At last, the eggs hatched today!

[chopper]

Finally I have wrigglers, I dont really know what to do now, any suggestions would really be helpful, cheers.

ps, Do i need to leave a light on all day/night for the fry?

[bobgar]

Hi Chopper,

Congrats..now the journey into Discus Breeding and the big wait and watch begins!

Basically for starters, are they with the parents? Since Discus fry feed off their parents' slime coat, there is no need to separate them. The parents will get darker as they produce more slime. They will take turns feeding from both parents.

You can keep them with the parents and they will happily feed from the parents until about 1cm in diamater. In the meantime, I will feed parents beef heart and also finely crush some egg yolk and add it to the water.

Everyday, gently siphon about 10-15% of the water and pick up any debris in the tank.

When the fry are about 1cm, take out the parents and finely crush some bloodworm and brineshrimp and give it to them.

Continue water changes.

[chopper]

Hi bobgar, and thanks so much for your reply, any help at the moment is much appriciated :) . They aren't free swimming yet, I think sometime tommorrow, the parents have moved the whole batch around the tank 3 times in the last 3 days, any idea why theydo this? I'll keep you posted, and thanks again.

[Hollowman]

Chopper, congratulations.

As Bob says the fry will start to free swim and feed off the parents. After a few days of this I would recommend that you hatch baby brine shrimp and try to feed this to them maybe on day 4 or 5. You can use a pipette and spray them over the parent's back, some will stick to the slime, this helps the fry see them as food. I would not put egg in the water as it imo will foul the water.
I would only feed the parents lightly for a week or so, mostly feeding foods that will not foul the water. (for me BH is out) You also need to continue water changing as this is crucial at this stage. Make sure that any water going in, is the same temp and parameters as what you remove.
Keep the fry with the parents for as long as possible, only remove them if you see that they are being damaged or they are getting annoyed by the fry feeding. The longer they are with the parents, I believe the more immunity the fry will have. Keep feeding BBS to the fry, you can also try de-caps too. As they get bigger, then move on to finely ground BH, or a good granular fry food, you can try to crush up Prima or whatever you use.
Good luck......take some picture too :wink:

[chopper]

Hi Hollowman, Thanks mate for the helpful reply, a lot of good stuff in there, thanks. I woke up this morning and the fry are on their parents backs, :) I'm worried about doing a water change, I can only controll the PH and the temp, as I use tap water, will that be ok or not?

[Hollowman]

Sorry for the late reply, just remove as much water as you can without slurping up any stragglers. Make sure you de-chlor the water and age it for 24 hours as you get it ready.

Go for it bud, nothing to loose, lots to learn :wink:

Steve

[ILLUSN]

dont forget to prheat your water to the same temp as the tank, new born fry are sensitive to temp swings, also try and find some pp now, if you start to loose fry at the 3 week mark it will be gill fluke.

Excellent work mate!!!!!

[chopper]

Hi ILLUSN, thanks for your reply, mate what does pp stand for?

[Hollowman]

Potassium Permanganate, you can get the crystals at your local chemists. it is an oxidizor that will kill parasites.