A thing I hoped but secretly never thought I'd actually see: ATTACHMENT!!!

[CliffsDiscus]

Hi, Francis and Liz,
Some good information, I feed mostly live bbs, the fry really like this, but when for some reason one of the bbs doesn't hatch out I will use the
recap bbs. The trick is to soak the decaps in warm water this will soften the shrimp then take a smell test, if it smells
like shrimp it's ready to feed.
I think there were couple of batches(bowls) on mondodiscus.com.

Cliff

[LizStreithorst]

I used to decapsulate my own. It's not that hard. Only takes 10 minutes until they're ready to feed.

[Rolla P]

Unfortunately the fry didn't take to the decap brine at all. And I have no live BBS...

Am I in trouble?

They're still feeding on the parents and look a lot bigger than they did on day 1.

[LizStreithorst]

get some BBS cysts and hatch them now. Your not in trouble yet, but you will be if you don't. The babies need the wiggle factor to lure them from the parents.

[seanyuki]

Discus produce mucus secretions that are used to feed broods of fry.I let my fry eat the mucus for around 15 days to build up their immune system .

[Rolla P]

get some BBS cysts and hatch them now. Your not in trouble yet, but you will be if you don't. The babies need the wiggle factor to lure them from the parents.

Discus produce mucus secretions that are used to feed broods of fry.I let my fry eat the mucus for around 15 days to build up their immune system .

Day 4 and Day 15

4 days have passed and although I'm calm I feel like I'm panicking because I've never been at this point in the hobby. For a long time I was more focused on growing and maintaining healthy fish. I've been doing 2 50% water changes daily and although it's only day 4. the difference between first attachment and now is a sight to see.

That aside, is there any resource which explains or gives a guide as to what I should feed and for how long. I'm sure I've come across posts where people only feed live BBS for a few days. I'm not opposed to allowing the to graze on the slime coat for 2 weeks either. My main goal is discus that are not stunted and grow as expected.

Again, please excuse my inexperience here.

[LizStreithorst]

I start feeding BBS on day 4. After a week I start introducing a couple of feedings of Golden Pearls and Super Fry but I like to continue to feed BBS until the fish loose interest in it which is often a couple of months. I like the leave the kids with the parents as long as the parents aren't bothered by them. This is a longer time for a small spawn and a shorter time for a large spawn. 3 weeks with parents is about normal IMO Hope this helps

[Rolla P]

My male discus... Er... Is trying to get the females attention for another spawn?!?!!

I've watched him transfer the babies to his partner. And I've also seen him zoom away and leave the fry behind. But today, when the fry were on the female, he was doing that very distinctive shake dance. Is this normal?

I start feeding BBS on day 4. After a week I start introducing a couple of feedings of Golden Pearls and Super Fry but I like to continue to feed BBS until the fish loose interest in it which is often a couple of months. I like the leave the kids with the parents as long as the parents aren't bothered by them. This is a longer time for a small spawn and a shorter time for a large spawn. 3 weeks with parents is about normal IMO Hope this helps

I will have this up and running early next week. The equipment from amazon and the eggs from ebay. I'm a little unsure about how to get the desired temperature and maintaining it but I'll take a deep dive on youtube later if I can't find the answer. THis is still all new to me but very exciting.

[Rolla P]

I have purchased the JBL Artemio set and Artemio mix which should be arriving tomorrow.

Quick pic update, I can now see the pectoral fins.

[danotaylor]

Good for you mate. I can't help, but I am enjoying tracking from a distance of greater than 6'

[Rolla P]

Ok so there's good news and bad news.

My community tank pair spawned and as usual they cut the viable eggs down from over 300 to 100 in the first 3 days. They became wrigglers and the pair began to cull the fry down over the next 3 days while they were on the cone. But on the fourth day...

BOOM

They had attached fry. Very few, less than 15 but when the lights came on they were in parent mode. My tetras switched into a noticeably different mode of behaviour and my discus pair killed about 5 in the space of a few minutes. Literally broke their backs and spat them out, leaving them flailing, not even bothering to eat them.

The tank is a 120G with a jet black background. I did not expect them to get this far let alone attach.




The good news is that of the 15 I managed to save a few and surrogate them with the pair that have fry. Here's a zoomed in vid that also demonstrates the size difference in the age 1 vs 6 days old.

https://imgur.com/InxRLzO

So in the space of less than a week I've gone from hoping but thinking I'd never see attached fry to two pairs. One of which, despite the reduced numbers managed to get fry attached in a community tank with a jet black background? I consider myself very lucky. With the strongest of possible emphasis on the word lucky

Any advice for the community pair?

[Rolla P]

Really bad news.

Over the past two days I lost some fry. From 71, to 58, to 54 over a 48 hour period. And so today I went to do the night time water change and found my wayward male actively attacking the fry on the side of the female. I think I'm down to 40+

I'm wondering if it's a delay in getting the bbs up and running or if he saw the fry as a hindrance to his next spawn.

Any advice?

[LizStreithorst]

It wasn't because you didn't have bbs. It's usually the female who will unexpectedly turn on the kids but sometimes it's the male. Now that you know what he's like you'll know to remove him early next time you breed the pair.

[Rolla P]

We take a picture a series of pics to count how many are there. Usually 4.

We started losing a few on day 5. Honestly, it seems like he wanted to spawn as I mentioned earlier as he was courting the female while fry were attached. Doing the bow and shaking and displaying while fry weren't on him. But removing him on day 5 is something I'll need to consider next time.

That aside, I have heard that discus fry will eat themselves to death and truth be told, I'm unsure about how much to feed to 40-50 fry I have left. Also, how long does a freshly churned/hatched batch of bbs stay fresh? Once they're hatched, extracted and washed in clean water how long do they keep for?

Again, my apologies for all the novice questions. I'm still trying to weave my way through this.

[Rolla P]

Live baby brine shrimp has been added and again a sight to behold lol. THe fry went from being stuck to mom to a sort of cloud of fry surrounding her. Staying close but definitely eating the shrimp.

Quick vid for anyone that's interested.

https://imgur.com/a/L6Epnhb


If anyone has any info on the question I asked in my last post, I'd be very grateful. I am quite worried about the fry eating themselves to death as well as keeping the newly hatched shrimp.