Eggs already :D

[jack]

So here's the chronological order of what happened:

4-16-16 = picked up discus (6"super checkerboard x 7"carnation pigeon) - laid eggs 3 times before at previous owner's tank
4-17-16 = got pretty acclimated to the tank at 84-85F, TDS~200, ph~7.7, starting eating flakes
4-18-16 = water change of about 30-40% of a 20H. Dropped temp from 85F to 82F slowly through addition of colder water.
4-19-16 = 8pm, after I come home from work and after dinner, I go to check up on them and I SAW EGGS!!!,

And so, The eggs looks like it's been laid sometime today (afternoon?) and fertilized (amber color) I made a egg guard out of gutter guard and put it over the breeding flower pot xD Now we wait.

ANY SUGGESTIONS??? WHAT DO I DO. (I set up the guard because the parents did eat their eggs before, according to bud)

[Phillydubs]

Don't hold your breath and wait! Haha

It's a great sight and a good start but the very very begining ... Sounds like you have a young possible pair on your hands and it's going to take time to get it right.

Heck you could prove me totally wrong but my bet would be you have some more tries but who knows. Keep an eye on the eggs and see how they progress you will know in a few days what's to come.

I've been to this point myself , it's fun but can become frustrating very fast... Check out my threads, I lost interest quite quick, I'm such a sore looser lol... But enjoy it and best of luck!!!

[Akili]

Just carry on as usual, feeding and water changes and wait for wrigglers . In the meantime read this article it help to what to do http://www.discusnada.org/breeding-discus/

[John_Nicholson]

First set your heater to 82 and leave it there. There is no need to go slow on your water changes. I have often dropped the temp from 82 to 70 in the matter of a few minutes. Your tds is probably to high to have any real success but time will tell. The color of the eggs only matter after 24 to 36 hours so you still do not know if they are fertile or if you have 2 females...or a young male that is still shooting blanks. All you know for sure is that you have one female.

-john

[jack]

Heater is set to 82 now. Gotcha, That'll save me some time then xD
So in my case, John, would I want to just let them do their own thing and not set up a guard? Since I didn't actually see the male fertilize the eggs in person.
At least for this set of eggs, I'm gonna wait it out with the guard and see what happens.
So why exactly won't I have real success unless I get the TDS down? Would I need to buy an RO system and if so, any recommendations for what is good and not too expensive?

Update on the eggs: 4-20-16 (maybe around 24hrs after they first laid eggs)
Maybe about 1/3 of them (or more) have turned white. and hopefully that'll be the end of them turning white :O
What would this suggest? that they weren't fertilized at all? The eggs themselves don't have any of that fungus looking thing I've heard people talking about.
That high TDS is affecting it?

According to Bud, The checkerboard is the female one and the carnation is the male. He said that the male did fertilize the eggs but ate them soon after. Soo. That's my guess on the sex of the discus.

Also on another note,
I have 4 other discus in another tank from bud also and they can't seem to stop being freaked out. No signs of eating (only maybe one of them once in a while) (tried beefheart mix, pellets, flakes) I've decided to cover all four sides of the tank and kinda wait to see what'll happen. Maybe that'll calm them down a bit.

My expectations are pretty low because I am new to discus and I don't see myself having a lot of success one the first try or the first multiple tries, especially without a proven pair. So I'm kinda just watching and waiting and seeing what will happen. Any tips on becoming more successful would be very appreciated!!

[John_Nicholson]

Sometimes people get lucky so you never know. Most of the time an ro unit is required. They are all about the same so the cheapest 3 stage one that produces enough water for you would be the one to get, but for now I would just ride it out for a little bit to see what happens.

-john

[jack]

Has anyone used this system before?
http://www.amazon.com/Aquatic-Life-R.../dp/B00DOG64FM

probably the 50 gallon is enough. but $20 extra for a 100 gallon :3

[zach5187]

Not to burst your bubble but my pair laid eggs wed night were wiggling yesterday am then my fiancee got home..someone ate all the eggs..

[zach5187]

Jack I have an ro buddie, notice in the picture there are 2 additional cartridges. I was getting traces of ammonia in my ro water. After talking to customer service who had to look into the problem...which they say there system does not remove ammonia but whatever...long story short spend a little more and get one out of the box that's gonna be worth a ****....check out bulk reef supply
20160419_201041-640x360.jpg

[LizStreithorst]

This is a good unit for a good price. Replace the DI filter with second carbon block. It doesn't come with a flush valve but I'm sure they sell them. They're a piece of cake to install. http://spectrapure.com/Refurbished-90-GPD-RODI-System

[jack]

Hey guys and gals, I have another question.

