Discus Fry In Community Tank

[Tracey73]

Need some help!

For the last 3 years my discus pair have continuously spawned and gotten to the fry free swimming stage but within 24 hours the fry would been gone, eaten by the community(angels, neons, rummys, hatchets, bristlenose)

They have this time to my amazement been able to section of a 1/4 end of the tank and protect their babies quite well and the fry have been free swimming for the last 5 days. This is the their most successful attempt and I am now wondering what are their chances of making it? Should I remove the fry? when should I start introducing food to them? etc etc .. any advice would be much appreciated :)

[Mr Wild]

Its a miracle they have gotten this far! Time will wear the parents down and slowly they will be picked off, its simply a numbers game. At this stage fry still need their parents I would be putting in a sponge wall or similar.

[HUN]

Put a divider cos normally 10day old maybe they can learn to eat bbs,but before that they relies on parent slim coat,if you put a divider try to have some light on at night .

[swampy1972]

I am now wondering what are their chances of making it?

Thier chance is 0 unfortunately...

Dividing the tank would be the best option if you don't have another tank. You can introduce baby brine shrimp for them now. Once they're big enough to start picking for food around the tank by themselves they should be fine to remove from the parents.

[Tracey73]

Thanks everyone for the replies :)

Well to my absolute astonishment the fry are still alive, its been two weeks now. The parents have done a fantastic job with them, its been amazing to watch. I have not put in a divider or anything, I have just gone about things as normal and the little buggers have managed to survive .. I then came home tonight to find a pair of my angels have managed to spawn without my knowing and came home to angel fry as well! must be something in the water lol

So my question is.. what to do now? I honestly did not think they were going to make it this far! Should I seperate them from the parents or just let them be? There are about 25 of them.

[AS28]

Wow thats amazing tracey. My Pair are in a community tank and never get past the egg stage ( not ready for babys yet anyhow.

[Tracey73]

Thanks AS28, I am amazed too!

I am happy to report that the fry are now 4 weeks old and seem to be doing really well. I pretty much took on the tough survival of the fittest attitude and left them to their own devices, no divider or anything and the little buggers have survived! There are around 25 of them and they are eating anything I put in the tank, they recognise me everytime I go near the tank which is very cute & they are looking more like their dad each day. The parents are a Red marlboro(male) & Rose Red(female).. I am just taking each day as it comes but so far so good :D

[swampy1972]

Congrats Tracey. But you know what they say, "without pics it never happened" :P

[Tracey73]

lol Swampy I take that as a hint! here is some video footage of them :)

http://s39.photobucket.com/albums/e186/jata04/?action=view&current=MVI_4311.mp4