.they have been chasing and whipping each other lately and being real agressive. was just wondering if they are breeding or not.

[bryce2003]

Grokz,
We had I suppose you'd call them a colony of 6. 3 males and 3 females but now unfortunately only 3m and 2f. My missus looked into them ages ago and found the males have a more pointed end to their anal fin with the females more rounder so thats the first thing to look for. I'm also pretty sure that the males had a more pronounced reddish tinge to the ends of there fins as well but may have been the other way around.

Second is the 2 distinct black spots on their side which become more prevalent when getting close to breeding time however the 1's on ours can be seen most of the time with varying clarity. Every time we do a water change the spots become more prevalent as well. Also both males and females will get distinct black edges on their fins, the females more pronounced but I'm pretty sure but again may be the other way around. From what we see on ours the red edge of the fins go 1/2 red, 1/2 black. They do and will chase each other around the tank when spawning just the same when they are schooling.

From what I heard a while ago there is 2 trains of thought as to how they breed. When ours 1st spawned they did so on the leaf of an Amazon sword, however ate the leaf that night. I can't confirm if it was done so deliderately as I didn't see them in the act but only hanging around them after. This was also their 1st spawn so more than likely inexperience and the leaf got in the way. Every other time I have seen Silver Dollars spawn they have just scattered them from 1 end of the tank to the other.

When they spawn the male will cup himself under and around the female so he can fertilise the eggs. Fluttering around as he does so. It's a very distinctive act and you can't miss it when it happens, quite funny actually. Hope this helps.
Cheers,
Bryce.

[grokz]

thanks heaps and the smaller one has heaps of red and black and goes up to the bigger one on his side and looks like he is having a spasim right up against the bigger one.

[bryce2003]

Grokz,
Sorry I forgot to mention that I was also told that they seem to do better as a colony when it comes to breeding. We were going to seperate ours into pairs but were told to leave them as a colony as they have a better success rate. I don't know how true this is as we never got around to giving a decent go of breeding them and they'll be going soon so hopefully the new owner can shed a bit more light on things. Hope this helps.
Cheers,
Bryce.