Discus have laid eggs... What now?

[Belowh20]

So I am brand new to keeping Discus however I have been reef keeping for nearly a decade. My Discus Aquarium has been set up for about three months now and only contains two Discus (my wife offed three of them by trying to "help" clean the tank). I had originally bought 4 pigeon blood discus at about 2 inches, 3 died courtesy of my bride and so I purchased an adult Discus of about 5.5 inches to keep my now 4.5 inch pigeon blood company. They have been together for under a month and I discovered them laying eggs last night. The eggs are opaque and I have no idea if they are fertilized or not (one is a brilliant white but the other 70 or so are more brown in color. Steps I have taken so far is to place filter foam pads over the main filter inlet (its a canister) and the outlet to tame some of the water flow.

What do I need to look for/do in the days ahead?

Thanks

72 Gallon Discus Tank


24 Gallon Reef - LPS/SPS mix

[RogueDiscus]

Hi Belowh,
Congratulations, you must be doing enough right if your two have spawned. The white egg is dead, the others may still be viable if they are actually fertile. If they hatch and produce "wigglers" in about 48 hours, then you know you have a confirmed pair. Raising discus fry requires additional tank space and daily large water changes. A big commitment. If you're interested in pursuing that, I'd recommend reading up in the Breeding section.

[Belowh20]

Update: Eggs have hatched... I'm going to try to raise them if possible.

[Yom]

Congrats and welcome to discus parenthood. Relax and let the parents raise the wigglers and fry, this may take them several attempts to get it right so don't get discouraged if they don't make it. You have several weeks to research and prepare to separate the fry from the parents. During the next several weeks get another tank setup with a sponge filter, get a brine shrimp hatchery ready and be prepared to make lots of water changes. Fry require lots of pristine water changes; daily if you can. During the first several weeks the fry will eat the slime coat from the parents and then you need to switch them over to newly hatched brine shrimp preferably less than 24 hours old brine with the egg yolks; the egg yolk is the protein you need for the fry. Try to get a new brine hatch each day. You can also try other "micro" fry foods. The fry require several feedings per day and that is what fouls the water requiring frequent water changes. Once the fry reach about dime size they should be on solid other foods and you can relax somewhat.

Good luck and don't get discouraged, it may take them and you several attempts until you get a group of fry raised.

[LizStreithorst]

Is this a planted or bare bottom tank? Congratulations on the wigglers.

[Belowh20]

Thanks for all the advice! The tank is not planted or bare bottom. It has a quarter inch of fine sand as a substrate and a couple pieces of driftwood for cover.

[LizStreithorst]

Sounds to me like you need to buy BBS cysts now If the parents are good this first time around you can raise the kids in the 72 to a size that that you may be able to sell them, if you have a market...You will loose money.

Breeding Discus is no venture for the faint hearted. You will need to get a 29 gallon to put the pair in when their kids start to annoy them. You must be able to change a ton of water in the fry tank. You'll have to get almost OCD about wipe downs and sponge squeezing.

Still, their is no more beautiful sight than a top quality pair with fry on their sides.