new to breeding please help

[vartan09]

Ok. I have 3 discus in which a pair came out in my community tank. They have spawned almost 6 times already. They ate the eggs the first 3 times. On the 5th try there was wrigglers but not free swimming. and the 6th time 5 free swimming which were attaching to the mom. I have moved them to a 29 gallon bare tank with a sponge filter. They just spawned yesterday morning and I looked this morning they were gone. I clean 10% of the tank almost everyday to remove the bottom waste. But i feel like they get scared toO much when I do. My question is how often should I clean when they spawn? Once i reach the wriggler stage should I clean as well or wait? The spawn on the glass for some reason on not on the overturned pot. Ph is 6.5, nitrates 0, nitrites 0....gh 100....kh....55. Temp is always at 84 deg but once they spawn i bump it up to 89 degrees. Dont know what TDS means. Please help I really want to make this work, Ive been addicted to making this work. And i just started using R/0 water but they seem to like tap water. Any suggestions or corrections?

[Eddie]

Lots of different answers on this one, some do water changes every day, regardless, I do not. I do big water changes daily on breeder tanks. They get water changes up until just before the eggs hatch. When they become wrigglers, I do not change any water. I will let the fry go free swimming and once they've all attached, then I resume water changes. Its not that long, 2 or 3 days without a change is not an issue at all. I also do not feed the parents once they have eggs. The parents will not get food again until the fry are attached.


All the best!

Eddie

[mmorris]

Ok. I have 3 discus in which a pair came out in my community tank. They have spawned almost 6 times already. They ate the eggs the first 3 times. On the 5th try there was wrigglers but not free swimming. and the 6th time 5 free swimming which were attaching to the mom. I have moved them to a 29 gallon bare tank with a sponge filter. They just spawned yesterday morning and I looked this morning they were gone. I clean 10% of the tank almost everyday to remove the bottom waste. But i feel like they get scared toO much when I do. My question is how often should I clean when they spawn? Once i reach the wriggler stage should I clean as well or wait? The spawn on the glass for some reason on not on the overturned pot. Ph is 6.5, nitrates 0, nitrites 0....gh 100....kh....55. Temp is always at 84 deg but once they spawn i bump it up to 89 degrees. Dont know what TDS means. Please help I really want to make this work, Ive been addicted to making this work. And i just started using R/0 water but they seem to like tap water. Any suggestions or corrections?

If you are only doing 10% wc a day then you should be seeing lots of nitrates unless the tank is planted. I do 40-50% every two or three days, daily when I have wrigglers. When the fry are eating bbs I do 80% twice a day. Wipe the inside of the tank and everything in it daily when you have fry. The only day I skip wc is attachment day. 89 degrees is too warm. I keep fry at 85-86 - no more. Tds is total dissolved solids. If the tds is too high, the eggs won't hatch. What happened to the other fry on the 6th time? If you get poor percentages hatching then I recommend you get a tds meter. If your tds is much over 100, you will probably want ro to get a better hatch rate. It depends, of course, on whether your male is doing his job in the first place!

[vartan09]

very informative informations, thanks. The 6th spawn the 5 wrigglers that were attaching were down to 2 a couple days later. Then I decided to do a 20% water change which i think scared the parents. The following day they were gone. Don't these constant water changed during wrigglers scare the parents causing them to eat the fry?

[Eddie]

very informative informations, thanks. The 6th spawn the 5 wrigglers that were attaching were down to 2 a couple days later. Then I decided to do a 20% water change which i think scared the parents. The following day they were gone. Don't these constant water changed during wrigglers scare the parents causing them to eat the fry?

Kind of the reason why I don't change any until attachment. :o

[mmorris]

very informative informations, thanks. The 6th spawn the 5 wrigglers that were attaching were down to 2 a couple days later. Then I decided to do a 20% water change which i think scared the parents. The following day they were gone. Don't these constant water changed during wrigglers scare the parents causing them to eat the fry?

I really don't think so, because they have been through so many wc's before. The new water perimeters must be the same as the tank water, of course. Discus often opt to eat very small batches because, I suppose, they just don't think they are worth the trouble when there are so few. What happened to the rest of the batch of the 6th spawn? Did only 5 hatch?

[vartan09]

after I did a 20% water change they were missing the following day. The parents probably ate them.

[Eddie]

I'm not saying one way is better than another, but all pairs are different. Try skipping the water changes from wrigglers stage to attachment, then change water. Again, I don't feed the parents at all to keep water conditions good. This method is practiced by many and recommended by alot of professional breeders.

All the best buddy,

Eddie

[vartan09]

you stop feeding once they spawned?

[Eddie]

you stop feeding once they spawned?

I do, but some may feed small feedings. I keep water changes going until just before hatch and I only change about 50%. If the water is too drastic of a change in temp, the female may want to spawn again and therefore, eat the eggs.


Eddie

[mmorris]

you stop feeding once they spawned?

If the fish want to eat, I feed them.