MY MELONS HAVE LAYED YEAAAAAH!!

[nicholas76]

MY melons finally layed yeaaaaaah. ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

Im so happy. yes I realise that there are risks with loosing them but im happy just the same. first batch !! ;D ;D ;D ;D

A very large batch of eggs layed on the breeding cone too!!!!! ;D ;D

My breeding method / technique was simple 8)

7 days no water change, water temp at 27.
7th day 50% w/c using water temp 29
8th day 50% w/c using water temp 29
1 hr after that both started shivering
9th day at night both doing the wild thing.


I'd like to thank the people that suggested these ideas but I would also like to thank Lee Discus and Allan from brisbane who has been absolutely brilliant. ;D ;D


Cheers
NIck76

[Lee Discus]

Well done Nick

who is the man? i cant hear you...a little louder big boy...thats right Nick is the man lol

good luck bud


Lee

[nicholas76]

Cheers

Bro


Here is a night shot of the couple fanning the eggs


NIck

Beautiful!!

Congratulations....

Now the trick is to not lose those eggs! Hope all will be successful in the next few weeks. Get another tank setup just in case.

**Angie**

[ping]

Nice Nick, congrats

Ronny

[Rod Coleman]

Good work, Nick - keep us informed.

Rod

[Ardan]

Congratulations! 8) 8) 8)

[azuree]

Congratulations Man ... your Red Melon looks gorgeous as a parent.

[RyanH]

Congrats Nick!!!!

This is what its all about!!!! :D :D

[EthanCote.com]

Hey Congrats on the spawn Nick.

Best of luck with them. Keep us posted with pics as they progress.


Adios.


Cheerio,

Chi.

[Mattzilla]

good work mate

like i said before you will have to send some of the fry my way when they grow a little!!!!

cheers matt

[KIAWAHKID]

You might want to take a look at the website for "A Discus DREAM" and then under Tips and Tricks. There is probably a good chance that your Melon fry will wander and not find the adults. I followed the advice of Mike Wells therein and it has worked EVERY TIME for my mellons.

www.adiscusdream.com

[nicholas76]

HI all


So far so good, the eggs are still on the pole and they are sharing the responsibilities without fighting.

Thanks for all the support, I'll keep you updated

Cheers

Nick ;D ;D ;D

[crazy4discus]

congradulations nick thats an awsome pair the male looks huge!!!

[liz]

Congratulations.They are both nice looking fish.

[nicholas76]

Gday guys,

The news aint good, they ate the batch. On the upside it was a wicked experience, and they are already flirting , bowing pecking so hopefully they will kik in again. Discus for all.

luv these melons ; ;)

[nicholas76]

Actually let me ask you guys a question.

How many people actually turn off there filter system whilst they lay and paste the eggs.

Im just thinking that maybe they arent getting fertilized properly. I have an adjustable valve which is on low, but if i turn it off for awhile.......


Nick

[Mattzilla]

oh well

just put that one down to experience

good luck with the next batch

matt

[Carol_Roberts]

I bet your male is just too young. Females mature much earlier and I bet yiours are siblings. The male has to kinda run right over the tops of the eggs.

[nicholas76]

HI all.

Hey Mat dont stress they are already shivering and cleaning again. At this rate ill say 24hrs before they lay again. ;D 7 day cycle it appears.



Interesting statement Carol. He is a 6 inch Fish so how young can he be???. He was gliding over the eggs really close to the extent that i coudnt make out his tube.

Regards

NIck

[Carol_Roberts]

that is the correct behavior - if you don't start getting eggs soon best test the GH (hardness) of your water.

[nicholas76]

Hi Carol,

Im fortunate that my tap water is extrememly soft. Ive changed a few things and lowered the ouput from my cannister. Filtration is minimal but in a 270 litre tank with two fish i dont think itll make a diffrence.

Her tube is massive again and they are both pecking and shivering. I expect some results within the next 6 hours.

Keeping those fingers crossed


NIck

[Discusgeo]

Nicholas when I see my Discus getting ready to lay eggs I always do at least a 50 percent water change and sometimes 100% without any problems. I always leave the air off in the tank, no water movement what so ever. I have a wireless X-10 camera and a small TV set it up so I can keep an eye on them in the other room. Once they are done laying the eggs I add Formaldehyde to the tank at 2 drops per gallon 30 minutes to an hour after they finnish laying the eggs.

[nicholas76]

Hi Discusego,

Yeah i did two 50% w/c over the last two days. It sent them into pecking shivering mode.

The female last night was doing trail runs and to my amazement this mornning they had not layed.

Checking them again today they are still pecking and cleaning. Her tube is sticking out and i can cleary see were the eggs will fall from.

Air is off and filtratoin is on minimum, wouldnt cause any current at all.

NIce idea about setting up a moniter device. Do you feed your fish after breeding? and how often after that whilst they are taking care of the eggs?


Regards

Nick

[nicholas76]

Did a 3rd water change and its really sent them OFF, cleanning!!! If i was a betting man I would put my house on a spawn tonight.

