Wow Linda I guess you are all in. Good luck on your raising fry adventure. Very cool stuff happening on this thread.
Patty
I'm honestly not sure why they're SO happy. I'm not playing them any romantic music, I know that much. They get 2 big water changes each week with tap water and Prime. I'm feeding twice daily with a variety of foods - Al's FDBW and discus chow, Forrest's AquaBites, and Hikari Discus Bio-Gold. I do know that these guys seem to really like tannins, and I've got that huge chunk of driftwood in there that's still leaching, so maybe that's part of it.
The first 2 pairs to match up in this tank both have wigglers now. I actually think that one of the sets might have a slim chance of making it (at least for a little while). The last time that pair spawned, they got swimmers but the babies seemed to attach to the heater guard instead of the parents. They died off slowly over a couple days. This time, the wigglers are on the front glass, away from most other dark objects in the tank. I'm interested to see if the parents can hang close enough to attract the babies. I did steal a few wigglers from each set this afternoon to try an artificial raise. We'll see how that goes.
Wow Linda I guess you are all in. Good luck on your raising fry adventure. Very cool stuff happening on this thread.
Patty
If the discus are happy, I’m happy
This morning, both pairs have swimmers. One set seems to be attracted to the pre-filter sponge on the intake tube. The other set seems to be attempting to hang around their parents, but mom is trying her best to stick them all back on the corner of the tank.
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You can see one baby just under dad's chin.
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One baby visible at the dorsal fin.
I love how mom developed a nice black halo when she darkened up for the babies!
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The babies are gone today, as expected. I don't know if they just died or were eaten. I think I may try to pull one of the pairs out and put them in a breeding tank, because they seem very determined! I don't look forward to try to catch them though, especially with several that look alike in the tank.
Overall, this tank has been a great experience! I had never had a large tank prior to this, and had never attempted a discus display tank. I think it has gone well, and I'm looking forward to continuing to work on it and seeing it evolve!