Babies going missing

[Dennis Simpson]

I have a pair of discus which are laying eggs and once the eggs have hatched the they become free swimming they are going missing, (we think mum is eating them) does anybody have any ideas on how to over come this?

Thanks

[Merrilyn]

There are lots of reasons why pairs will eat eggs or young. Usually they are a young pair, and can take a few spawns to get it right. Sometimes if they are disturbed too much, they will eat their babies to 'save' them from danger.
Now, a few things to check - is your tank spotlessly clean, with warm aged water. Are you leaving the light on 24/7 while they have eggs or wrigglers. Have you actually seen the wrigglers hatch. They will usually stay on the cone for a couple of days before they become free swimming.
The free swimming time is critical. There must be no dark objects in the tank to attract the fry. If necessary cover the filter intake with filter floss to prevent babies disappearing into the filter. If you are serious about breeding, then you need a bare bottom tank no larger than 90cm, with nothing but a breeding cone in there. I don't use gravel because the fry tend to get lost in it. With a bare tank, you can see what is going on.

[Dennis Simpson]

Thanks for the promt reply.

I would just like to comfirm some things with you. Yes the tank is clean as it has only been set up for about a month. With the light do we need to leave it on 24/7 as this is not that case. Yes have seen them hatch and then they gone, and now they are on the next lot of eggs are getting ready to start wriggle.

I will take what you have said so far on board, and once again thanks for the info.

[Merrilyn]

Sounds like you are on the right track Dennis. Sometimes it's just a waiting game. Yes do keep the lights on 24/7 for at least the first three weeks after hatching. This will give a better growth rate as the fry will feed off the parents all night as well as all day.

Now, you said your tank is just a month old. Did you fully cycle it for a month or so before you added the parents. If not, it will still be cycling. Just keep in mind that ANY ammonia will wipe out the fry. They simply cannot tolerate any ammonia and even a high reading of nitrate will kill them. Tell me a bit more about your tank, and your experience with keeping fish, and I might be able to give you a few more answers.

[Dennis Simpson]

Hi Merrilyn,

Thanks again for your help.

About the tank it is about 300 litres and was setup just before Xmas, we slowly added the plaints and some rocks and then the fish where added and then the discus and they started to lay eggs after a week of being in the tank. The water that is used in the tank comes from a drinking water tank, which is collected from a garage roof. The filter tank holds about 160 litres of water which is sectioned of in three stages, the first two for the filtration and has a pump which is pumping about 2500 litres per hour. All the other fish have been removed from the tank and placed in to a different tank so the discuses are by them selves. Ammonia and Nitrate are ok, which is being tested each week. Many years ago we had a tank but a little rusty now.

Regards
Dennis

[Merrilyn]

Hi Dennis, sounds like a beautiful set up you have there. A couple of things come to mind - if the tank is planted, there are lots of places for the fry to get lost. They will be attracted to the dark rocks, so I'd remove them while you are trying to spawn your pair. Once they lose contact with the parents, they just swim aimlesly until they perish.

The other thing is, that is some pump you have. I think 2500 lph is way too much for a 300 lt tank. The rule of thumb is to pump three times the volume of the tank each hour = 900. Is there a way to reduce the flow, as there must be quite a strong current in the water. The babies will try to swim against the current, and be unable to get back to the parents. Discus come from quiet, still waters in the amazon, so that's what we try to replicate.

Well done on getting your pair to spawn in less than a month. That is no doubt due to the good care, clean water and good food. Now let's see if we can get you some babies!

HTH

[Dennis Simpson]

hi ladyred,
need help urgently,today another batch of eggs have been laid and fertilised do we disgard this batch and set up another tank with absolutely nothing in it just for them or by doing so will we risk losing the parentsits been 3 weeks and we've had 3 batches currently approx 6 live are on the parents
many thanks Dennis

[Merrilyn]

Hi Dennis, well it seems like they are determined to have babies, and they have decided this is the right place to have them. Well let's go with what they want. Leave them in the tank, but can you get the filter slowed down, and try to remove the rocks without disturbing them too much.

Are you saying that they have six fry on their backs from a pervious spawn, and they have spawned again? They have obviously decided that the six are not enough and are going for a much larger spawn. Just leave things as they are for the moment. You could well raise the six AND the fry from the new spawn.

Start hatching those baby brine shrimp. I think you are about to have a very large family to look after. Congratulations.