Really need some advice please.

[jaykne]

My Albino PB and Yellow Crystal have finally got wigglers, there are only about 15 left and starting to go free swimming now. They are mostly still on the cone, the parents are now cleaning a spot on the glass shaking and breeding tube on the female has come down again, I don't understand:confused:. They have also stopped tending to the wigglers on the cone, what should I do. Please anyone out there have some advice? Larry.

[MostlyDiscus]

Hi Larry,


Dont freak out for starters. Sometimes a "new" pair will have to go through growing pains. As time goes on they get better with the caring of young. The great news is that you have a decent pair of Discus. Let nature take its course for a few weeks and see what happens.

Ed

[jaykne]

Hi Larry,


Dont freak out for starters. Sometimes a "new" pair will have to go through growing pains. As time goes on they get better with the caring of young. The great news is that you have a decent pair of Discus. Let nature take its course for a few weeks and see what happens.

Ed

Thanks for the repley, I am new to all this, do you think I should do a water change today like I planned its been 5 days was waiting for the wigglers to go free swimming. You know the really funny thing about this is they have spawned like 25 times now almost put them back in the main tank and I stopped the RO water a couple weeks ago and my tds is 450, Larry

[Dutch dude]

Larry,

I have been told and experienced parent rarely raise small batches of 20 fry or less. The parents probably stop caring for the fry becouse they don't want to go through all the effort for only 18 fry (with also some to lose in the future). In stead they decided to spawn again. Most likely they will eat the remaining fry. I suggest to find the reason why you lost so many wigglers. Don't worry to much abouth your water hardness. I'm convinced it is posible although lots of people might tell you it isn't. In your other post I mentioned some issues I had to solve in my tank and then there are the parents that have to learn proper brood care. I think you are very close to a successful spawn!

[Dutch dude]

Ooh by the way,....you can clean the tank after they ate the fry and have spawned. I keep on doing vacuum the tank until the eggs start to hatch. I continue on doing water changes every day but block the intake with filter foam (water will go through but nothing else) and put the hose in the corner far away from the fry so no one can get sucked up.

[jaykne]

Larry,

I have been told and experienced parent rarely raise small batches of 20 fry or less. The parents probably stop caring for the fry becouse they don't want to go through all the effort for only 18 fry (with also some to lose in the future). In stead they decided to spawn again. Most likely they will eat the remaining fry. I suggest to find the reason why you lost so many wigglers. Don't worry to much abouth your water hardness. I'm convinced it is posible although lots of people might tell you it isn't. In your other post I mentioned some issues I had to solve in my tank and then there are the parents that have to learn proper brood care. I think you are very close to a successful spawn!

Well so far they have not spawned again, all the fry are just hanging at the top of the tank and the parents have gone back to looking after them seems like they are trying to help them attach, they go up to the top pick one up in thier mouth and seem to spit them back out and move next to them, but the fry will just swim back to the top. The reason I lost so many was because this is thier first time to have wigglers and when they first hatched more than half fell off the cone and the parents left them there, after a day those all died but the rest they learned to pick up and put the back on the cone. The bottom was pretty dirty because I had a minor surgery Monday and I was not keeping the bottom clean for a couple days, and didn't expect any to hatch they had spawned 25 times before in RO water and nothing so thought the male was not fertile yet, always when you least expect it. Thanks for your help and any more ideas or advice would very helpful, Larry

[mmorris]

Thanks for the repley, I am new to all this, do you think I should do a water change today like I planned its been 5 days was waiting for the wigglers to go free swimming. You know the really funny thing about this is they have spawned like 25 times now almost put them back in the main tank and I stopped the RO water a couple weeks ago and my tds is 450, Larry

Did all the eggs always fail to hatch before? If so, this is a step in the right direction! Did you happen to observe the male fertilizing? Perhaps he wasn't fertilizing before but this time he made some effort. Perhaps the change in tds stimulated him. I don't know. Your high tds may have lowered the hatch rate this time. I'd go back to the ro since they may now have it together. Forget this batch, and good luck on the next! I do wc's like normal.

[jaykne]

Did all the eggs always fail to hatch before? If so, this is a step in the right direction! Did you happen to observe the male fertilizing? Perhaps he wasn't fertilizing before but this time he made some effort. Perhaps the change in tds stimulated him. I don't know. Your high tds may have lowered the hatch rate this time. I'd go back to the ro since they may now have it together. Forget this batch, and good luck on the next! I do wc's like normal.

