protecting eggs

[brady]

I have a pair, I think, who spawned on the up tube of a home made hydro 5 filter. They were there there for about a day and a half.
There was no fungus and they were a healthy redish looking color. THere last night, gone this morning.
The next time I'm going to partition it off with a pc. of plexiglass.
If I do get wrigglers how long should I leave the glass inplace? When they become free swimming?
And how long will they be on the parents because I have to order bs eggs and I want to be ready
when they are needed.
Speaking of which what is the best brand? I know there has been discussions here but know real conclusion as too
which is the best, be direct or San. Fran brands>
Jay

[Willie]

Like everything else about keeping discus, nothing just happens. Great to see you have a potential pair (you'll get confirmation when the eggs hatch), but a successful spawn - that is, getting viable fry - requires planning.

1. Breeding tank - Pairs will spawn in community tanks, but no one has been able to get fry to survive. They'll need their own tank.
2. Spawning medium - Cones are best, slates can work. (I know a famous breeder who uses bricks.) They will always choose a high point to spawn, so the cone/slate should be high relative to any other structure.
3. Wire cage - Make a cage that will protect the eggs beforehand. I make mine from chicken wire mesh. Fancy ones are vinyl coated, but any kind of mesh will work.
4. Baby Brine Shrimp - Do a trial run to make sure your hatching set up works and your eggs are viable. San Francisco Bay Brand used to be positioned as "premium", but they source their eggs from China now. To me, the difference between high hatch versus low hatch is just an extra teaspoon full at the beginning. So I use the cheap stuff.
5. When you get to free swimming fry, large, frequent water changes are a must. Be sure to have a grow out tank convenient for frequent water changes. Mine are getting 100% every other day, moving to daily W/C as they reach 1".



It seems a lot, but that's the difference between discus and angelfish.

[LizStreithorst]

good information, Willie.

[pastry]

[QUOTE=Willie;1381041]Like everything else about keeping discus, nothing just happens. Great to see you have a potential pair (you'll get confirmation when the eggs hatch), but a successful spawn - that is, getting viable fry - requires planning.

1. Breeding tank - Pairs will spawn in community tanks, but no one has been able to get fry to survive. They'll need their own tank.

Willie... not true, boss I've had 3 pairs (2 without interfering 1 bit) spawn and raise little lines in my community tank. As long as I had a crap load of Driftwood and plants, then I had a higher chance of a strong parenting pair be successful. Obviously the little one what do you better growing out in a cleaner environment like most do and bare bottom tanks but check out my very first Thread about 10 years ago in regards to growing out and 150 planted

[Willie]

... I've had 3 pairs (2 without interfering 1 bit) spawn and raise little lines in my community tank. As long as I had a crap load of Driftwood and plants, then I had a higher chance of a strong parenting pair be successful...

My hat off to you, Elliot. I'm assuming there are no tetras, etc., in the tank to pick off the fry? Also, I've had fry dive into the gravel never to be seen again. Tell us more about that tank.

[brady]

Willie ,Thanks for the info. When you say you use the cheapest brand of bs eggs what
brand is it?
Also, how long is it from wigglers to free swimming?
Jay

[brewmaster15]

Jay..
https://forum.simplydiscus.com/showt...ching-timeline

As for brineshrimp. There are many suppliers.Not sure were Willie gets his. I use brineshrimp direct.

Brine shrimp cysts are graded and sold by hatchrates.
Interesting video here..
https://forum.simplydiscus.com/showt...yst-discussion

Basically the higher the hatchrates the more expensive the cysts. Hatch rates often are listed as economy grade (60-70%) highest grade would 95%+. I've tried both but just use the economy grade. Most people hatch out way to much at a time as a norm and the economy grade really hatches out more than enough for my needs.

[brewmaster15]

Jay..one other note. Storage is critical. Unoppened cans should be stored referigerated or colder.I store mine in my freezer. Once openned the cans must be refrigerated and kept dry. Moisture destroy the viabilty.

[Willie]

It's been a while since I purchased new bring shrimp eggs, so I'll defer to Brew. As for wrigglers, it takes 60 - 72 hours to go from hatching to free swimming.

[brady]

Thanks Al for the info. That time line post must be one of the first on the forum.
Jay

[brady]

Thanks Willie for the info.
Jay

[Charlyc11]

I get mine from BSD also and I have 80% hatch rate in the freezer but lately I use their San Francisco strain since they are smaller and easy to strain the shells with nets.

Jay..
https://forum.simplydiscus.com/showt...ching-timeline

As for brineshrimp. There are many suppliers.Not sure were Willie gets his. I use brineshrimp direct.

Brine shrimp cysts are graded and sold by hatchrates.
Interesting video here..
https://forum.simplydiscus.com/showt...yst-discussion

Basically the higher the hatchrates the more expensive the cysts. Hatch rates often are listed as economy grade (60-70%) highest grade would 95%+. I've tried both but just use the economy grade. Most people hatch out way to much at a time as a norm and the economy grade really hatches out more than enough for my needs.

[Iminit]

Just bought bbs from California black worms. So far they’ve been great. Hatching for 3 days straight. Best I’ve had so far.

[brady]

Thanks to all for the info. I was checking on Amazon the different brands,sizes and cost. Holy moley, I bought a 16 oz. bbs eggs from bsd about
15 years ago for about 15$or so dollars. Now it's 44$.
Also, I saw some from china and Thailand. I would not buy any from any Asian country be cause they probably come from there shrimp farms
and you know what they are. An open pit of shrimps,anti biotics and sewerage.
Anyway, bsd still gets it eggs from the grsl in Utah and I will go with them.
Jay

[pastry]

My hat off to you, Elliot. I'm assuming there are no tetras, etc., in the tank to pick off the fry? Also, I've had fry dive into the gravel never to be seen again. Tell us more about that tank.

There were. Priscella (sp?) tetras one time and Lemon tetras the next.. BUT, when I say there were so many plants and dw, I mean it was insane. Even the tetras multiplied. The only reasonS I hate bringing it up is because it goes against what we try to teach others: it's no bueno for baby discus.

ALCON: My "successful bred & raised in community tank" was NOT successful in terms of those babies becoming awesome specimens. "Why?" Because (1) I wasn't changing water daily, (2) parameters weren't good for bone & gill development, and (3) I'm a big believer in great baby discus parameters pretty soon after "born".

That said, I've never treated a community (discus + dithers) as a daily changing tank. Maybe I could've had some good specimens. But I have to come clean and say the ones that made it were sub-par (gills, size, shape, etc). SUPER cool seeing ferocious parents, but maybe next time (if lucky again) I'll at least remove 20-30 babies within 3-7 days of free swimming (if not sooner).

If you want to see it in your own tank then (1) have a big *** tank (I have a 150), then (2) have so many plants & dw (i had tons of val, swords, java fern, lotus, anubias, crypts... especially val) that it's difficult seeing the fish in 70-80% of tank, and (3) just keep every fish happy. Regarding expectations on little ones developing: set the bar LOW... lower & lower the longer you keep them in the community tank.