PLEASE HELP all but about 20 fry attached is that normal? My first time at this stage

[rostick555]

I have had this pair in my display tank laying for about 2 months and always ate the eggs before free swimming. So I decided to give them their own 35 gal tank. This is there 2nd try by themselves and they got to the point of free swimming with most of the fry attaching except for about 20 or so just swimming around the tank mostly towards the top. They just became free swimming last night and the rest of them free swimming this morning. So my questions are
1: Is it normal for the fry to just be swimming around the tank?
2: Should I do anything to help them along?
3: Should I start bbs at about day 5 feeding them?

[Sean Buehrle]

It was my experience that some fry would swim around the tank during the first few days and even after that.

The parents should go grab them and bring them back and spit them out.

Don't panic, it's natural.

Keep your lights on 24/7, do water changes and feed bbs on day 4-7.

Keep the tank clean.

Good goin and good luck :)

[LizStreithorst]

IME 20 is the absolute mininum number of fry that a pair will bother raisong. Don't be disappointed if they get eaten when the pair spawns again. It's normal.

Don't leave the tank light on 24/7 but do leave a light on in the room.

[rostick555]

Thank you for the replies and 20 just didnt attach but I have about 80 fry or so its impossible to count them right now. Any other feedback would be greatly appreciated.

[LizStreithorst]

Are they free swimming or still wiggling on the cone? What strain are they? Very light colored parents have a problem attracting fry unless they know what they're doing. It could also be a water thing. More information on your water would be helpful. Pics always help.

[BoiseDiscusGuy]

Congrats Ross, Both of my Checkerboards are female and laying but the Eruption male is still insistant on eating eggs...Hopefully one day they will get it right. If you need a good home for some fry just let me know...
Chris

[rostick555]

They are Thick Line Red Turq from Kenny and I just did a water change after not doing one for 2 days because the fry were still wigglers but moving around some and got up towards the top of the tank on the glass. So I did not do a water change until now to avoid hurting the fry. I dont want to spook them by taking pics I fed very very lightly for the day that had no water change and I will check the water params right now.

[LizStreithorst]

It's best to do what you generally do as far as WC. It makes the pair feel that nothing is amiss. I want to know more about your water. Fry should attach to the parents soon after going free swimming. They should not swim blindly around the tank not knowing what to do.

[rostick555]

Ok so water is looking good Ammonia 0 Nitrite 0 nitrate 2.5 and tds is 125 out of tap its around 110 ph is 7.4 dkh is 12.8.


IME 20 is the absolute mininum number of fry that a pair will bother raisong. Don't be disappointed if they get eaten when the pair spawns again. It's normal.

Don't leave the tank light on 24/7 but do leave a light on in the room.

[rostick555]

Hey Chris im glad to hear that all three are doing well and I will def let you know as soon as we get there :) I also know that this was the most viable pair (the ones I am working with now that is) out of all 13 from kenny because they were the oldest. I believe in your case just give it some time just leave them in the community tank until they start bowing to each other and he starts fertilizing of course. Good luck with them! Let me know if I can help with anything else.

Congrats Ross, Both of my Checkerboards are female and laying but the Eruption male is still insistant on eating eggs...Hopefully one day they will get it right. If you need a good home for some fry just let me know...
Chris

[LizStreithorst]

Your parameters are great. Just out of curiosity, do you age your water? Swings in pH can be problematic.

[rostick555]

I believe it was the issue with the water not being changed in a day or so because I had also used meth blue and it was mentioned in the instructions that it will hurt the bio and all they have is a sponge I turned off the main light in the aquarium and also left the room light on as well as a small table lamp I think they have enough light. Also some more fry attached after the water change so that is what tells me that it probably was the water I will do another water change tomorrow morning. I changed about 40% today and my norm is about 50-60% daily. Should I feed the parents anything now I havent all day? Yesterday I fed them a little Frozen Bloodworms?

[rostick555]

I do not age I use straight tap and safe. My ph from tap is 7.5-7.6 and my tank water is only .1 difference I dont think that is enough of a swing to cause issues is it?

[rostick555]

So to clarify for future reference you would do a water change if the wrigglers were toward the top of the glass what if they stay on there with no water?

[nc0gnet0]

It is not that unusual IME. First time parents are probably a bit overwhelmed. If you are insistent to do something, you could lower the water level and this will make it easier for the wayward fry to find thier parents. Our you could just do nothing and some will eventually figure it out whiles a few others will not. Mantain your water change schedule.

Rick

[LizStreithorst]

So to clarify for future reference you would do a water change if the wrigglers were toward the top of the glass what if they stay on there with no water?

I have. It made me nerveous but I hurried and it did them no harm. I don't feel real comfortable advising you to do the same, though.

With only .1 difference between tap and aged water you're fine going straight from the tap.

If you ever get them to lay on a cone rather than on the glass you can pull the cone for a few seconds and dribble straight meth blue over the eggs. It does the job, doesn't kill your filter and your water doesn't stay blue FOREVER.

[nc0gnet0]

I have used a syringe and squirted the eggs on the cone with success rather than dosing the whole tank, same could be done with eggs on glass.

