Need HELP, fry not attaching

[aggie_67]

My fry raising experience or truthfully said "the experience of my pairs" has been progressing nicely until the recent hurdle. Have 3 pair, 2 are spawning fairly routinely. Have gotten past the male not fertilizing, past eggs fungis with no hatch to the point where wigglers are hatching, getting to freeswimming but fry have no desire to attach. Parents are fire reds with no peppering at all. Fry are in 30, water lowered to top of parents fin, sponge removed, airstone & heater in tank. Fry are just roaming everywhere, parents stay out of the way at one end. Sometimes fry will swim around parents but do not attach to sides. Number slowly going down. They are about 1 week old. Water 83 deg. Changing 50% water daily.

[Barb Newell]

Hi, try a light directly over the tank. I use an 18" fluorescent under the counter kitchen light ($8. Home Depot). Try putting it over the end away from the parents, the fry may move towards them. The other thing you might want to try, is get either Sera Micron Fry food or Spirulina powder, mix a bit in water, squirt some directly on the sides of the parents. I find that this sometimes help the fry attach.

I find attachment much easier when my pairs are in a 20 gal or 20 T, unless they're very experienced.

Change 25% water daily for a couple of days.

How long have they actually been free swimming? A day or so?


Barb

[aggie_67]

Fry have been free swimming 3-4 days.

[Barb Newell]

Hi, they must be eating something.

Give the light a try, if they've been swimming for 3 or 4 days they can eat freshly hatched baby brine shrimp squirted onto the parents sides.

Barb

[Northwestcoastdisc]

I agree with barb,

Try lower water level with your parents fin top and take out darker objects.

How old the fry are free swimming? some fry attrach the parents to eat some food let fry go away for some reasons?

hth

Duncan.

[Northwestcoastdisc]

OPPS i miss to read your fry are 3 to 4 days old free swimming mean they should be okay. u know that evey 3rd to 4th day old fry will die bec they do not eat anythings.

Cross finger I am sure your fry should be alive what I believe your fry eat some of your parents slim coat.

HTH
Duncan

[Robin764]

I'm in the same boat....
I've tried putting the light on one side of the tank or the other. The sponge filter is removed....
Airstone and heater only....
Water level just over the parents....
The parents flick them off!!!
This is as small as I can get with them...20g.
Tomorrow they are 3 days old (free-swimming) I will be adding bbs.
But they seem to be stuck in this "We are great parents...but don't touch us...2nd spawn like this now:(

Robin

[Northwestcoastdisc]

Robin764,

Probaby your pair are too young. That is good for your pair to learn to care of fry for the next batch.

Good luck

Duncan

[aggie_67]

Robin,

Don't be surprised if it happens again. Mine have been just like yours for 3-4 batches now.

[aggie_67]

Robin,

What type of discus do you have, color, how much pepper. Wondering if it is a characteristic of certain types. Thinking back the answer must be letting the parents get more experience, how ever long that takes?

All the suggestions, lower water, remocve sponges, etc are to get the fry to go to the parents. But our problem is the parents don't want anything to do with the fry (shake them off, etc.) And it isn't just one pair, I have 3 pair doing this. On the good side, with 3 pair there is always another batch of eggs. Just hope the "factory" doesn't run out before they get it together.

[Robin764]

Golden's....Very clean. I think the female has like 2 spots on her, and that's it.

Robin

[lldewe]

Interesting question for me...so is it best to keep a breeding pair in a smaller tank and keep the younger ones in a larger tank?

Lorie

[Robin764]

Smaller tank is better for a breeding pair. 20g-29g. This keeps the fry and the parents better grouped. When you are talking about a lot of fry to grow out, the bigger the better.

Robin

[CARY_GLdiscus]

Well said Barb,

[Robin764]

4 and a half days into free-swimming, still feeding every three hours, but now have 3-4 fry that consistently hang with parents, sneaking a nibble here and there. Parents seem to be more lenient with allowing them a few minutes of feeding now. They don't flick them off any more unless they land on the tail or dorsal fins, and seem to be spending a lot of time going to the fry corner....sticking their nose in the middle of the cluster, and holding very still for awhile. It is very interesting to watch them learn, and have even seen the female try to blow some onto the male's side.
It seems that the 3-4 that have discovered the parents are "part of the parent group" and follow them everywhere. Hopefully more pick up on this, as last spawn, day 4 is when I lost them all:( I did not have the fry food at that time however, and the hatching of the bbs, was a little too late I think, as most were swimming in what I call the "death spiral", before first feeding. Keep your fingers crossed for me:)

Robin

Robin

[Robin764]

Now up to about 15 that have joined the parent entourage:):) The parents are even learning to hold their fins still...Watched the female have about 7 land on one side, and she stopped moving her fins, even her side ones. It is super wonderful to watch the fry on the parents!! The majority are still hanging in the corner, but definately even bigger than this morning. Hopefully by tomorrow, they will all be part of the entourage!!

Robin

[Northwestcoastdisc]

Good to hear!

i hope lot of fry will attach your parents.

Good luck Robin

Duncan

[Carol_Roberts]

:thumbsup: glad to hear it

[Robin764]

Thanks guys....Most are part of the parent's group now. There is still a small amount...maybe about 20 or so that stay on one side of the tank. These seem ok, but I can see a size difference between these and those that have been with parents. My favorite thing to watch is when one of the parents "dump" the fry onto the other. It's almost like "dumper" is saying...Ha! Ha! I'm going out, and your stuck! Wish my camera picked up the fry better. Hopefully soon!

Robin