Pair spawning again but have 9 day old fry

[Ggz123]

Need some advice please. The parents have been great parents taking care of their fry. They figured it out on the 3rd try. I just went to feed in my fish room and they have just started spawning again. Instead of using the cone they used the last 3 times, they are now using the back of the aquarium glass. Any input is welcome because I have read they will eat their existing fry when they spawn again. thx in advance.

[Altum Nut]

Congrats Greg...and yes parents will most likely eat fry with a new spawn. If the current fry is a good size batch you can siphon and discard new laid eggs...or another option is your 9 day old fry can start feeding on newly hatch brine shrimp and can be moved into their own grow-out tank although some wait till 14 days.
If your tank is large enough you can put in a divider like poet foam.

...Ralph

[Ggz123]

Thanks for the reply Ralph. I've seen some YouTube videos of people artificially raising discus fry with egg yolk. But I realize that is pulling the eggs from the get go and letting them turn to wigglers and hatch via Methlyne Blue. Since that doesn't seem doable at the moment with them spawning on the glass I will try to move the fry to their own tank. I have introduced brine shrimp to the current tank but can't tell if they are eating it or not. To that end, do you recommend I use egg first or continue with brine shrimp after moving them to their own tank?

[Keith Perkins]

When did you first start feeding them the live bbs? At nine days old they are most likely eating it. If you want two batches of fry of the same type that close together in age I would definitely pull the fry and continue feeding them live bbs. You could also start introducing small amounts of beefheart before too long, maybe another week. I wouldn't mess with egg yolk.

[Altum Nut]

To that end, do you recommend I use egg first or continue with brine shrimp after moving them to their own tank?


. I wouldn't mess with egg yolk.

I think Keith answered that :thumbsup:

...Ralph

[Ggz123]

I started last Wed night, 4 nights ago. I have the beef heart frozen cubes.....(Hikari I think). Do I thaw and then just grind up a small amount?

[Keith Perkins]

Personally I'd just drop in a small amount of beefheart in and let them pick at it, though I usually do it while they're still with the parents. They'll figure out it's food pretty quickly, but I'd wait another week or so before you introduce it. It's been a long time since I've bought heart and not made it myself, so you may have to grind it, but I don't think so. Hopefully they'll be able to pick a good bit of it without you having to mess with it.

[Ggz123]

Update: Most of the eggs are looking great and the fry I moved seem to be doing well and eating the BBS. I can tell by their orange stomachs. I have them in a plastic gallon jar (I think pretzels were in them originally) which I cut the lid so a panty hose is on the bottom. The jar is inside a 29 gallon tank with a sponge filter. I am not sure how long I should keep them in the jar before releasing them.....any feedback? Thx in advance.

Also, I have 5 x 5.5" Brilliant Blue discus coming from Kenny this month. Super excited.

[Keith Perkins]

How many fry are we talking about? I'd consider moving them to something smaller than a 29 initially, perhaps something like a 10. I'd be concerned they'd feel lost released into a 29. The nice thing about a 10 is that you can always use it in the future as part of a bbs hatchery.

Congrats on the new additions coming from Kenny.

[Ggz123]

About 20 fry total. However, the eggs were eaten this morning. Bizarre, they would have been very close to hatching today.

[Altum Nut]

20 fry of the 9 day old?
Many would say not worth the effort to raise 20 fry as after the culling stage you may be left with none. However this stage will give you some learning experience for trial and errors you can reflect on for that larger batch around the corner.
Parents eating eggs is common but if they continue to do so you can screen eggs if they lay again on a cone.

...Ralph

[RogueDiscus]

I'll disagree a bit with Ralph. Whether 20 is worth it can depend on your resources and goals. I've recently had a pair raise a small group of about 20. They got a lot of "attention" from the parents, who seemed less stressed by the small group, and they grew pretty fast. I've been able to comfortably keep the group in a 55 and keep up with the water changes. I know I'll have to cull some, but if I get 6-10 nice fish out of the group, I'll be happy. The pair has another small group on them now. The small groups seem to be a combination of small batches from the female, and from the look of the eggs later, possibly poor fertilization on his part. I wouldn't mind larger groups, but small ones have worked for me.

[RogueDiscus]

And just to contradict myself, I'm pretty excited abut a large snakeskin hatch one of my pairs just had. Hopefully most of them will attach!

[RogueDiscus]

Sorry to hijack the thread. Greg, how are they doing?

[Ggz123]

Sorry to hijack the thread. Greg, how are they doing?

Sorry for the delay in posting, I have not lost any of the fry (9 days old when I moved them) and they are growing like weeds. All are looking great.

AND, last night I made a trade for a pair of Mandarin Passion pair (originally from AngelsPlus) for some Koi angelfish. SCORE!