Another Spawn!!

[oshp132]

Well, my pair laid again tonight....It appears to be about 150 or so eggs. I would like to publicly thank "Travelingman" (Paul) for helping me to condition my water for this spawn.....He has been sending 5 gallons of RO water my way everyday in an attempt to bring my hardness down....We tested it tonight about 1 hour prior to them spawning and it was 103ppm....I was planning on doing a 50% change tonight to bring it down around 80ppm....But the fish beat me to the punch....Hopefully this nice water will help them to raise the eggs instead of eating them....So far, so good...Dad has been doing a great job of fanning the eggs. I put a nightlight near the tank and I am heading to work...I will update you all tomorrow....Cross your fingers!!
Attached is pics of the parents (Hopefully)
MIKE

[AmberC]

Congrats Mike! And how nice of Paul to send you the RO water! Good luck with the spawn! Please keep us updated :D

Amber

Pics didn't make it thru.. do you need help with attaching photos? Actually here is a link on posting photos if you need it:
http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?t=21447

[Tropical Haven]

Congrats on the new spawn, good luck with them. Yes your picture did not show up.

[oshp132]

I'll try to attach the photos again....It is the same pair that I've been playing with for the past few months....I purchased both of these from Paul....I bought the female about 4 months ago, and the male about 3 months ago.....Just red turqs, but I think the female is amazing....
Anyways, the spawn is about 18 hours old....It looks like all of the eggs are still there (They usually last about three hours). Both parents seem to be guarding. I just dropped a few bloodworms in for the parents, and both left the eggs to grab some food....Dad went right back after grabbing one mouthful...

I'll try to attach the photos again....Wish me luck.

MIKE

[DavidH]

Mike, love them turks nice pics too. Good luck with your spawn.
If you make it would love to get some from you.

Dave

[mandisc]

hi mike, nice turks there,
we rarely see this kind of nice turks around this part of the world lately.(pic 1 n 2)

[Tropical Haven]

Very nice looking Turks, you will have some very nice looking fry from these.

[Darren's Discus]

Mike,
very nice pair you have their,let us know how the spawn goes.


cheers

[oshp132]

Just an update......About 30 hours under our belts, and all is going very well.......
Thank you for the compliments on the fish, but I can't take credit for the nice fish....Paul (Travelingman) bred this beautiful female, and he may have bred the male, not positive....But I purchased them from him. He currently has about 1000 fry if any of you are interested. His fish are great quality, and he does ship..

MIKE

[phidelt85]

Those are beautiful turks

[AmberC]

Hi Mike,
I see you got it :) They are beautiful! Congrat again and I'm glad everything is going well with them!

Amber

[oshp132]

I caught mom eating some eggs...I put a divider in and dad is currently fanning the eggs....She didn't do too much damage, looks to be over 100 eggs left...Dad seems to be very responsible....If all goes well they should start shimmying in about 30 more hours.

MIKE

[oshp132]

I took a pic of each of the parents this morning....You can't see it, but dad has a lot of slime building up.....I think this is a good thing. I did a 5 gallon water change about 30 minutes prior to taking these pics...Their stress bars weren't present prior to the partial water change. I hope I didn't tick them off too bad. Dad is the first pic, mom is the second.

MIKE

[jczz1232]

Wow mike these are some nice turks you got.

John

[oshp132]

I've got wrigglers!!!!! Seems too early for me, they are only 50 hrs. old......But, there are about 8 of them that have little tails wiggling. I am going to take a photo in the morning (Hopefully they'll still be there)...

MIKE

[oshp132]

Please forgive my lack of photography skills, but here is the best shot I could get of my wrigglers. This was taken this morning, 2 days and 12 hours after they were laid. The first onew started to "Wake up" after 48 hours.

MIKE

[oshp132]

Well, it has been four days since they were laid.....Last night dad moved his babies to a different part of the aquarium and he started to clean up the bad eggs that were left on the glass. He seems to be doing a really good job thus far.
MIKE

[oshp132]

O.K. I'm one step closer to achieving my first successful spawn! My wrigglers became free swimming today. A few are still stuck together, or are stuck to debris, but 99% are free swimming. I tried to get a pic for all of you....Day 5!!

