When to take the fry from the parents

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furcifer158

furcifer158

Plecostomus
MFK Member
Jul 22, 2008
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In the fish room
I have a 125 with 7 discus, 2 marble bushy nose pleco's and 5 stingrays.
Today I watch a pair of discus spawn and now I'm wondering what I should do when the fry hatch and become free swimming? Also have sensitive are the fry? If I leave the fry in the tank for awhile will the other discus try to eat the fry?
This is my first spawn with discus so i'm nervous

Thanks you for your help
 
i have never bred discus.. so i would say good luck.. and i will watch this thread to learn...:D
 
You will need to leave the young with the parents for a couple of weeks. The parents exhibit one bit of parental care that other cichlids dont. The young feed on the slime coat of the parents for a period of time. They can be raised away from the parents from hatching on but it is a huge amount of work to do so. The tanks mates are probably ok, although the BN may be a problem.
 
The first spawns of young Discus are rarely successful, especially in a display tank. But don't worry, Discus will spawn 10 to 15 or more times in a row! I've found with really young pairs, it sometimes takes the male a few tries to get the eggs fertilzed properly. If you want to increase the odds of raising a spawn, the pair will need to be moved to their own tank. The tank need not be large, I use 20 gal. "tall" tanks for this purpose. I run them bare bottom, with a small clay flower pot turned upside down for the eggs, with a heater and sponge filter. I always keep sponge filters in the sumps of my display tanks to keep them cycled and ready to go. You will need to do some research to learn about raising Discus. It ain't rocket science, but they are things you need to know. I would suggest you go over to the Simply Discus forum to learn more, a lot of pros over there.
 
Well, this is where the hard part begins. I'm in your situation too. I have a pair that lays eggs all the time yet, every time I stick them in a breeder tank they stop! Dang it!! Anyways, I was reading Wattley and he suggests getting a piece of glass 1/4 inch shorter than your present tanks dimensions and isolating the pair on their favorite side of the tank. He explains that the 1/4 inch gap will let water circulate and the amount of fry lost will be minimal because they will rather be with the parents. I figured I'd give it a go next time arround.
 
Westie;2674877; said:
Well, this is where the hard part begins. I'm in your situation too. I have a pair that lays eggs all the time yet, every time I stick them in a breeder tank they stop! Dang it!! Anyways, I was reading Wattley and he suggests getting a piece of glass 1/4 inch shorter than your present tanks dimensions and isolating the pair on their favorite side of the tank. He explains that the 1/4 inch gap will let water circulate and the amount of fry lost will be minimal because they will rather be with the parents. I figured I'd give it a go next time arround.
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I like this idea the best so far. But all the eggs were still there when i got home but when i came back from the cyro they were all gone. I think the hungry rays did it but i'm not sure. Where could i get glass to fit in my tank?
 
I do have a few extra tanks but I'm lazy and i'm trying not to have so many up and running right now. I have a baby on the way so trying to still keep my hobby going but with just less tanks. I have already taken 6 tanks down, its so sad to see the fish go. If it really comes down to it I will put up a 29 to breed them.
 
furcifer158;2676741; said:
I like this idea the best so far. But all the eggs were still there when i got home but when i came back from the cyro they were all gone. I think the hungry rays did it but i'm not sure. Where could i get glass to fit in my tank?
Click to expand...


Sometimes Discus will eat their eggs. Have glass cut to fit at your local glass shop. It's pretty cheap usually.
 
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