Rob321
02-22-2010, 08:12 AM
After a 15 years hiatus from keeping discus, or keeping any other fishes, I knew it was time to get back in the act the moment I stepped into my LFS and spotted a breeding pair of snakeskin discus, which were attentively caring for 33 fry. I was instantly captivated by the harmony exhibited by the pair as they gently passed their young brood between one another to graze. During previous visits to this store I had noticed several other beautiful breeding pairs for sale, however I had never actually seen any of these pairs exhibiting the tell tale pre-spawning body language of bowing and shimmying, let alone knowing for sure that they were fertile and cooperative during rearing.
So when I saw the little snakeskin family group in the store tank, which had effectively cleared all the discus spawning/rearing hurdles, the significance was not lost on me. I thought to myself, “This is just too good to pass up,” and I immediately purchased the lot. That was back in November 2009.
Sadly, I lost all the babies about two weeks after bringing them home due to my inexperience with respect to the property of delayed pH rebound that was happening in the tank few hours after buffering my mains water. I used Discus Buffer in a bucket of tap water to reduce the pH from 7.9 down to pH 7.0 (LFS parameter), but then it would jump back up to about pH 7.6 in my tank. Luckily the adults didn’t suffer much from these fluctuations. Oh well, live and learn. Regardless I switched to buffering with Proper pH 6.5 for my mains water in an aerated bucket for several hours until the pH becomes stabilized before I mix it with distilled/RO water, and then finally add it to my tank.
Within several days of the fry’s absence from the aquarium I was happy to see that the pair spawned. However, all the eggs turned white with fungus. I had been using a mix of 50:50 tap water to RO, which is what the LFS told me they had been using for the pair. My tap water hardness is about GH 170 ppm and KH 120 ppm, so the aquarium water ended up with a GH of ~ 85 ppm and KH ~60 pmm. After a couple more unsuccessful spawns I realized that those values are still too high for proper fertilization to occur. I then switched to a mixture of 25:75, tap to RO. I also switched buffers and am now using Acid Buffer, which if I understand correctly, consumes some of the KH, which then also lowers the GH value. Using this mix my aquarium hardness is reduced to ~25 ppm, and 90% or so of the eggs become fertilized.
However, since making this last change to the water chemistry the pair will occasionally fight, sometimes very aggressively, to the point that I must separate them with a divider. Lately though, they have been getting along fairly well, but after each of the last 6 spawns all the eggs, and once the newly swimming fry, are all eaten. I had observed the male eating the eggs after one of the spawns and figured he was the culprit, so last night after they spawned I removed him to another tank. But then sometime today mama devoured all the eggs. Arrrggg!
My fish are housed in a 33 gallon bare bottom aquarium. I run two filters: an Eheim 2213 canister filter with varying sizes of foam and gauze, and PURA NitrateLock, as well as an old Aquaclear with a foam block and Purigen. Water parameters are pH 6.5, temperature 30C (86F), Hardness 25 ppm, ammonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrate < 2 mg/L. I usually perform 50% water changes every day or two.
All the post I’ve found on the internet usually pertain to younger, less experienced pairs, in which the advice offered by others is to let them gain experience with subsequent spawns, and that they will eventually get it right. However, my pair seems to be going in the other direction. What could possibly be the problem?:confused:
So when I saw the little snakeskin family group in the store tank, which had effectively cleared all the discus spawning/rearing hurdles, the significance was not lost on me. I thought to myself, “This is just too good to pass up,” and I immediately purchased the lot. That was back in November 2009.
Sadly, I lost all the babies about two weeks after bringing them home due to my inexperience with respect to the property of delayed pH rebound that was happening in the tank few hours after buffering my mains water. I used Discus Buffer in a bucket of tap water to reduce the pH from 7.9 down to pH 7.0 (LFS parameter), but then it would jump back up to about pH 7.6 in my tank. Luckily the adults didn’t suffer much from these fluctuations. Oh well, live and learn. Regardless I switched to buffering with Proper pH 6.5 for my mains water in an aerated bucket for several hours until the pH becomes stabilized before I mix it with distilled/RO water, and then finally add it to my tank.
Within several days of the fry’s absence from the aquarium I was happy to see that the pair spawned. However, all the eggs turned white with fungus. I had been using a mix of 50:50 tap water to RO, which is what the LFS told me they had been using for the pair. My tap water hardness is about GH 170 ppm and KH 120 ppm, so the aquarium water ended up with a GH of ~ 85 ppm and KH ~60 pmm. After a couple more unsuccessful spawns I realized that those values are still too high for proper fertilization to occur. I then switched to a mixture of 25:75, tap to RO. I also switched buffers and am now using Acid Buffer, which if I understand correctly, consumes some of the KH, which then also lowers the GH value. Using this mix my aquarium hardness is reduced to ~25 ppm, and 90% or so of the eggs become fertilized.
However, since making this last change to the water chemistry the pair will occasionally fight, sometimes very aggressively, to the point that I must separate them with a divider. Lately though, they have been getting along fairly well, but after each of the last 6 spawns all the eggs, and once the newly swimming fry, are all eaten. I had observed the male eating the eggs after one of the spawns and figured he was the culprit, so last night after they spawned I removed him to another tank. But then sometime today mama devoured all the eggs. Arrrggg!
My fish are housed in a 33 gallon bare bottom aquarium. I run two filters: an Eheim 2213 canister filter with varying sizes of foam and gauze, and PURA NitrateLock, as well as an old Aquaclear with a foam block and Purigen. Water parameters are pH 6.5, temperature 30C (86F), Hardness 25 ppm, ammonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrate < 2 mg/L. I usually perform 50% water changes every day or two.
All the post I’ve found on the internet usually pertain to younger, less experienced pairs, in which the advice offered by others is to let them gain experience with subsequent spawns, and that they will eventually get it right. However, my pair seems to be going in the other direction. What could possibly be the problem?:confused: