Fry Attachment with Light Colored Parents

[sf_discus]

Hello all. Moved my newly formed pair of yellow pigeons into their breeding setup recently and they just had their first spawn. The fry have been in the wiggler stage for 3 days now and some of them are starting to become free swimming. None however have found the parents yet, which isn't surprising since they're mostly white.

Here is a picture of the male from a couple days ago for reference

136991

I have already lowered the water level to just above the top of the breeding cone, dimmed the lights, and reduced the flow as much as possible. Is there anything else I can do to help the fry find the parents?

Thanks

[Sandip]

This is so amazing. I am excited to see how the fry turns out. Here's to hoping that you get a ton of babies from these eggs. Keep us posted.
Make sure nothing startles the parents.

[CliffsDiscus]

The Pigeon blood Discus will not darken up, the fry should be free swimming on day seven..
Cliff

[sf_discus]

Hi Cliff. I was under the impression that about 48 hours after the hatch the fry can start to be come free swimming. I have been reading this article from https://discusnada.org/breeding-discus/ where it states:

"At around the 48-56 hour mark after the hatch more and more fry will begin to leave the cone as the parents’ frantically work to keep them there. Eventually the parents will give up, or decide it’s time to let the fry free. You will soon have fry scattered about the tank everywhere."

The eggs hatched Monday night and now about 90% of the fry are free swimming.

Any tips other than what I mentioned in my first post that would help the fry attach?

[LizStreithorst]

Take the sponge out for half a day, remove the cone, and lower the water level to just above the parent's dorsal. Not much you can do other than that.

[sf_discus]

Hi Liz. Thanks for the advice. I forgot to mention that I already removed the sponge, I have a foam divider in the tank (45g bow front) and the sponge is already in the other half. I will try removing the cone and further lowering the water. This is only their first spawn since they’ve been moved into their own tank, so it was probably a long shot that they would get it all right on their first attempt in the new environment.

[jeep]

I lower the water level, leave the tank lights off and leave an accent light on all day and night. A dim light or even overhead ceiling light at night and reflecting sunlight during the day. New born fry are nearly blind, which is why regular parents turn dark to attract the fry. PB's cannot turn dark so tank lights off and accent light on can help create a shadow or at least make the parents more visible to the fry. If you're using sponge filters you can remove it for a few days or put something white over it, like a sock...

[LizStreithorst]

The trick to success is to not give up.

[CliffsDiscus]

A good rule of thumb is if they lay eggs example on Monday the next Monday you should see fry on their back.
Discus go thru stages from egg to really free swimming. First stage after laying it takes around 3days or 72 hours before hatching. Second stage the wrigglers are attach to a cone by their adhesive gland. Third stage wrigglers are clumpling, there can be a few up to around dozen wrigglers clumping together by their heads. Last stage will be free swimming and attachment.

[Discus Fever]

Sometimes the babies won't attach to their parents because they do not darken up, best thing to do is add brine shrimp into the tank and get some of the babies to eat it. Other than that many people will pull the eggs and raise them artificially since they don't attach to the parents.

[sf_discus]

Thank you everyone for all the advice. Fry still have not been able to attach to the parents. This morning I turned off the tank lights completely and instead am providing light with a dim nearby lamp, as Brian suggested. Hopefully that helps but if not that’s ok. Will hope for a better result on the next spawn.

[sf_discus]

They laid more eggs tonight. Looks like the next spawn came pretty fast haha.

[LizStreithorst]

Hope you have better luck this time.