My first spawn!

[Tin Pusher]

To help guide me through the next little while and to provide help for other rookies I thought I would start a thread of my own. Ok Ok, and to say yipeeeeeeeeeee ;D

Pair: Tangerine Dreams
Tanks: 50 Gal. bare with two sponge filters.
Other fish: none
Spawned: 10pm, 0 hour, T-55 hous (Carol posted eggs hatch in 55 hours)

[Carol_Roberts]

Congratulations! Was the male making runs over the eggs too?
Carol :heart1:

Oh Wow!!!! Tangerine Dreams!!! This could be good... Can I go ahead and get in line? Can you take any pics for use to keep us posted?

[Tin Pusher]

9am, 11 hour, T-44 hours

Got up half expecting to ask my pair if they wanted bacon with their eggs but they all appear to be there and the female is attending them.
Questions:
Is it ops normal for the tank?
Lights on or room light only to keep it dim?
50% water change once a day?
Feeding and subsequent leftover cleanup?

The tank is in the kitchen and I would prefer to go ops normal and if they eat them they eat them. Sooner or later they will be used to me being around. Carol the male was following along right after the female.

[Pick]

Sounds exciting Tin Pusher!

Go ops normal. Try not to drive them crazy by hanging around watching a whole lot more than usual. Also, when you clean the tank you don't want to make them too mad, but if they get a little fiesty when you get too close that is a good sign. Lights as normal until you get free swimmers. Once free swimming keep the light off until they attach to the parents. Bright light tends to confuse them, but lights back to normal once they attach. If you have not yet, get a night light for dim light relatively close to the tank in the evening. They need to sleep too, but the NL is a must once you get free swimmers (IMO).

Best to ya!

TC

[saints27]

I dont do any water changes whilst eggs are on the cone ,I syphon the tank with a 4mm hose to remove all left over food and waste but dont add water as lowering the water level will help the babies find mum & dad.
Its just the way I do it .
I also leave a night light on so they can tend to the eggs dont want them eating the good ones when they are trying to remove the bad ones.

Jamie

[Tin Pusher]

Female watching eggs, male in background.

[Tin Pusher]

Close up of female.

[EthanCote.com]

Hey Tin,

Congrats on being a grandpa ;D

Keep us posted as the babies grow.


Cheers,

Chi.

[Carol_Roberts]

I like the male - any eyes in the eggs yet?
Carol :heart1:

[darcy]

that's great Tin!!!
keep us all posted! Here's the ones that spawned for me last night. I didn't grow these out myself. I got them from some one who didn't have the time for them. The female is quite small, the male is fairly big though. I have seen there babies from before and they all look ok!! It just kills me when I see discus not being properly cared for.
Darcy

[Tin Pusher]

10pm (day2), 2400 hour, T-31 hours

Female does most (95%) of the egg care. She was mostly blowing and fanning the first 16 hours but lately has added pecking. I assume she is removing fungus eggs as there are a few. The number of eggs has dropped from approx. 200 down to an estimated 60 left tonight. I did a 50% W/C today and to my releif they paid no attention to my cleaning.

Carol what do eyed eggs look like? Some of my clean looking eggs have a small white dot which could either be eyes or the start of fungus. I thought I read where eyes were dark.

[Carol_Roberts]

dark :-\
CArol :heart1:

[Tin Pusher]

:'(

[peety]

Dood,
Had my first spawn too!! Aint it grand. Goin thru the same stuff as you with the parents hovering around eggs etc etc. ;D

If none come of this I know i'm hooked anyway and we can only get better...Yay!!!

I wish I had camera so I could take some pics........

You say you started with 200 !! Yikes I was happy with perhaps 100...

I've got some breeding tanks on order but they're late. So mine have given birth in a community tank - rats..... PH is a bit high so anything could happen... best of luck .... with ya all tha way.

