Too Cute To Lose!

[mmorris]

About a month or so ago I moved the last 4 or 5 surviving golden albino fry to my turq pair with eggs . The eggs weren't fertilized and the fry disappeared. The turqs laid eggs the next week but the batch of fry was very small so I moved the dozen or so turq fry to the tank with a dozen surviving albino fry from that next batch who were in with their albino parents. The albinos then laid eggs again and ate the fry. Well, a couple weeks ago or so I noticed one surviving fry with the turqs and on closer inspection I noticed...it was albino! What a long-shot! It survived my aggressive wc's and avoided getting caught and moved. Now, what do I do with it? It's my first albino fry so I'm rather fond of the little guy. He's eating bbs and just started bh but he sticks like glue to his parents. The female wants to spawn again so I'm worried that the little guy's days are numbered. I have juvies but they are much, much bigger than him. Any ideas?

[mmorris]

Forgot the pic. :D

[TankWatcher]

I have absolutely no experience with discus fry, so sorry, I have no advice.

But congratulations - I hope someone gives you the right info so you can grow the little guy up all big & strong.

If things go well with him, why not update this thread every now & then with pics of his growth. He looks so cute.

[seanyuki]

Hi Martha,

Are the frys still attached to the parents?....two weeks max or else the parents get stress.


Cheers
Francis:)

[mmorris]

Read it again Francis! By the way, I keep fry with the parents for three weeks.

[allan_mark76]

Have you ever tried artificially raising your fry? THat's how most of my friends are raising their albinos these days.

~AKA~

[mmorris]

I'm going to have to raise the next batch artificially. I'm trying to understand the ins and outs of raising albinos with albino parents and at this point what I have found is that it takes around 5 days for them to attach to albino parents, so they need to be fed from day one. I figured this out on day two when I still had a dozen surviving fry but the parents laid again and then ate them. The second time I had a dozen and a half surviving and attaching from a very small batch but the parents again ate them when they were a week free swimming, prior to laying eggs. I will have to figure out if they are eating them because there aren't enough to bother, or if there is such a delay in attaching that the fry aren't accepted, or perhaps this pair have a taste for older fry.

Nevertheless, none of this has anything to do with my question. I have ONE fry, and one fry only, that I would like to save! It's amazing, I think, that he got as far as he did. :)

[mmorris]

Allan, could you put me in touch with your friends who are raising albinos? I'd like to know if they've tried attaching them to the albino parents and if so, what they have found.

[stanlee]

three weeks, should be ok to take it out and feed bbs.
if u keep him inside any longer, the moment the pair spawn again, he will be treated as an intruder and will be killed.
so if u want this only albino fry, you should take it out and feed with bbs.
imho.
good luck.

[seanyuki]

Good Luck to u:D


cheers
Francis:D




Read it again Francis! By the way, I keep fry with the parents for three weeks.

[mmorris]

three weeks, should be ok to take it out and feed bbs.
if u keep him inside any longer, the moment the pair spawn again, he will be treated as an intruder and will be killed.
so if u want this only albino fry, you should take it out and feed with bbs.
imho.
good luck.

Thanks guys. Stanlee, there is only one. I can't take him out and raise him all by himself.

[Diamond Discus]

Martha, so you have any cardinals, cory cats. or rams he could have for tankmates? My friend raised one with rams for a few weeks until he had another spawn then he put him in with the new fry when they were weaned. He did fine with the other kinds of fish.

[mmorris]

No, I don't. I have Blue Gularis but they would probably have him for dinner. It's an interesting idea Sue.

[kaceyo]

I think Stan is right. His only chance is to remove im now, ASAP, before you find eggs and a dead fry in the tank. It will have a much better chance of surviving that way than with the parents.

Kacey

[mmorris]

I assumed the stress of being alone would do him in.

[mmorris]

Would it help to separate the parents with a divider until he got a bit bigger?

[lemondiscus]

From my understanding (I have never been lucky enough to breed Discus though) you need to remove the young because they will annoy the parents and the parents could possibly kill them (of course after they are weined)

It looks like it is about dime size in the picture and yes, you are kind of right too... dime sized Discus are REALLY sensitive to water parameter changes and stress.. (I do know this because I bought some this size and they were bullied to death by my sub-adults at that time)

[discusluvr818]

Some very good ideas indeed. Whatever happens I hope he is ok. He is surely a great looking little fish.

[mmorris]

From my understanding (I have never been lucky enough to breed Discus though) you need to remove the young because they will annoy the parents and the parents could possibly kill them (of course after they are weined)

It looks like it is about dime size in the picture and yes, you are kind of right too... dime sized Discus are REALLY sensitive to water parameter changes and stress.. (I do know this because I bought some this size and they were bullied to death by my sub-adults at that time)

The problem is that he is all alone. I've raised batches of fry before.

[lemondiscus]

Yes I understand that he he/she is alone if removed and is the only remaining fry... I do agree that it may not help it being by itself...

If it were me (again I dont have experience with Discus fry, I do with Angelfish though) I would remove it and try raising it in a 10 or 20 gallon tank. It would scare me to death thinking the fish will die, but I would take that chance than having the parent get annoyed with the feedings and whacking it one good time... worse yet nipping at the baby

That would be my path in this situation, but again unfortunatly I have never encountered it yet....

[mmorris]

I've been under the impression that raising one discus on his own is really not doable - particularly one this young. Perhaps I am wrong. For those with breeding experience, do you think separating the parents might buy him some time?

[kaceyo]

Martha,
I think that would work best, actually. I was thinking you'de want to keep the pair spawning rather than keep them from it to raise one fry.
I've never tried raising just one by itself but I'd think that would be more likely to succeed than raising two or three.
Good luck with him/her,

Kacey

[mmorris]

Thanks Kacey. I've already raised a couple of their spawns so...another spawn from them can wait. If this wasn't an albino that miraculously survived it all, I would have culled it long ago.

[discusjoe27]

cool discus, it's so small it almost looks like a white skirt tetra.

[Peachtree Discus]

I've been under the impression that raising one discus on his own is really not doable - particularly one this young. Perhaps I am wrong. For those with breeding experience, do you think separating the parents might buy him some time?

yes, but it really depends on how well you can keep him fueled. they run out of gas pretty easily, which means you have to keep bbs available for him, but water quality will go quickly because of so much more uneaten bbs. IME, the parents will seem to tolerate the small amount of fry, but the fry eventually disappear. I don't have experience with artificial, but i would be more willing to try it than to give the parents very much time at all.

if the parents lay again, you should get a few similiar each time.