My Discus have babies!!!!!!!

[rlong]

Hi,
Over the last week or so I have noticed that my Discus have been a little stressed. I have 4 in a planted 72 gallon bowfront. Tonight as I was getting ready for bed, I fed them but only 2 came out to eat. So I sat down in front of the tank to look for and observe the Discus. That is when I noticed that there was some dark spots on the grey stand-pipe/overflow. Then I saw one of the spots wiggling. 2 of the Discus are on guard, one on each side of the pipe.

WOW, I'm stuned!

[wolfbane]

Congratulations!! Now the fun really begins!! It's fun to watch them grow up and spawn.

[rlong]

Hi,
Okay, Now what do I do? They are in my 72 gallon planted display tank. Their tank mates are 2 Siamese algee eaters and about 20 Mollies. So the tank is pretty tame.

Questions:
When should I start feed baby brine?
How long can I leave them in the display tank?

I know that if I'm going to raise them, I'll need a rearing tank so if this bath survives the next few day I'll go out and get one.

Thanks in advance for any advise you guys can give me.

[brewmaster15]

Congrats!

Best chance you have is to leave the lights on 24 hours and if the parents guard them well.. They may make it to free swimming. You probably wont get that far with this batch but if you do.. BBs after a 5-7 days free swimming is what I usually do.

Might be time to retire the mollies

Good luck!

al

[rlong]

Hi Brewmaster,
Thanks for the advise. I was able to catch all but about 8 mollies without disturbing the parents. I worked at the other end of the tank, Mollies are soo stupid. Very easy to catch.

THanks again.

[AADiscus]

Congrats on the spawn! You might want to move that pair into there own tank if you want to have fry. Normally in a community tank they will not make it very long. IME But you never know. You can start bbs anytime. I normally start at day 3 of free swimming. Good luck!

[rlong]

Hi,
Here is a picture.