Peety :D :D :D

[Tin Pusher]

11 am Day 2, 37 hour, T-18 hours

This morning I was down to 10 eggs. None appear to have eyes Carol. Hopefully we can give this a try again in a few weeks. I have recently switched this tank to a phosphate buffer as a trial. I was having a heck of a time keeping a consistent pH so I thought I would give Seachem Neutral Regulator a try. Do phosphate buffers inhibit fertilization of eggs as I have read that hardness does? For the record this is what I add to the W/C in this tank.
All amounts are per 10 gal. and I normally change 40% of my 50 gal. each day
2 tbsp salt (had a bit of a fungus problem)
1 tsp Seachem Neutral Regulator
0.25 tsp Kent RO Right (my tap water is close to RO water)
0.3 tsp Kent Discus Trace

This combination spurred my pair to spawn within 2 days of starting it.
Any opinions?
PS. peety keep me updated on your progress, newbies must band together.

[THEDISCUSGUY]

hey fellow newbie ,
i have a batch of eggs aswell.my pair have been trying for a while now.i have had 40 wrigglers at one stage they all died though.i still havent go them passed that stage .one of the reasons urs eggs didnt hatch is because the male is a little young .it takes time for him to get it right,they dont mature as quick as females.and everthing u add to the water adds to the conductivity of ur water .apparently u need it between 30-100ms and ur hardness needs to be gh0-3 .or the hatch rate is effected.
i wouldnt do a 40% w/c now just enough to clean the bottom of tank.

if u have near ro water then u have an advantage .i wouldnt be adding to much to ur clean water .especially stuff that makes the water harder.im quite sure this is why my hatch rate has been so low.ive also read here that conductivity is more important than ph when breeding discus but it is all a learning curve ,u just have to change things here and there study and listen to the pros here at simply and we will get it right soon . good luck. ; :D

[Tin Pusher]

6pm day2, 44 hours, T-11 hours

8 eggs left and they have eyes. Has anyone had experience with a small hatch? I think the learning curve for new parents would be a little steeper if they could actually have a few fry to take care of. Then maybe next time they would have some idea of what to do.

Welcome Thediscusguy to the newly formed beginner group. There's 3 of us now (you, me, and peety) and I think we should have our own forum topic. Keep us informed as to how your eggs do. :D

Tin: Salt and eggs don't agree with each others.

Fish guy: Conductivity too low may cause drastic fluctuation in PH. That will give you unstable parameters with addition of W/C during hatching. Egg don't hatch. Keep it below 140ms is just fine.

Darcy: Have you tried using Minocycline (Maracyn) on the male. Sometimes it will change him from a terror to a mellow husband. Try treating them in 24 hours and no more. Your female have all the eggs together now. Make the job for the male s lot easier.

Jimmy.

[Tin Pusher]

Ok Jimmy, I will stop salt.
Thanks

[peety]

Mine are now showing a couple of cloudy eggs, but parents aren't eating any off them. Still have 80 + eggs on a leaf in my community tank !!!

I still dont' have hope but then I wouldn't be here telling you about it if i didn't would I ?? ( did that sound bizarre?)

Any wayz , waiting and standing guard alongside mom and dad ;D

I posted a question in another forum about how long we wait and what do we do if mom and dad get left looking over a bunch of empty eggs ... will get back to ya...

peety ;)

[April]

Tin pusher...i am just using regular water out of the tap. and i dont do changes once the eggs are laid. i vacuum the bottom..but dont add. i do use kent ro right for growth.but not any right now for pairs. but...yes you do have to be careful with our water that it doesnt crash..with no changes. i change 90 % a day till they do lay. so clean water.
alot of people here get alot of white eggs..and low hatch rate. really gotta keep the bottom and walls clean.
carry on....im working on young pairs also..

[darcy]

Jimmy
I'll have to try that!! Thanks for yet another tip!!!!! The eggs this time were nicely bunched and the male did an awesome job, there are only 5 eegs on the outside of the bunch that are white the rest are fertilized!!!
Darcy

[Tin Pusher]

9am Day3, 59 hours, T+4 hours

And then there were none! :'(

[darcy]

Tin
better luck next time!!! mine hatched this morning and there was only 20 that didn't hatch. I must have around 120wiggler's. Hopefully this batch will work out for me.
Darcy

[Tin Pusher]

Thats great darcy. Keep us informed. :D

[April]

Tin Pusher.....are these a young pair?
are they eating them? try a screen next time if they were fertile... go to the home depot and get a roll of gutter guard.
and make a cone shaped piece to go over the cone.
at least you can see if you get wigglers.

