web leopard fry to breeder

Well after a rocky start i've finally managed to get some lss fry to feed. The pair of lss are great breeders, but unfortunetly have poor parental skills. The first spawn dissapeared a day after they went swimming, someone or both ate them before i noticed what was going on. 2nd spawn a few days later produced another nice spawn, this time the female was removed as i thought the male looked the better parent.....well he attacked and ate them when they went swimming. I caught him doing it when 3/4 of the spawn was already dead and the remainder terrified in the top corners. 3rd spawn produced another nice clutch, this time i removed the male. The female only seemed half interested. Definately didn't fill me with confindence so i watched them carefully. When the fry went freeswimming i noticed they gathered in the top corners because the female was not signalling or attempting to gather the fry. What to do?! Well another pair had a small spawn of around 15 to 20 fry that had been freeswimming for 24 hours, take a chance and transfer the fry. So thats what i did, after the transfer the pair happily accepted the fry and began feeding them within minutes. Joy!! 2 days later i'm happy to report that the fry are doing quite nicely with thier adopted parents and already appear to have put on weight. I transferred around 60 to 80 fry and if all goes well i'll be able to show them off as they grow and develop.

I only have a pic of the male lss today, he has a new wife now and was happy to show off for me. The female however has been left in the breed tank, no fry survived that i left with her. She is at the moment in a sulky mood and definately wasn't interested in having her pic taken so that will have to wait for another day.

Rod:)

The fry are now 9 days old and have been eating brine shrimp for a couple of days. In the last 24 hours the fry are starting to venture out and actively look for food, a good sign that they are approaching removal time from the foster parents. With a close look i can already distinguish the snakeskin fry, although it isn't so apparent in my pics:(

This is the mother web leopard, she is on a rest for a week or 2 by herself before i try breeding her again.

Rod:)

The fry are 15 days old now, they were moved a few days ago into a 25 gallon tank for the next few weeks. There are approx 90 fry. Already i can see quite a few culls, the main reason being bad swim bladders. There are about 10 of these along with a couple of runts and a few bad fin deformities. I'll remove those while they are in this smaller tank over the next few days. Culling is not an easy job anytime, but i find it slightly easier when the fish are so small. The rest of the fry appear to be good quality specimens, so overall i'm quite excited at this early stage.

The fry are 27days old now and have grown quite a bit since my last report. I took one of the larger ones out today and measured him at 25mm standard length and 30mm including the tail. There were 15 culls that i have already removed and perhaps a few more to go that i have not decided on yet. Overall they are filling out the 25 gallon fast and i'm planning on splitting the batch over 2 tanks in the next week or so. Color wise, at this early stage i cannot see any markings or pattern forming whatsoever.

I thought a little information on the water change schedule and feeding regime might be appropriate at this time.

Water changes at this stage are in the order of 25% every 2nd day, tapwater is filtered over activated carbon before being aerated, heated to 28c and acidified to a neutral value. Once a week i wipe down the glass and change 75% of the water. So 3 minor changes and 1 major change each week. The water from my tap is around 400ms conductivity and dh around 6.

Food at this stage is 3 meals of bbs and 2 meals of Inve proton grade 2 each day, enough to round out the bellies of the fry but not so much that there are left overs after an hour. Over the last few days i have been adding finely shaved beef heart mix as well which they are going for. Over the next few weeks i expect the fry to be fully weaned from bbs and eating fine grades of all the usual discus foods.

Rod:)

The fry are 35 days old now and doing quite well. They are eating and producing a lot of waste and i have had to increase the w/c level to where i am now doing 50% daily changes. I've also increased the amount of beef heart mix and am feeding 2 meals a day of proton grade 4. They are still receiving some bbs but greatly reduced. Color and pattern wise, i have noticed some markings developing on the anal and dorsal fins of the nine bar leopards. Very faint but definatly there. The lss have no markings yet that i can see.

The first 3 pics were taken during a w/c and the last pic was taken just after where they are feeding away on proton.

Rod:)

It's been a while since my last report. The fry are now 61 days old (pic 1) and doing quite well.
Color has developed quite a bit among the 9 bar fry to the point where the pattern has developed right through the body. The color is light, and my camera skills are not great, but i think you can see the pattern in the 2nd pic. Not so obvious is the red spotting, but in person the spots started to appear about 2 weeks ago.
The 14 barred ones in contrast show little if any color markings. Just a few marks in the dorsal and anal fins towards the back on a few of them. To look at them in person, you could easily believe they are from regular snakeskin. (pic 3 & 4)
The diet at this stage includes frozen adult artemia, beef heart and prawn mix finely grated, proton 4 and tetra bits. Normally i feed Sera discus granules instead of the tetra but a supply problems has left me little choice atm. They also get some live bloodworms every few days.
The last pic shows the size of an average specimen. They are 45mm or 1 3/4" SL and 60mm or 2 1/3" total length. Growth rate is average to slightly below average compared to my brown and turquoise strains, i've also noticed some football shaped ones and a few with eye problems as they are developing. Cull rate is around 25% so far.

Rod:)