Discus babies, it's my first time...

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WarrendaFish

Gambusia
MFK Member
Apr 23, 2009
766
2
18
Massachusetts, U.S.A.
My two older discus have just laid eggs on the heater in my 55 gal tank. I have a few questions that I hoped you guys here at MFK Gould help me with..
1) this is a community tank, do I need to remove the other fish?
2) will being laid on the heater cause a problem?

That's about it. I've done some research previous and have been raising discus for about 5 years but this is my first breeding experience.

Further info:
Tank size 55 gal, heavily planted
Breeding discus are not full grown and is their first clutch of eggs, close to 80+ eggs
Other tank mates include:
4 juvenile discus
3 adult rams
A red tail leopard pleco one in
A vampire pleco 3 in
A fire eel 6 in
A brown African knife 4 in
2 zebra loaches about 2-3 in
 
Your other fish will more than likely eat the eggs, but congrats on the first eggs.........
 
Yes, the heater will destroy the eggs, and no, you can't raise discus in a community tank. In order to raise fry, you will have to remove the pair, and give them their own tank. After the spawn, and the eggs hatch, and around 12 days of being attached to the parents, you need to remove the parents from the fry, and begin feeding the fry live baby brine shrimp around 5 times daily. The pair will need to be placed in another breeding tank, because they will likely spawn again. I've had pairs spawn up to 8 times before they stop. Does this sound like a lot of work? You bet it is, and to think people complain about the cost of buying discus. :grinno:
 
That tank sounds pretty heavily stocked. That many discus alone will fill up a 55 gallon, not to mention all the other tankmates.

If you want to try your hand at spawning them, it'd be best to give them a bare-bottom 29 gallon tank. You could also use a 40 gallon breeder. Provide them with a piece of slate or spawning cone so that they don't spawn on the heater again. They'll usually pick a vertical surface that's in the lower half of the tank.

The water has to be on the softer side for the eggs to hatch. If you don't see fry in about 2 - 3 days, it means you've either got two females, a young/inexperienced male who didn't fertilize properly, or the water was too hard.

Remember that discus feed their fry with skin secretions (slime coat) so the parents will care for them for the first several weeks. The darkened color of the parents are one of the things that attracts the fry to their sides, so it's best not to have other dark-colored things in the tank or the fry may get confused and try attaching to that instead.

After a couple weeks you can feed them baby brine shrimp. Once they're eating brine, you can move them to their own tank or remove the parents. If you leave them in too long, they sometimes get too rough on the pair and will actually eat into the skin or fins of the fish. :confused:

Good luck! What color variety do you have?
 
Thank you for the info! I'm trying to post the pics of the new couple but I'm using my phone. They're kind of an odd couple and would make some awesome discus if I can get it right. Do discus mate for life? Or will they choose other partners? I've read some of the other threads on this site and simplydiscus, and appreciate all the info and experience of others. Thanks again! Will try for the pics
 
Eggs did not hatch, they were eaten by the parents... I will tey to upload some video to you tube..

What if there were only discus in the tank? The new couple are definitely the larger more dominant fish in the tank...

I also have a clutch of baby Dempseys... There dad is an EBJD, there's about 80 and it's there first clutch as well...
 
WarrendaFish;4441432; said:
Eggs did not hatch, they were eaten by the parents... I will tey to upload some video to you tube..

What if there were only discus in the tank? The new couple are definitely the larger more dominant fish in the tank...

I also have a clutch of baby Dempseys... There dad is an EBJD, there's about 80 and it's there first clutch as well...
Click to expand...

Thats common. They may eat the eggs the first couple times or it could be that they know they cant raise the fry in the tank w/ all the other tank mates..parents are better off on their own.
 
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