Linda's Contest Thread

[Lindad]

Last October, I acquired 6 heckle crosses from Larry Bugg in an attempt to add more blue to my 125g discus tank. About 2 weeks into quarantine, a pair formed and decided to spawn. I had not planned on breeding (at least not yet), but I went ahead and moved the pair into a 29g to see what would happen. I have bred angels for a several years, and have grown out a few baby discus, but wasn't sure that I was ready to dive into breeding discus.
Well, the pair spawned religiously every 7-10 days, and then would eat the eggs a day later - over and over and over. I never knew if the eggs were fertile or not. They would look fine, and then just be gone. When I finally gave up hope and said that I was going to move them to the 125g with their friends, suddenly they had success! It took *15* tries for them to figure it out! :eek:

Here is a picture of the parents (with eggs on the pot). Momma is at the top, Daddy is at the bottom. I will post baby pictures soon.

116081

[Second Hand Pat]

Great looking pair Linda :) Looking forward to the baby pictures!!
Pat

[two utes]

That's Awesome!
I'm glad you stuck by them and established that you have a confirmed pair. I know you will be amazed by how they take care of the fry, and how they grow form here, i know i was when mine did the same thing recently.
What are your plans for them from here?
Wish you the best of luck with your new batch of fry and look forward to seeing baby pictures as well

[Pices]

Wow what a nice looking pair. Seems like we have our plans and their plans are always different from ours. Intentional? I’m starting to think so.
Patty

[Lindad]

Ok. I finally went through all my pictures to find some decent ones to post. It's really difficult getting a good shot of tiny babies! (At least with my camera :p)
Here are the babies at 1 day free swimming.
116297

[Lindad]

The babies at one week.
116298
116299

[Lindad]

The babies at 2 weeks. It's amazing to me how quickly they grow and start looking like little discus!
116300

[two utes]

Your pictures look fine to me. Keep them coming please. I'm just curious if you are just relying on the parents to feeding the young, or are you complimenting them with anything?

[Lindad]

A few days after the fry went free swimming, I started feeding them alternating small meals of Golden Pearls, Forrest's Aquabits, and microworms. By about 2 weeks, they were also picking at their parent's meals, so they also were getting Hikari Discus Bio-Gold pellets, Al's freeze dried black worms, and Cobalt Discus Hans flakes. The babies pretty much immediately took to everything, but they especially love the black worms! I quit with the microworms around 3-4 weeks, because they seemed to not be as enthusiastic about them anymore. (Maybe the worms were too small for them at that point?) With the Golden Pearls and Aquabits, I have a variety of sizes, so I just increase size as the babies grow. The Bio-Gold pellets are still a little large for them, but they like the broken pieces that are always in the mix.

[Pices]

That really is amazing! What are white pearls? Kudos to you, you’re doing a great job.
Patty

[Lindad]

Patty - Thanks! I've been surprised at how well this first attempt has gone so far! Knock on wood!

Here's a link to Golden Pearls. It's a high protein pellet/crumble. (Basically the same idea as Forrest's Aquabits, just a different recipe.) I use size 4 (200-300 micron) for new fry, and larger sizes for juvies. You can get it in sizes ranging from 5 to 800 micron. I love the different foods that come in a variety of sizes, so everybody can eat the same diet.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Golden-Pearls-Fry-Coral-Fish-Food-Size-4-200-300-micron-4oz/251610803423?epid=1933129023&hash=item3a952c2cdf:g:1fsAAOSw9jVbLaGt

[Lindad]

Here are the babies at 1 month, enjoying one of Al's FDBW cubes.
116866

[Second Hand Pat]

Hi Linda, the little ones look great. :D Over the next two weeks they should start rounding up and looking like discus.
Pat

[Pices]

Oh my gosh- they are SO cute! I love little baby discus at this stage. It must be very rewarding to get them this far.
Very cool post!
Patty

[Lindad]

Hi Linda, the little ones look great. :D Over the next two weeks they should start rounding up and looking like discus.
Pat

I'm actually falling behind with my updates - this was a few weeks ago. But they have really turned into little discus! I'll get a new picture to post soon! :)

[Lindad]

Oh my gosh- they are SO cute! I love little baby discus at this stage. It must be very rewarding to get them this far.
Very cool post!
Patty

Thanks Patty!
It's been awesome watching the parents with the babies. I think I'm still a little bit in shock at how well it's going. They started with 20 babies, and have only lost 2.