Yes this is the first time to have eggs hatch, the male seems to be doing everything the same. They were spawning in tap till I got an RO unit, after spawning in RO and no results I planed to seperate them for a while so stopped the RO water they have spawned a couple more times in tap and just before I seperate them got wigglers. Today I took the water level way down hoping free swimmers would attach but they just pick them up and spit them back, after a while I filled it back up they are now spawning again and still have wigglers trying to attach they don't eat them try to spit them on the cone, everytime one does happen to get on their side they shake them off. I guess they finally got the first part of it down now have to wait for them to get the rest of it right. Ya pretty much forgot about this batch just feel sorry for these fry trying so hard to eat off the parents and wonder why they keep spitting them back on the cone they are getting ready to spawn on.

[mmorris]

Oh dear, LOL. Were you using straight RO or were you mixing it?

[jaykne]

Oh dear, LOL. Were you using straight RO or were you mixing it?

No I mix it about 80% RO 20% tap to get a tds of 60, my tds out of the tap is about 450. Done lots of reading on breeding discus but nothing can really prepare you, and so much I have seen that is not right. The reading and from what I have been told is that I can never get fertile eggs in my tap water, but that has been proved wrong now. I use to breed Africans, but discus are a whole different story I have all the basics down and can grow them out in no time, but when it comes to breeding I guess you can just throw all the books away. But I am starting hard as it is an albino PB female and Yellow Crystal male, and the other pair that are paired off are Albino Alenquers, should be starting with dark fish LOL, thanks for your help and if you have any other advice you can give would be very greatfull, Larry

[jaykne]

Just an update parents have about 10 fry on thier back and just hatched out about 150 wigglers, was expecting them to eat the other fry but have not, not sure how this will affect the new wigglers since they other ones will have a 7 day head start on them. I am really surprised since this was not done in RO water, straight tap, tds of 450ppm, and PH of about 7.8, and on this spawn about 80% were hatched. Now I just have to see how the do hoping they will all attach I will keep you all updated and get pics as soon as I can. Larry.

[Dutch dude]

Larry,

At first,...congratulations!

I had the same issue with one of my spawns. Two small fry were the only survivors and mom and dad spawned again. I decided to vacuum the two small fry to make sure there would not be issues with the new batch.

I'm not surprised your discus spawned successfully in your tapwater. The reason is,....mine also spawned successfully in the same conditions. PH=8, GH=9 and TDS around 400. I have 2 spawns of 2 pairs. One spawn is at day 11 of free swimming and one spawn at day 8 of free swimming. No issues, no losses only a few that stay to small but thats normal. Everything goes well. Sooooo I gues experts can be wrong as well and it is very well posible to breed domesticated discus in moderate hard water.

One question dough,.....who was the source of your discus? Mine are Stendker.

[Elite Aquaria]

Larry, I will be home all day so give me a call on my home number...

[mmorris]

I suspect Dan will have you sorted. ;) Congrats on the new spawn. Just curious - did the fry attach to the albino first, the Yellow Crystal first or did they not care who they attached to?

[Elite Aquaria]

I suspect Dan will have you sorted. ;) Congrats on the new spawn. Just curious - did the fry attach to the albino first, the Yellow Crystal first or did they not care who they attached to?

Yea, Larry and I have been talking for the past week...;)

[jaykne]

First would like to thank Dan for all his help, he is a really good guy I have not even purchased fish from Dan yet, but is always willing to help, and he knows what he is talking about.
Thanks for the congrats, and to answer your question it was really kind of hit and miss at first on both but now the seem to spend most the the time on the Yellow Crystal. The fry are still feeding of of him and got the wigglers from the spawn that they had right after starting to go free swimming, this is allot of wigglers can't even begin to count. Now I am just wondering about my female she is bulking up with eggs again and wants the male to spawn on the other side of the cone, when will she stop? I understood the last spawn very small, but not this one, at least 150 wigglers that are getting ready to go free swimming. Larry




I suspect Dan will have you sorted. ;) Congrats on the new spawn. Just curious - did the fry attach to the albino first, the Yellow Crystal first or did they not care who they attached to?