[peety]

Tin Pusher,
Hope you have better luck next time, I'm sure you will. I had mixed fortunes, expecting no fertilization, then hey presto most started staring back 8)
A number of the infertile ones caused fungus growth on others, but had about 60-70 eggs on one leaf. Then realised they were working two leaves !! jeez about another 100 eggs there !! :) :) :)

Was watchin them most of night when I noticed at about 9:00 pm that the eggs were moving, they were wriggling. Then I noticed that half the eggs were gone. Within 30 mins the parents had consumed about 100 wrigglers :'( :'( :'(

I removed what was left on one leaf and have put it in a tank and intend to try an artificial crop, (couldn't see any reason not to try really :-\.

Wrigglers still alive = about 20 but still wriggling for now...

Will keep ya posted

peety

Peety: You may find some fry 3 days from now. the parents usually hide the brood after hatching. There're chances they did not eat them. Just simply move them away from your sight.
Jimmy.

[peety]

That would be cool.
I got up this morning to find the last eggs (about 40 or so) completely gone :(. The tank even seems quite subdued.
Both parents have gone into hiding. And its like the other discus are resting up as well, because they are being quiet too.

Its pretty flat after the last couple of days excitement. :(

I think the wrigglers I have are still alive but they're not moving as much as they were last night, certainly not free swimming yet.

I guess I just have to wait again. ::)

peety

[Willie]

Tinpusher;

I don't recommend Seachem Neutral Regulator because its a phosphate buffer. It'll tend to increase algal growth in the tank. Also, phosphates are readily metabolized so the buffering capacity is limited. Seachem also sells an Acid Buffer and an Alkaline Buffer. You can mix these (according to the table on the back of the bottle) to any pH you need. Neither of these are phosphate based. It worked great for me when I was making pH adjustments.

Willie

[Tin Pusher]

Willie I have had no problems with algae so far, knock on wood. My pH has been steady for the first time ever. My tap water is very similar to RO water. Adding acid or alkaline buffers won't help with zero KH. Adding baking soda to increase KH will drive up pH. Then adding acid buffer to lower pH will destroy KH buffering. Its a vicious cycle. I have asked this question on the water forum and realized that there are no correct answers, just a bunch of half correct theories. Until the algae becomes a problem or someone says phosphate kills eggs or I get a better idea for water additives I think I will stick with Discus Buffer.
Thanks

[Tin Pusher]

6 days after spawn and 3 days after they ate the last of the eggs they have spawned again. Is this unusual?

[darcy]

Tin
I don't think this is unusual. My pair spawns every 5 to 10 days whether they eat the eggs or not. Well today is the second day for my babies eating egg yolk, all are doing fine and I've only lost one!!!!!! I'm getting better at this and starting to see some fruits for my labor!!
Darcy

[April]

tin pusher...no reason to add anything to our water for breeding..just add tap water a bit cooler...when you think their ready to spawn. our water is stable enough. just keep up with the water changes.
i do add kent ro right for growing though...and it works well.
king ed had it in big sizes for a good price. it doesnt hadd phosphates.
the ph is fine where it is. just need more hardness and minerals.

[Tin Pusher]

Clearly the only reason they layed this batch is because the enjoyed the taste of the 1st course so much. Do you guys (or gals, sorry April) scrub your spawning pots (tubes or whatever) after the eggs are gone to remove leftover fungus and bacteria? If so do you use bleach or just tap water?

[April]

yeppers. you can use bleach...if you rinse well and maybe add some dechlor to make sure its gone.
when i perfect my no fungus i'll tell you the secret. lol
i'll know by tomorrow.
I dont mind being one of the guys. lol.

[Pat_in_NC]

April,

Don't tell me you put bleach on that beautiful Chicken Pot/Cone??????





Pat ;D

[April]

LOL Pat. havent had to yet. it washes nicely...as its glazed
the terra cotta pots..on the other hand tend to absorb stuff.
including algae. bleach takes algae off.
so far theyve used different parts of the chicken each time. once was on the handle..once on the chest.and once on the little hangy doodles they have..
no wigglers for the chook yet.
but im hoping for wigglers tonight..from the other pair who have a boring old pot.

