What could I be doing wrong?

Hello everyone,
I am trying to artificially raise some discus but I have so far failed on my first two batches. On my first batch, I suspect they all died because I used a large orange container (about 10 gallons of water), and I also probably left the egg yolk in the water for too long (I smeared egg yolk on the bottom of a sponge filter placed vertically in the discus tub, every two hours I would replace it with fresh yolk). I suspect this was fouling the water and eventually killed the fry. The recipe I used this batch was a hard-boiled egg, spirulina, and some RO water. I also had a constant drip going into the tub from the main discus tank which is somewhere between 2,000 - 3,000 gallons (only has a dozen discus and 100 cardinals). I kept the temperature at 84-86. On my second batch, I used the same size tub (but clear this time) however this time I only kept the egg yolk in the water for 30 minutes at a time every 2-3 hours, I also started them off immediately with bbs once they started free-swimming. The fry did last a little longer than last time, however this time I did not notice the fry going to the egg yolk parent which may be because the tub was clear this time. I also do not believe the fry were eating the bbs. I also change the recipe this time, and I used one hard-boiled egg yolk, one raw egg yolk, spirulina, and bbs, but this did not matter because the fry was not going for it. They were very hyper near the water suface.

On my second batch, I did get 3 to survive to grow big enough to eat bbs and I still have them and they are 15 days old after hatching. So since these 3 are still alive I am assuming my water quality is not the issue and instead the issue is that the fry is starving since I am using too big of a container. Do you guys think this is probably the issue? The discus in the main display just laid eggs again so I am going to try for a third time. I have been reading a few posts and articles and it looks like most people use small dishes for the fry in the first few days. I have a few questions, do you just have one bowl ready with egg yolk smeared near the top, and then once it dries, move the fry from one bowl to the bowl with the egg yolk and repeat this throughout the day? How exactly do you move the fry from one bowl to the other? Is my egg yolk recipe fine? Sorry if these questions have been answered already somewhere else, I just really want this third batch to go well.

Sincerely,
Ricky

Some Cliff Notes,
Egg yolk smear at the water surface can be dry in seconds with an hair dryer.
Moving fry to another bowl can
be done with a plastic strainer available at the Dollar Store.

Cliff

Quote:

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Originally Posted by CliffsDiscus

Some Cliff Notes,
Egg yolk smear at the water surface can be dry in seconds with an hair dryer.
Moving fry to another bowl can
be done with a plastic strainer available at the Dollar Store.

Cliff

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Thank you Cliff.