Can I remove the parents?

[henpecked]

Just had my 5th batch of wigglers. Parents ate the first 4 at varying stages. Has anybody had any luck raising fry without the parents?

Eddie mentioned removing the parents and feeding BBs. I also have some fry food recommended by Brine Shrimp Express as a sub. Has anybody had any success using these methods?. It gets very frustrating to keep losing hatches.:(

[Keith Perkins]

My pair gave it about 10 tries before they finally got it right, and yes it's frustrating as all get out. In my past venture into discus 20 years ago I tried raising fry separate from the parents but it was a whole lot of work and in the end I was never successful. If you are successful the fry won't have gotten the benefit of the antibodies from the parents slimecoat or the imprinting of parenting skills. I guess now knowing that I've decided not to separate new fry from parents anymore. Strictly my opinion.

[mmorris]

I would remove just one parent. If you know who ate them, great. If not, I would remove the female. If they still get eaten, next time remove the male.

[henpecked]

I did remove the F last time and the father did a good job, for 3 days with the fry attaching to him. Then, gone.

However, with both parents in, I lost the fry at the wiggler stage. I guess I will give the M another shot at it.

[mmorris]

How many fry were on dad when he ate them? They tend to give up on small batches, figureing they are too small to bother with.

[henpecked]

I think about 20-25. He has another batch now, 2 days free ,swim 30+. Took F out.
Just as an experiment I removed 5 swimmers, put in 2 gal tank with same water and am feeding dry fry food. Who knows, might get lucky.:) If it works, I will post it.

[mmorris]

Best of luck with that. Hopefully removing 5 didn't leave too few remaining fry since you started with only 30+. I'll be curious to hear how it goes.