[darcy]

On my cones I just rinsed them with warm water and scrubed it down with a sponge and poped that sucker back in the tank. the pair has spawned on it a few times and I never had fungus grow on the eggs.
Darcy

[Tin Pusher]

Ok darcy and April I want to see pictures of your fish. I've shown you mine, now lets see yours.

[darcy]

Tin my one pair is on the 1 or2 page of this thread!! I have another pic in the photo gallery titled"can I do This". Check em out and let me know what you think!

My fry are doing awesome,third day tomorrow!!!!

Darcy

[Tin Pusher]

Are you taking pictures of fry everyday? I will need to see them as it may be awhile before I get to that stage.

[Tin Pusher]

darcy
I like the Pidgeon Blood in the photo section. I tried to search for "can I do" but got no results so I had to search under your name. Do you ever find a problem with the search feature of this forum? Did you ever figure out male or female? For the record this beginner will say male. How many Discus do you have? How many pairs?

[April]

Tin...if i get fry on the parents backs..you can come and see them personally.
i'll keep you posted.
but..i do have a post of my fish on here also.
in general ...and my wilds in photo galleryhttp://forum.simplydiscus.com//index.php?board=1;action=display;threadid=4839
and the famous chicken cone pics.
http://forum.simplydiscus.com//index.php?board=1;action=display;threadid=4448

[darcy]

Tin yeah I had trouble with search thing!! I usually bug Al and he points me in the right direction!!!

I have 27 discus, the one pair of ssxturqs. And that pb with a cobalt. The cobalt is female and hopefully that pb is male. They are in there own tank but decided to stop spawnning? I have some other adults in an orgy tank that should start pairing up any time!!!

Day 3 and my fry are doing awesome!! As for pic's I tried but I have a crappy digital camera and can't get good enough pic's. I have my hands full keeping these little bugger's alive!!!!
Darcy

[April]

My wigglers are on their second day of wiggling now. guess tomorrow sometime..they get to try out their little fins and go around looking for dear ole mom and dad. I just hope they love their children enough to care for them and not taste the tasty little morsels again. the dad attacked my siphon hose today..and their both dark so hopefully.
hearing all these stories of little swimmy guys being devoured :-X is scaring me. lol. i might have to move into the shop and sleep in the chair by them on guard ready to rescue them .I wont let them watch any violent television shows...maybe that will help? :o ::)

[Tin Pusher]

peety any luck with your few wrigglers? darcy how they doin? And finally April wazzup with the youngins? I am dying to see them. I had my 3rd spawn this morning. I am treating it like a numbers game, take enough swings and sooner or later you will hit the ball. ;)

[darcy]

hey Tin!!
My fry are doing great!!!! Eating bbs like there is no tomorrow!!!
Looks like I finally have enough experience to keep them alive. For now at least!!!!
You keep trying it has to happen for ya sooner or later!!!!
Darcy

[Tin Pusher]

Great to hear darcy. My eggs are gone again :(

[peety]

Hey Tin.... ;)
Well the first batch was pretty exciting... but no survivors. I watched most get eaten and moved a bunch but they died one day after free swimming. :(

Up to spawn 3 from the same pair now and have just finished conditioning my breeding tanks so will move them once they consume this lot :-\ :-\

I also have another 2 pair swawning but think they are all females. They are young and eat the eggs pretty soon after laying.

I also saw my first example of moving the young today. I thought they had eaten all eggs again, but have just been moving them out of my sight (I think I keep freakin them out by staring so long... :o)

Just off to the shop for some more test kits to make sure my new tanks are perfect, then onwards and upwards ;D ;D ;D


Good luck on ya next one....

peety

[Tin Pusher]

Peety the next one is here. Who needs a calendar, my fish have spawned again. Every 6 days like clockwork. This time I moved the 2 sponge filters to the far end of the tank (were in middle). Hopefully too much current was the problem. I am video taping this spawning, it should be on XXX satelite by Xmas. ;)lol