finally

[cobaltblue]

A pair of brown discus that i had nursed back to health in the spring ( got them free from a guy getting out of the hobby and they were in rough shape) laid eggs last week in the community tank for the first time in my tanks. I moved them to a breeder tank and they promptly laid eggs again. They began freeswimming yesterday, and about 30 of the 40 fry have attached to male and female. Both parents seem to be doing a great job. They have raised fry together before ( but not for me). This is the first time i have gotten to this stage with fry attaching. I am so excited...been let down by my other pair so many times ( they eat the fry once freeswimming). Anyway, my big questions are

1. how often do i do wc with the fry with the parents. I dont want to freak out the parents and have them eat the fry.

2. how much do i feed mom and dad. I havnt fed them much at all the past 3 days.

3. How long can i keep 30-40 fry in a 33g tank before they would need to be moved to a larger tank?

thanks for any suggestions.

[lado]

Congrats Cobalt. In my limited experience I found 30% just fine with parents. I guess aged water is available to you. Soon as they start eating BBS,more WC, maybe twice a day. I’ve lost two weeks old batch (over 100) babies due to bacteria, even though I did 30% WC twice a day. Good luck to you.

[lado]

Hallo neighbour what's hapenning.Are they eating BBS yet?

[AmberC]

Congrats Chris! I got to free swimming and the fry lasted like a week and a half, but then the pair started laying again and eventually ate the rest of the little fry with new eggs in the tank :( That was my last try.. for now ;)

I hope all goes well with these fry and this spawn!

Amber

[cobaltblue]

Day 5 of free swimming and fry are nicely attached to parents. THere are about 30 or so of them. I havnt introduced any bbs yet. Is it time now, or do i just let them feed off the parents still. I also have hikari first bites. Should i try alternating these fry foods, or just start with bbs.

[AADiscus]

Go ahead and start giving them bbs. I would do large daily wc's. 100% if possible. I would do 50% in the morning and 50% at night. Keep feeding the parents. Give them whatever they will eat because you will be doing wc's so any food not eaten will be getting sucked up by your wc hose. You could probably get by leaving them in the tank until they are about 5-6 weeks old but you MUST continue to do large daily wc's.

[AmberC]

They are so cute Chris! Great shot!!! I love fry!! :D

Amber

[traco]

Chris, you lucky guy!!! I was hoping that my blue pair would do the same but they just keep eating the eggs.:angry:

And I know how you are feeling with all your questions. I would tiptoe into the room to feed the pair, quickly drop some FBW in and quickly get out. And about the water changes too: question #1. I was wondering how I was going to do that with mine if they hatched. Keep us posted.

[cobaltblue]

Thanks Angela, Barb and Amber. I work long hours, ( 11 hour days) and my time with my kids when i get home is important. I doubt i can do more than one wc a day. Should i do like 80% then, or still just 50%. Sometimes i feel doomed to failure as i just dont have the time that some of you have. :( I am only able to feed them twice a day, except on my days off work.

Well ill try the best i can and hope for the best.

[pcsb23]

Chris,

I know how you feel about the long days, I leave home at 6am and the earliest I get back is 7.30pm. If your kids are old enough, get them to drop some of the dried baby food in when they get in from play or school, my youngest is 15 so she helps (when she remembers :)). You can also make a dry mash from the baby food and stick a blob on the inside of the glass for them to peck on during the day and feed them up with bbs at night. Also leaving them on their parents as long as possible will help their growth too. I do as near as I can to 100% changes on my fry tanks, I can only do it once a day like you.

Good luck and hth,

[cobaltblue]

Thanks Paul for the encouragement. My girls are 3, 6 and 7, so they are a few years yet from being any help. My oldest likes to feed them, but always over feeds big time. :)

[AADiscus]

Chris,

Put a little bit of food (flakes or bits) in a little dixie cup. Leave it on the counter and tell them to drop the food in. That way they don't over feed.

[pcsb23]

Chris, they are never too young to help :) but I do understand, Angel'a idea though is a good one.

[cobaltblue]

Now that my fry are just over a week old freeswimming, i have a couple more
questions.

1 Since the lights have been on 24\7 ive build up a bit of algae on the bottom and sides of the tank.....is it safe to scrape it off while the fry are in the tank??

2 Now that the fry are attached and getting bigger, can i start turning the lights out at night, or do you reccommend leaving them on 24\7 ??

Thanks for any tips, this is my first time getting this far.

[cobaltblue]

anyone??

[AADiscus]

You can start turning the lights off at night since they are hooked up good. Go ahead and clean the sides and bottom of the tank. You should really wipe it down everyday to keep any build up off the sides and bottom. This will not bother the fry. The parents will keep after them. You will probably get a few curious ones come up to your hand just to check you out. lol Make sure you do a large water change after you wipe down so you get all the nasty stuff out of the water.

[pcsb23]

Sorry Chris, missed your question :) Angela's answer goes for me too, the parents may just have a pop at your hand too, which will make you jump the first few times!

Good luck,

[cobaltblue]

Thanks Paul and Angela. Your both big helps. Im amazed at how already at such a young age there is such size differences between the fry. A few look like they have hardly grown , and other are 3 or 4 times the size. Why is
that? Will the really small ones likely stay small and or have to be culled, or do they often catch up?

[Darren's Discus]

mate should be no hassles turning off the light now i only leave mine on for the first week.

cheers

[AADiscus]

Sometimes they will catch up but some will not. That is your decision if you want to cull. Look at them really good. There bodies are still pretty clear, you will be able to tell if any have bent spines. If you see any then go ahead and cull them. You do not want those. Some of the small ones might be the ones that were the last to attach to the parents. They they are a little behind. Just watch them and see how they do.

[pcsb23]

Some catch up and some don't again like Angela says:). I have had similar and some go dark too, probably from my inept care, difficult working the hours I do sometimes. I normally start to cull fry after about 4 to 6 weeks, unless there are very obvious problems, like bent spines or spinners (fry that swim in a circular motion, like they are spinning).

Good luck with them,

[DavidWong]

Any update photos on your lovely fries ?

[Kindredspirit]

or spinners (fry that swim in a circular motion, like they are spinning).



Why do they do that Paul? Is that common? Poor things:(


Marie ~ http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/29/29_5_2.gif

[cobaltblue]

Ive lost 3 fry in the past 3 days and one more has left the herd and is just swimming at the surface. It looks darker than the rest. Since this is my first a batch of fry to make it this far, what should i be looking for?? They are still
with mom and dad, who seem to be doing a great job. I will post pics tonight after i take some new ones. Is there anything i should be treating the tank with. Im doing 70% wc once a day. Thats all i have the time to do unfortunatly. They are still feeding off the parents, and the bbs that i am feeding them. I tried breaking up some colorbits into a tiny pieces, but they dont seem interested. Just worried about them....

[cobaltblue]

The last two went black and died today. So sad. The only positive i can take from this is it is the furthest i ever got. ( never got past free swimming before). Dont know if i should try again though, as it is too hard watching all those little guys die off before your eyes. :( Not to mention, i have no idea what i would do differently next time. :confused:

[lado]

Better luck next time.I went trough same scenario last spring.Lost fry and after very next span my alfa male departed too.You got some pritty fish there, looking forward to buy some youngsters of you.