I wonder why. Carol you might know why this is occuring. Do discus breed in the wet season in the wild? Do the rains indicate new growth e.g food supply? is that what triggers them breed?

regards

Nick

[Mattzilla]

yeah rain triggers them in the wild...

that is also why it is recommended that you make large water changes with cooler temps to trigger spawning

cheers
matt

[nicholas76]

Round 2


second succesful lay on the cone. Exactly 7 days and the same time from previous lay.

Just one question. Why did the producers of these cones paint them this colour?? Anyway you can see the start of the egge batch and how far down it goes indicated by my arrows.

[Lee Discus]

hey bud

goodluck...he is beautiful

[Mattzilla]

awesome!!

i hope these guys do better

matt

[nicholas76]

CHeers mate

Me too. I wont get so excited this time. I removed my cleaner fish this time amd also reduced the flow to next to nothing. As my past posts show Ive been doing large water changes daily. Hoping this will improve on things

Cheers Mate


nick

[nicholas76]

Better pic

Mum with eggs

[crazy4discus]

looking good

[adr]

nick dont thank lee for anything, he not a help he dosent know anthing about discus. Because hes only got ex-stock fish. He hasnt raised any baby. But he has a real good breeding pair at the moment he should put them on simple to show people. That a breeding pair raised by adr himself.

[Lee Discus]

OHHH NO

not you again adr.... you must really fancy me lol

[nicholas76]

hehehe you guys crack me up

anyway second bucnh of eggs have been eaten, grrrr

signs from them indicate they will breed again probably on the sunday like normal.

here we go again!!!!

NIck

[Mattzilla]

third time lucky....

fingers crossed

matt

[nicholas76]

Shivering again


here weee goooo!


lol

[nicholas76]

lucky number 3 batch

lets see if they last


NIck

[crazy4discus]

man i want to see some little babies already dang

[Rod Coleman]

They'll get it right soon, Nicholas. Keep us posted.

Rod

[nicholas76]

first day so good.

noticed lots of white eggs but also many good ones. I can clearly see them darker in colour.

approaching the real test. if i come home tomorw from work and they are still there than its progressed !

Nick

[EIHAB83]

congrats what ever happens it is a good start
good luck :)
EIHAB

[nicholas76]

Thanks EiHAB,

this time they didnt eat the eggs but he didnt obviousley fertilise them properly , all went white. On the Up side they DIDNt eat the eggs.

One day after and they are already shiviring again . I expect her to lay in the next day or two.

I've been reassured that as a young new breeding item this can be expected so here we go again!

Cheers

Nick

[harry]

my blue diamonds are on there 20+batch and still no hatch but look after them till all white then eat and start again ,will give him a few months more then if no hatch will try different male

[nicholas76]

You must be losing the plot harry.

yeah im aware that the male might be shooting blanks but far too early to tell yet.


best of luck with yours

nick

[nicholas76]

4th batch layed

was able to observe. Male has really done many runs. No excuses this time.

Lets see how it goes!!

[nicholas76]

4th lot GOne! all eaten

now they are cleaning and shivering again. its friday afternoon and they always seem to lay sunday, lets see how on time they are.

PIctures of them cleaning below

[nicholas76]

and

[Mattzilla]

fingers crossed....i still want some fry!!!

matt

[crazy4discus]

yes same here i would really luv some of your fries from that pair looks awsome hope everything goes well for the pair

[nicholas76]

score check

5th batch eaten.

[Pat_in_NC]

Try adding some maroxy or hyde as antifungals next time. I went trough the same thing with three different pairs but as soon as I added Maroxy--Bam wrigglers. My theory is that the parents eat some of the good eggs with the bad and once the number of fertile eggs gets below some crititcal mass--they eat them regardless. Maroxy/hyde gives them less to eat to begin with. Just my own little theory--certainly there are lots here who don't use it and if you do use it you must do small (20% with aged tap) wc 2x a day to remove the Maroxy after you get wrigglers or you may have problems with them attaching. I also do small daily wc (only with aged 70-100 uS water) starting the day after adding the Maroxy to get rid of poop and keep the pH from crashing. I think with all these small wc there isn't much Maroxy left during the attachment.

Pat

[nicholas76]

thanx PAt,

I think i'll let them give it a few more goes and then try your system.


cheers

nick

[dannop]

Try putting a small plastic mesh cone over the egg site so that the discus can still fan and see the eggs but can't eat them. But an airstone nearby to increase water flow to the eggs. You will be able to see if the eggs are fertile and hatch this way. If they do hatch wait until just before freeswimming and feed the parents really well (like live food-cbw for example) and hopefully the fry will attach to the parents and be ok from there. Certainly something to try.

There's always the pull the eggs and raise manually method......but I wouldn't recommend that quite yet.

[dannop]

I've also seen it out here on the boards where one notices one discus parent eating eggs and not the other. There is an option then to pull the egg eater and leave the eggs with the other solo parent. It can work!

[nicholas76]

guys,

I heavly feed my pair with live food during the egg fanning stage coz i dont want them to eat the eggs

is this wrong? what feeding schedule does one use ?

nick

[Carol_Roberts]

I feed lightly as mine usually aren't as hungry with eggs and wigglers

[Rod Coleman]

Hi Nick
I always have better results with breeders when I treat the water with peat. I have different water to you but you might want to give it a try, particulary if you find your hardness is up a bit.

