HELP WITH DISCUS FRY HOUR/DAY OLD PROBLEM

[padiscus]

I HAVE A PAIR OF ROYAL BLUE DISCUS FAIRLY YOUNG ABUT 1YR OLD, THERE A HARMONUS PAIR, THE SPAWN AND THE MALE FERTILIZES, THE WATCH AND TAKE CARE OF THE EGGS DILIGENTLY, MOUTHING THEM AND FANING THEM, MY TANK STATS R WATER TEMP 86',NITRATE IS 0 ,NITRITE IS 0,AMONIA IS 0, I HAVE A CANISTER FILTER ON TEH FLOOR FOR THE BIOLOGICAL SYSTEM, I HAVE THE PAIR IN A 55GALLON TANK, I HAVE IT DIVIDED TO 25GALLONS WITH A SPONGE FILTER IN THE PAIR SIDE,, I DO WEEKLY WATER CHANGES 25% EVERY MONDAY,, HERES THE QUESTION, THE FRY START TO SWIM THE FIRST DAY, THEY FIND THE PARENTS, THEY FEED OFF THE PARENTS,BOTH PARENTS AT TIMES,,THE PAIR ALLOW THEM TO FEED, NO PROBLEMS WITH THAT, BUT AFTER THE FIRST HOURS/DAY THE FRY WANDER OFF AND CANT FIND THE PARENTS AND DIE, CAN ANYONE TELL ME WHY THIS IS HAPPENING?? if anybody can help me, thanks so much,, rick watcher, from pennsylvania,

[deepflyball]

What color is your tank interior??? What color is your sponge ? Is this there first spawn ?? have you tried lowering the water??? you need to do more water changes and more often. How big was the spawn?? This is a bare bottom tank right ??? Jerry

[padiscus]

tank interior is natural gravel, two amazon swords, large sponge filter, this was there 4th spawn,how many more water changes /week shlud i do? the spawn size was abut 100 fry, rick

[deepflyball]

Verry hard to grow out discus in a planted tank. The fry attach themselfs to almost anything that is dark in color, and can get lost. Heres what i do. after they have spawned 3 or 4 times in the main tank. I move them to a 29 gal with just a sponge and heater. Bare bottom. When spawning discus the water is very important. you didnt say what your water hardness is. I have hard water and have to cut the hardness down with RO water. I use 75% RO water to 25% tap water. soft water will give you much larger spawns. Had one with 287 fry.. Planted tanks have substrate for the plants to root in. Discus eat meat ( beafheart) meat get in gravel things grow there and discus die. Meat fouls the water. Water changes depends on how many fish and the size of the tank. But if you have say 100 fry in a 29 gal BBT i would do75% once/day and increase as they grow. All discus try to blend in with dark things ( gravel, tank back drops, and wood.) Jerry