Instead of using an RO system to lower the hardness, would I be able to just use some kind of water softener to decrease the hardness of my water instead of having to get an RO system? Because having to wait for RO water to be produced takes a while along with the waste water it produces. So extra time and money on an RO system. (Also I don't know too much about how flush valves work, and haven't been able to find any links/discussions where it teaches me how to do it/ if someone can explain or link me that would be awesome

VS. some sort of water softener system? (larger scale) these are around 400-500 or more.

But you would save on the long run due to lower water heating bills because softer water will heat up easier than harder water?? and what about the quality for drinking water if it's softened?
Has anyone tried this?


Since my other water parameters are okay.
This is straight tap.
Nitrite = 0ppm
Nitrate = 0ppm
Ammonia = 0ppm-0.25ppm
TDS = ~200-250ppm (depending on temp)
GH = 10
KH = 6
pH = 8.2 (aged pH = 7.6/7)

~~UPDATE ON BREEDING PAIR~~ LAID EGGS 5 days after last batch of eggs. (Normal?Abnormal?)
(4-24-16) Pair laid eggs again, I saw them at around 7pm. I intentionally left the gutter guard off this time to see what would happen.
(4-25-16) When I woke up that morning, I saw maybe around 50% of the eggs left, some of them had signs of slight white dot coloration (7am). When I came home at around (7pm) there were no eggs left.

So I'm thinking it's a problem with the hardness of my water? Since the eggs can't get fertilized and turn white, and so the parents eat them?, But I don't really have any proof that it's this and not that the male is infertile. But it would be a bit easier to test if it's the water quality problem vs an infertility problem.

HALP

[zach5187]

Opinions are like *** holes everyone has one but I think your tds may be to high. 120 or less of think would be best. I'd do ro because we'll that's what I have

[Jayy]

Hey guys and gals, I have another question.

Instead of using an RO system to lower the hardness, would I be able to just use some kind of water softener to decrease the hardness of my water instead of having to get an RO system? Because having to wait for RO water to be produced takes a while along with the waste water it produces. So extra time and money on an RO system. (Also I don't know too much about how flush valves work, and haven't been able to find any links/discussions where it teaches me how to do it/ if someone can explain or link me that would be awesome

VS. some sort of water softener system? (larger scale) these are around 400-500 or more.

But you would save on the long run due to lower water heating bills because softer water will heat up easier than harder water?? and what about the quality for drinking water if it's softened?
Has anyone tried this?

I also looked into a water softener system, and the short answer is it's probably not going to work for you. All water softener systems work the same way. They exchange calcium ions in the water with either sodium or potassium ions (depending on what kind of softener salt you buy). So your softened water will have less calcium but will have more sodium (bad for the fish) or more potassium which is not really bad for the fish in small amounts but will contribute to crazy algae blooms.

After doing my research and deciding to get an RO system I got the RO Buddy 100 GPH. I have a 150 gallon stock tank that fills 3/4 of the way full with RO water. I have a shutoff kit to kill the flow when it reaches the right fill level.

When I do a water change, I add hot water straight from my water heater and dose it with Seachem Safe. I let the hot flow until the tank is full which makes my temp about 72 degrees. As the hot water is filling I turn on a pump to circulate the water in the tank. Once it's full I turn a diverter valve on the same pump and pump the water up into the sump on my main tank (one floor above) through PVC pipe.

Currently my reject water from the RO system runs outside to a drip system reservoir for my garden. I only have a couple of raised beds for my garden and the RO reject water is more than enough to water all of them.

[jack]

I got around 7.5 gallons of RO water from my brother in law and replaced that much from my 20 breeder tank.

The pair laid eggs again at 3 pm, 6 days from last batch. I actually saw the egg laying in process today! Pretty stoked!
Although, the male was doing a crappy job going over the eggs to fertilize them. I only saw him go over like 4 times :O not too sure why... Anyone know??

So hopefully the decreased hardness of the water will be good for the eggs. LETS HOPE!

[jack]

Super checkerboard x carnation discus babies born 7.15.16.jpgbaby discus eating artemia.jpg

I finally have a successful batch of supercheckerboard x carnation discus!! Super excited haha.
It only took about three months for the parents to successfully rear their own young
Although I forgot to take a picture of them together before I moved the fry out due to some stress on the parents.

And the other fry eating artemia is from altum flora x altum ss

So many babies!!!

I'll probably sell most of them as fry and keep around 10 from each batch.
Anyone have tips on how to ship them?
I've been looking at longlife breather bags vs kordon and etc...

Thanks!!