Am I almost there?

[jaykne]

I have a pair, female Albino PB, and male Yellow Crystal they have spawned probably 25 times, had them in RO water my tds are around 450, well finally stopped making RO water for them was not getting fertile eggs figured the male was not old enough. Well I have not moved them out of the 29g yet and they just keep going, went in for a out patient surgery today and got home about 5pm and about 1am got up for little while and to my surprize they have wigglers about 50, perfect timing LoL, and didn't think it would be possable with my tds at 450. But anyways notice they are falling off the cone now about half on the ground and the pair just seem to ignore them and just tend to the ones still on the cone, is there anything I can do got allot of wigglers just sitting on the bottom of the tank. Is this something normal for a pairs first time to have wigglers, would love any help hate seeing all those wigglers just on the tank bottom, and more just keep falling off. Thanks, Larry

[Dutch dude]

Hi Larry,

I notised your questions haven't been answered by the pro's so I feel the need to jump in. At first I want to congratulate you on the spawn!

I'm new to breeding discus my selves and are only a small step ahead of you. I'm no expert but I can share my experience and knowledge with you.

I keep domesticated Red/ Turq (Stendker) on tapwater with abouth the same TDS as yours and PH=8, GH=9. I was told by an expert that my fish would become ill within several months (keep them for over a year now without issues) and it was NOT posible to successfully breed discus in such a water condition. I have 2 pairs with a nice batch of fry. One pair does have around 80 fry at day 7 of free swimming and one pair with 60 fry at day 5 of free swimming. So not everything that is been told is reliable and a lot of myths around discus.

My experience is the next,....The day of hatching most of the fry slide down the cone. Mom and dad will be bussy to spit them back on. Some weak fry will die and stop wiggling but most of the fry will stay scattered around the cone on the bottom. At the second day the fry attach much better and 1/2 to 3/4 of them are on the cone. At day 3 the fry start swimming around,....or do attempts. At day 4 all of them are free swimming scattered around the tank. At day 5 most of them are attached to mom and dad but still go on and off. At day 6 most of them are attached to mom or dad.

I would not be woried abouth the fry underneath the cone. They will be fine. Keep in mind that the parents might mess up this spawn but with some luck they improve brood care every spawn.

Good luck and I hope you keep us posted.

Ruurd

[mmorris]

, is there anything I can do got allot of wigglers just sitting on the bottom of the tank. Is this something normal for a pairs first time to have wigglers, would love any help hate seeing all those wigglers just on the tank bottom, and more just keep falling off. Thanks, Larry

Nothing you can do for them. They'll survive or they won't. That's a lot to fall off. I don't know if this is normal for a new pair of parents but I seem to remember hearing that it can happen when they are young. Seems like this batch was a huge step forward. Good luck, and keep us informed. :)

[jaykne]

Thanks for the repleys, I have 18 left now and the parents have learned to pick them up an put them on the cone. I have 2 now that won't stay swimming around the top of the tank, just hope they have no problem finding parents and attach.

[Dutch dude]

I have been told and also experienced parents rarely raise a batch smaller as 20 fry. So there is a big chance they will eat the fry. I suggest to keep on going and learn from the process. I went through the same, made some adjustments and now I have 2 pairs with each a nice batch of fry. The wigglers of those two batches fell off the cone just like yours and keep on wiggling on the bottom. Eventually they made it and I had only small losses. Hatching rate is an other thing but that probably had to do with my hard tap water.

An important question is,....what hapened to the other fry. Did they die becouse of to much flow, are they sucked into the filter, did the parent ate them, did they get lost underneath the cone or were they just weak fry. If you find the reason you can adjust things for next spawn.

I had some issues my selves,....
-Fry/wigglers get lost underneath the cone (leveled it out with sand paper)
- Fry get lost in a not good covered filter in-take. (stuffed with foam)
-Even the small curent and noice of an air stone will atract the fry. they try to swimm inbetween the bubles but cant keep up and die. One reason is they don't atatch to mom and dad and get no secreation the other reason is they become exausted and basicaly swimm to death. (I lower the water level to 2 inch abouve the parents and switch off all pumps so no filtration for 2 day's)
- Power filters are hard to adjust to a very low flow so after the fry atatch to mom and dad you can put on a sponge filter (low flow and easy to adjust)
- Parents messed up, had merital issues, were stressed abouth fry feeding from their secreation and had to learn broodcare. Nothing you can do abouth that and just be patient.

Good luck and it would be nice if you keep us posted abouth the progress and the posible reasons for loosing the fry.