Parents don't attract fry

[k7prz]

My fry have been free swimming for about 36 hours now. This is the 5th time the parents have spawned. I have about a dozen fry in floating plastic dish in the 20 gal tank with the parents. Parents don't seem to be very dark. They are not
paying much attention to the few fry still swimming in the tank with them. I'm feeding the separated fry egg yoke.
Baby brine have not hatched yet. A few of the fry have died---trying to provide them with clean water but
it's a chore.

The PH is a bit above 7, water is not too hard. I usually change 10% per day. How do I get the parents to
produce slime for the fry? (Drop PH? Add a little salt?)

I was not going to originally try raising fry without parents but looks like I will! Years ago when I lived near Portland, OR
which has very soft water, I had no problems. I'm on well water now and was collecting rain water but it's too much work with no guarantee of the water quality.

So that's my story. Any ideas? The parents are blue Turqs.

Dave

[DonMD]

A dozen fry is a very small spawn, it may be that the parents are not interested in such a small spawn. Who knows? Also, my experience has been that in a tank with black silicone the fry would not find the parents, whereas in a tank with clear silicone, they found and attached the parents, who did not necessarily get very dark. Also it may be that your parents are young and will need to try a few more times. Just some thoughts.

[k7prz]

Spawned again last night. I'll leave the eggs alone with the parents and let them learn what to do. My sponge filter is rather dark---wonder if I should wrap it with a white cotton cloth? Must be about 50 eggs there.

Dave

[Larry Bugg]

What strain of discus?

[DonMD]

I've done that, used cheese cloth, worked great.
Spawned again last night. I'll leave the eggs alone with the parents and let them learn what to do. My sponge filter is rather dark---wonder if I should wrap it with a white cotton cloth? Must be about 50 eggs there.

Dave

[Chicago Discus]

I use super glue sometimes...LOL.LOL.LOL. Just try again sometimes it takes a few tries.....Josie

[k7prz]

Well, this time I had more patience. For the first two days of free swimming, the fry were all over the tank. Finally they found the parents. There's about 20 fry nursing on parents even though they laid eggs again. Early on with this batch I tried the egg yoke mix in a 2 gallon tank with a few of the fry. They stayed alive for a couple days and died. I put a 2 gallon inside a 5 gallon which was inside a 10 gallon where the heater was. Used bricks to place the tanks on. Airstone
in the tank with the fry. Temp remained constant but too much work and never did know if they were eating anything. I changed half the water in the 2 gallon fry tank about 5 times a day. Letting the parents feed the fry is much easier!

[DonMD]

Have you tried baby brine shrimp? It's really not that difficult to grow.

[Sasha]

Well, this time I had more patience. For the first two days of free swimming, the fry were all over the tank. Finally they found the parents. There's about 20 fry nursing on parents even though they laid eggs again.

Did you lower the quantity of water in the tank in order to get them to attach? And if so, by how much? (I have the same situation - with a small batch of nearly free-swimmers and the parents just spawned again. The parents keep trying to catch the free swimmers and put them back on the spawning site with the eggs. )

[k7prz]

Originally the pair was in a 46 gallon bowfront in living room. I moved them to a 20 gal. They spawned
every couple weeks and the babies wouldn't be attracted by the parents. I'm thinking I should have just
not make any changes to the tank other than water changes. I tried squirting egg yoke mix into the 20 gal
tank with the parents but that might have fouled the water and the babies died. So this time I removed about a dozen
babies into a 2 gal and tried that---I ignored the ones left with the parents that were free swimming all over the tank.
I should have done that originally---ignored them. After a couple days, I noticed the fry found the parents. Perhaps
the babies were just not ready to eat until at least 2 days after going free swimming? I leave a desk lamp on all night
and day. I move the lamp closer to the tank in the daytime. If I turn on the flouro light over the tank, sometimes the babies
seem to scatter. I think the dimmer the better. I do 3 10% water changes each day. I don't get real aggressive cleaning
the bottom of the bare tank. Don't want to freek out the parents. After a few successful tries with the babies, I'll be more
adventurous with experimenting. I'm making no modifications to the water this time. Straight out of my well which is
about 7 degrees of hardness (I think) and a ph of about 8. Temp is about 83 to 84. Small sponge filter and a AQ filter
with a sponge over the intake. Water flow is pretty low.

So a 20 gal seems to be working for me.

Dave

[John_Nicholson]

Just be patient and give it time. It will all work out. Some pairs take a long time to mature..

-john

[Sasha]

Thanks for all of the detailed information, K7. I hear you loud and clear about the challenges in keeping the bottom of the tank clean. My male goes crazy mad at me when I siphon. I'm using a small stiff tube that I got at the hardware store that an air hose line fits into snuggly. So I'm using that to get the bottom as good as I can, but it was tough trying to make sure I didn't suck up any belly-skimming fry and deal with the male who kept pecking ferociously at my hand and the small siphon.

In between water changes, I am turkey-basting out whatever debris I can, and that helps. The male seems to have accepted the turkey baster more since I've been using it since he was a juvie.