Breeding My Discus

Nitaree said:

Fingers crossed for better luck this time!

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Thank you..... I think I have crooked bones from crossing my fingers so hard . I am trying to help them as much as I can

holy cow mr brave... you could have lost a finger doing that! lol seventh times a charm

thisguyek said:

holy cow mr brave... you could have lost a finger doing that! lol seventh times a charm

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That's more charms than a gypsy now!!!!

The little guys hatched, not a big number, but any number is good for me just now. 72 hours until they swim, and we try again to help them locate the parent fish

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I know that the young feed off the parents, but is there something you could supplement so that the parents can be removed? That way the babies don't end up as snacks?

i love this thread so much, and cant wait for some more updates!

Dieses Madchen said:

I know that the young feed off the parents, but is there something you could supplement so that the parents can be removed? That way the babies don't end up as snacks?

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I have heard that it is possible to rear the young from day one without the parents, but I have no experience of this, so would not know where to start. They need to feed off the parents skin for at least 5 days, then I can wean them on to freshly hatched brine shrimp. For this I have already constructed a brine shrimp hatchery, with an auto feed system that will feed the fry every 3 hours....... it would make Wallace and Grommet proud! ....... maybe an addition to the thread if we get to that stage?

Fishy friend2 said:

i love this thread so much, and cant wait for some more updates!

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Wrigglers are still a wriggling ....... they should start to swim in less than 48 hours from now, and I will do everything I can to get them hooked to their parents bodies to feed........ updates a plenty once they do............or tears if they don't!

Omg awesome thread dude, i have had so much fun reading through it can't wait for more updates keep going

nicky b said:

Omg awesome thread dude, i have had so much fun reading through it can't wait for more updates keep going

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Thanks Nicky......I will be sure to keep updating. It's a very small number of fry this time, but the 30 or so wee guys are looking strong

The little guys shouldn't start swimming until tomorrow, but they have already started to try a little base-jumping(without the aide of a parachute), so I have dropped the water down ready for their mini adventures. I had to mod the filter pickup slightly and swapped the pipes around. So now what was the inlet is the outlet, and I attached a long pipe to what was the outlet before, so it will take the water of the tank floor. I also added a little foam cover to the end so that the fry don't get sucked in.

i hope so dude the 30 little guys better make it all the way this time can't wait to see the little dude's swimming around with there mom and dad

Mum watching her little kids, as they get ready for their first swimming lessons

Do you think she will eat them again ?



and i was also wondering if it might be worth adding softer lights ( dim glowing lights to soften the mood) and maybe putting in plastic plants to make it more commfortable and homely ? it might make them less nervous with the babies

congrats with the new hatches looking forward to them finally making it past that mark! youve been getting closer and closer each time.

balajake said:

Do you think she will eat them again ?



and i was also wondering if it might be worth adding softer lights ( dim glowing lights to soften the mood) and maybe putting in plastic plants to make it more commfortable and homely ? it might make them less nervous with the babies

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The problem I have stems as much from the fry, as the parent fish. Discus fry feed exclusively off their parents skin mucus, a kind of fishy milk, for the first few days. Today when they become free swimming they need to start feeding, as their little yoke sacks will be empty. So they have to locate the parent fish pretty quickly. Because the fry have poor eye sight(I would too if my eyes were that small), they look for a dark shadow and aim for that. Wild discus are generally brown, and turn almost black during spawning to help the young find them. As you can see my fish have a lot of white on them, so the fry will struggle to see them. Hence the reason I lowered the water level and have nothing dark in the tank. Hopefully the fry will bump into the parents and start feeding, if not they will become weak within hours, and the parents will gobble them up.

So actually the bright light should help the fry see the darker colours on the parents flanks a little better......well that's the plan anyway.....here's hoping

Swimming lesson 101... with Big Daddy Discus