Rod

[nicholas76]

HI Rod,

My water is extremely soft as it is so im not sure if peat would be of value, unless your suggesting I add it due to the mineral value?

I would like to you use a plastic mesh to protect the egge batch but cannot find much on it.

How do you secure the mesh without touching the eggs, I have also been told that they will often move the mesh so they can reach the eggss

Ill keep you posted


cheers

nick

[nicholas76]

HI

Batch No 6

Good solid large batch which has yet developed no white eggs.

Nick

[jason87]

wow. good luck. hope it works this time ;D

[nicholas76]

thanx

[nicholas76]

YOU RIPPER!!! yahoo

some of the eggs are shaking like crazy!!! I expect some baby fish soon!!!

Its a relief as now I now he aint sterile.

Good times ahead


my first batch ever!!! rockin

[Mattzilla]

good stuff mate!!!

kepp us posted

matt

[jason87]

Rocks. I WANAN SEE SOME FRYS TOO. haha. hope for the best ;D

[nicholas76]

DAMM

as soon as these eggs started to wiggle they ate them up.

Not sure what the go is but the eggs seemed to easily fall off during this period of time

Im starting to get an algae bloom too. how do i control this without adding algae eaters?


Nick?

[SSTurner]

Dont worry about the algae.
In between spawns clean it off if you want but I know a guy that has algae and lots of nice fish.

here's the picture



Let fish try to get it right, it takes time.

[nicholas76]

thanx for the support. great pic

[jason87]

i think some fish shops are selling some kind of liquid that can prevent/reduce algea growth.

[dannop]

I have purchased and tried the "stop algae" product when I had a green water bloom once. It did not work very well and adding more chemicals to discus water is not the way to go. I recommend putting in some floating plants, duckweed etc., that will suck the nutrients out of the water and starve the free floating algae out of existence. They also shade the water some making the discus more naturally relaxed and also give plecos something to chew on. :)

[nicholas76]

DEAD FISH

female jumped out of the tank somtime last night. Carpet floors didnt hear a thing.

she got thruogh the smallest of gaps

devastated totally, my first breeding pair is over with.

:'( :'(

[Carol_Roberts]

Oh Nicholas, I am so sorry :'(

[snakeskin9]

hey sorry to hear that
don't you have cover glass??

sorry :( jarryd

[Mattzilla]

oh my god!!!!!

what a loss....

i'm devistated too mate

matt

[RyanH]

Nicholas,

I've been rooting for you since you first started this post and I'm so sorry that you lost your fish. Hopefully you can get another Red Melon female for your male and get it going again. :(

[nicholas76]

thanks guys

the sadest thing is watching my male bow and flirt to her as i tried to revive her by moving her about in the tank

absolutely devastated.

one large melon on his own/ its going to take me months through quarantine and such to get another one.

i dont know waht to do with him.

devastated :'( :'(

[yippy]

So sorry Nick, hope the male is ok without his mate.

Kerry :'(

[jason87]

omg. discus will jump suddenly without any disturbence? my tank has no cover at all and my water level is 5cm below the brim. damn i think i gonna take some precaution. :-\

[ping]

Sorry to hear that Nick. :'(
Hope you can find another female for him.

Ronny

[RyanH]

Jason:

That is a really good idea. I have also lost Discus to jumping before. They are darters, especially if they are startled. Cover your tanks tightly or sooner or later you will lose fish as well.

[nicholas76]

hey,

yeah they can dart, especially when they flirt with a partner I find. mine jumped out of a a gap that was about 2cm. perfect escape hatch.

Need to invest in a Large lid in addition to the cover glass.

time to find another better female for him ...............search begins

nick

[Discusgeo]

Sorry to hear that Nicholas. I had a Snakeskin pair 2 years ago where the female also got thru a small hole. Found her later in a box of packing peanuts. For months I could never find her, thought a cat got in my garage and got her.
George

[keith_cny]

Hey Nick,

Sorry to hear your bad luck. I am sure you will find a good mate for him soon.

I almost had a kitty funeral at my place a couple years ago when one of mine jumped out. Ended up getting him declawed instead (lol ...oh well..it was a good idea anyways).

[keith_cny]

BTW Nick....where are you located??

[SSTurner]

I would try Han's 2nd shipment to get a new fish. OR If you want your male to be happy again my lady melon needs a mate 8) Steve

[nicholas76]

im based in melbourne australia


currently organising a new female! will keep you posted

nick :)

[EthanCote.com]

Hey Nick,

Sorry to hear about your loss. It is devasting indeed. I know how excited u were about them having babies.

Hang in there.

Your dreams of Red Melon babies will happen.


Take care.


Cheers,

Chi.

[RyanH]

Hey Nick,

I don't know if they sell them down under, but I really like using Versa-Tops for covering my tanks. They are glass with a plastic back that can be custom cut as needed. They are inexpensive too.

[nicholas76]

thank you.

ill definetly look into that.


cheers


nick