MIKE

[AADiscus]

Congrats on the spawn Mike. Looks like they are doing good. Keep us posted on there update.

ps....start getting some bbs ready for them. ;)

[oshp132]

I picked up everything I need to start hatching the brine, when would you start to offer it? I was going to start a batch in two days...That way the brine would be ready about 3 or 4 days after the fry were free swimming....
I am curious on receiving advice on this from multiple people, just to see how you all do it.

MIKE

[kaceyo]

I usually start introducing bbs on day 3. Just a small squirt twice a day to get them used to seeing the bbs. As soon as I see some with orange stomachs to indicate the bbs are being eaten I increase the amount and frequency given.
HTH,

Kacey

[oshp132]

Thanks for the reply.
MIKE

[oshp132]

O.K....It has been 5 days exactly (Within an hour) since the eggs were laid. I just checked on dad and the kids.....About 80% of the fry were on him, the remainding fry were within about 4 inches of him...It appears that everything is going smooth.....For now!

Mike

[AADiscus]

I guess not alot of different opinion on the bbs because I start them on bbs on day 3 of free swimming also. It will take them a couple feedings to start eating it. Once they are eating it good they are feed every approx every 3 hours. Make sure and keep your tank nice and clean because the bbs will foul your tank up fast. It will get slimy. Continue doing daily wc's. I would do 100% if you can. After about a week to a week 1/2 start introducing them to other foods. BH, some sort of worm (earth, CBW, FBW) and then when they are eating other foods really good you can ease up on the bbs and move them from the parent(s).

ps. remember that bbs loose there nutritional value after 24 hours so you might want to run 2 jugs. Each day start a new batch so the next day you have a fresh hatch. They are also still very small and the discus can eat them.

[oshp132]

Great info....Thank you.

MIKE

[oshp132]

It's been 8 days since the eggs were laid...Here are a couple of pics. It looks like there is about 75 fry.

MIKE

[Condor]

How are they doing?

Adrian

[oshp132]

AWESOME!!! They have been free swimming for 8 days now, and it has been 12 days since they were laid......They are feeding off dad a little here and there, but totally attacking the baby brine shrimp....It is really cool, you can watch them grow overnight! They look like they double in size everyday.

MIKE

[AADiscus]

They do grow very fast. Sounds like you are doing a good job.

[Condor]

Sounds good. I am interested to see how they turn out. That is a pretty pair you got there.

Adrian

[oshp132]

Well, tonight is going to be a pretty good test....I replaced the sponge filter inside the breeder tank this evening...Dad didn't seem to be too happy with my "Extended visit" inside the aquarium. Today is the two week mark since the eggs were laid, and they have been freeswimming for about 10 days or so...They are doing very well, and growing very fast. I'm doing about 25% water changes daily with aged, preheated water. I am also feeding BBS about 4 or 5 times daily. I just hope that I didn't make dad too mad by putting his filter back inside the tank....I'll find out in the morning when I return from work..

MIKE

[mmorris]

Sounds good Mike! I recommend following Angela's advice and first, up the wc to 100 % a day. I did two 50 % daily wc's for my fry. Secondly, feed every few hours if possible. Four times a day really isn't often enough. Good luck and keep us posted. Martha

[AADiscus]

Mike, you could have left the sponge filter in the tank. It is actually alot easier for the tank then a back filter. Also, make sure you are cleaning your filter regulary ;)

[oshp132]

Thanks for the advice Angela...I was just a little over cautious with this being my first spawn....The fry attached very weird...They never really attached full time. It seemed that they spent about 90 percent of their time just swimming around hanging out...Then, I'd go back there and about 80 percent of the fry would be attached eating. They were pretty weird. Anyways, They are growing great, and I noticed today that several are getting round like discus now.....Exciting! I've also noticed that they've made an effort to eat some of the 'First Bites' flakes that I've put in there. I'm going to be trying to vary their diet a bit now..

One question-Did any of you notice your fry eating at the algae on the glass? I've noticed mine pecking at the algae from time to time.

MIKE

[oshp132]

My discus fry have been free swimming for exactly two weeks...I would like to know how their size is doing....
I have a couple that look like they haven't grown much at all, and I have several that are a little over 1/2".....Does this sound like they are on schedule? I feed them about 5 times a day, and do water changes twice a day (Once 25%, once 75%)..
MIKE