[Pardal]

Well
I have been away from my pc for a while , even after returning from NADA. Excellent pair, Congratulations!

[Second Hand Pat]

I'm actually falling behind with my updates - this was a few weeks ago. But they have really turned into little discus! I'll get a new picture to post soon! :)

Please do Linda, I would love to see them. :)
Pat

[Lindad]

I just realized that I left out one very important piece of information concerning this pair FINALLY getting it right. For the last couple spawns before they were successful, I had added rooibos tea to the tank, thanks to some discussion on this forum. I don't know if that actually made a difference, but circumstantial evidence would indicate that it had some effect. :)

[Lindad]

Here are a couple pictures I took yesterday of the babies. I started with 20, and currently have 18. There are a couple that are still tiny - guess I'll probably need to cull them? The others are doing great, though! They are currently in a 55g grow-out tank. I removed them from their parents a few weeks ago before I went on vacation - the parents were getting aggravated with the babies still picking at them and I didn't want anyone to get hurt! I'm still surprised that my first foray into breeding has gone so well. :D

117163
117164

[Lindad]

One last trip for the summer coming up. I'll be gone 8 days. I'm nervous about how these little ones will do, but since I don't have anyone to do water changes, I'll just turn off their light and fast them while I'm gone. Fingers crossed.
At least I know that I have future spawns to count on - I have this pair plus 2 more pairs of heckle crosses that each have wigglers in my display tank. I may pull one of those pairs to put in a breeding tank after vacation. :)

[Lindad]

And after vacation, all these little guys look pretty good! :D

[RogueDiscus]

Hi Linda,
Good to hear from you again. We need pictures!

[Second Hand Pat]

That is great to hear Linda. Some pics would be great. I bet they have grown!!
Pat

[Lindad]

New pictures of the babies! It's hard to get good ones - they are FAST! :)
117553
117554

[Lindad]

Well, yesterday was a bit bittersweet. 8 of the babies went to their new home. I always worry about my fish when I sell them, and these little guys are extra special to me! I'm confident they'll have great care, though. :)

[Swedgin]

The babies at one week.
116298


Well, yesterday was a bit bittersweet. 8 of the babies went to their new home. I always worry about my fish when I sell them, and these little guys are extra special to me! I'm confident they'll have great care, though. :)

Hi Linda,

I know the feeling you’re describing, been there myself and I’m sure many others have. But good to see you are confident in the person they went to, always helps

I’m really looking forward to seeing the remaining babies develop, hoping you keep this thread up after the contest ends.

If they look anything like the parents near the end of their main growth phase, they should be gorgeous.

I really like the shape of the parents, not your classic sought after “rounder is better type”.
Done really well so far.

Tobi

[Lindad]

I now have just 6 of the babies in the 55g to grow them out a bit. I'm assuming they will look like their parents, but I'm still anxious to see them bigger! I have grown out babies before, but never "from scratch." It was fascinating to see them through the whole process and I have to admit that I'm a bit attached to these little guys!

The parents have gone back to eating eggs. I guess one batch of kids was enough for them. Lol. The last spawn, they laid on the front glass of the tank, so I got some plastic cross stitch cloth and suction cupped it around that section of the glass. The parents still managed to force their way in to eat the eggs.

I'm thinking that I may shift this pair into my 125g display and pull another pair from that tank to breed. The other pair has had swimmers a couple times in the display tank, so I think they are a little more dedicated to family life. :D

[LizStreithorst]

Good luck with the breeding. It's a Heckle pair from Mr. Bugg you'll be working with, right?

[Lindad]

Good luck with the breeding. It's a Heckle pair from Mr. Bugg you'll be working with, right?

Yep. I bought 6 fish from him, and ended up with 3 confirmed pairs!
The parents of these babies paired off in the QT tank about a month after I bought them, so they went straight to a breeding tank.
The other two pairs just recently paired off in my 125 display tank, and both have had a few babies make it to swimmer stage there.

[LizStreithorst]

Post a pic of the pair that you have separated out to breed, even if it can't be in the contest thread. You picked a good breeder when you chose to buy from Mr. Bugg.

[Lindad]

Post a pic of the pair that you have separated out to breed, even if it can't be in the contest thread. You picked a good breeder when you chose to buy from Mr. Bugg.

Will do. :)