[nc0gnet0]

oops

[rostick555]

Thanks again for all the help everyone :)

[rostick555]

[QUOTE=nc0gnet0;827364]It is not that unusual IME. First time parents are probably a bit overwhelmed. If you are insistent to do something, you could lower the water level and this will make it easier for the wayward fry to find thier parents. Our you could just do nothing and some will eventually figure it out whiles a few others will not. Mantain your water change schedule.

Thank you Rick I think it is exactly the case with these guys they have never been to this stage and still working on figuring it out :) I saw pretty much most of the fry attached today maybe just 5 little ones zooming around there are already size differences today some are double in size. I'll take some photos tomorrow for everyone to see.

[rostick555]

Liz Thank you once again for all of the replys! :)

[rostick555]

Thank you everyone for all of the good advice I counted 80+ on their backs and about 15-20 swimming around the tank :) but the ones swimming around are eating because at night I only see a couple swimming about freely. Here is a pic :)
http://i1177.photobucket.com/albums/x341/rostick555/Fish%20Tank%20Pics/IMAG0801.jpg

[rostick555]

Sorry for the bad quality the best I could do right now with my phone camera.

[LizStreithorst]

Good job!

[Sean Buehrle]

Lookin good :)

[Scott293]

Lookin mighty fine there! Congratulations! On day 3, I start a morning batch and an evening batch of LBBS so that on day four I can start feeding them. By the end of day five they are eating like champs. Then I just try to keep their little bellies fat and pink. You notice growth daily. It's really the fun part for me.

[rostick555]

Yes the daily growth is astonishing when you see them first your afraid that anything u do might hurt them. Now they are like 4 times the original size if not bigger :) the 15-20 that go and play in there corner during the day when I do my water change and fill it back up the swim against the current and do it every time its so funny. It's like they already have personalaties lol if you can call it that :)

[MostlyDiscus]

NICE

[rostick555]

So from the batch I was asking about earlier 90 fry is happily growing out! I took them out at 10 days because the parents were getting really irritated since it was there first batch. I just stopped feeding them fresh brine shrimp since they are eating crushed: flake, color bits, sera bits, and new life spectrum discus formula. Tomorrow will be wk 3 from free swimming half are about dime size and the other half is about nickel size. I decided to seperate them today I put 45 in a 29g and the other 45 nickel size are in my 35g. My question is will these 2 tanks suffice for another month or so until they reach almost the 2" mark I'm hoping! I do 80% wc's 2 times a day what do you guys think. In a month I should have my 45g freed up from the nada prize that I won from Kenny and I will sell some off that I wont be keeping. Please let me know with your experience if this should work? Here are some pics enjoy!

About a wk old
http://i1177.photobucket.com/albums/x341/rostick555/Fish%20Tank%20Pics/IMG_0088.jpg
http://i1177.photobucket.com/albums/x341/rostick555/Fish%20Tank%20Pics/IMG_0082.jpg

Fry at about 2 wk old
http://i1177.photobucket.com/albums/x341/rostick555/Fish%20Tank%20Pics/IMG_0091.jpg
http://i1177.photobucket.com/albums/x341/rostick555/Fish%20Tank%20Pics/IMG_0130.jpg

And today at almost 3 wk old the smaller batch
http://i1177.photobucket.com/albums/x341/rostick555/IMG_0131.jpg
http://i1177.photobucket.com/albums/x341/rostick555/IMG_0133.jpg

And the bigger batch at 3 wk old
http://i1177.photobucket.com/albums/x341/rostick555/IMG_0140.jpg
http://i1177.photobucket.com/albums/x341/rostick555/IMG_0136.jpg

[nc0gnet0]

Those two tanks will suffice just fine for a time, I myself would have opted for only one tank, but seperating by size is not a bad thing. It's good that you are feeding other foods, but I would not have eliminated the BBS entirely fro thier diet at this stage.

Rick

[LizStreithorst]

I agree with Rick. I keep mine on BBS until they get too large to take it.

[John_Nicholson]

Feed BBS for as long as they will take it. Hell I use to have an adult female that would try to eat them when I was feeding the fry.....LOL.

-john

[LizStreithorst]

Given the amount you dump in at one time John, all she'd have had to do was open her mouth and it would fall in. Mine start loosing interest at around 3".

[rostick555]

Thank you for the info and suggestions unfortunately I had no other choice but to stop with the bbs. What do you think about there growth so far? Is it pretty good progress or could be much better or much worse? Thanks again and I love my discus family! :)

[nc0gnet0]

They seem to be progressiing about at an average pace. It is really hard at such a young age to make a determination as different strains grow at different rates. Thier bellies seem nice and full, that is the important part.

Rick

[rostick555]

Awesome :) thank you :)

[mmorris]

Fry look great! In the future I would change the background to plain white for attachment. It should make it easier for the fry to find the parents.

[LizStreithorst]

The only thing that sounds not quite right to me is the difference in size. At three weeks the difference between a dime and a nickle is significant. You want uniform growth. Why did you have to quit the BBS?

[rostick555]

Thank you I thought about the back ground a little to late and didn't want to disturb the parents pulling it off. I had to stop because I needed the tank that I was doing the bbs in for the fry I separated. I don't have any more tanks. On top of that I found out that I am going to be a first time dad so wifey was already upset that I was taking to much time with my discus and this was my first and last batch of discus until I raise my own kid :-) I never planned on breeding it just so happened that I wanted to try it since I had a viable pair!