Wrigglers and Eggs - Strange Happenings

[animagusbc]

I'm so glad that I found this forum. :D

2 weeks ago I was able to purchase a Yellow Crystal Female and a Marlboro Red Male. I was told that this was a proven pair up to wrigglers and then they would eat them due to the age of the Discus I'm assuming.

1st day in the tank, they laid eggs on the Heater but ate them.

3-4 days later, they laid again and the eggs got to the embryonic stage and then then parents ate them again.

3-4 days later, they laid again on the ceramic cone provided and I now have wrigglers that were born as of last Friday and are now Freeswimming and eating the Mucus off both parents.

Strange thing happened though. I woke up this morning to do the morning feeding of all my fish and lo and behold, I now have more eggs on the cone. Mother is feeding the youngsters and the Male is fanning/blowing the eggs and letting the fry still eat off his mucus coat. I have read numerous posts on breeding/fry/wrigglers but have never ever read anything like this ever.

Do I leave the eggs on the cone and hope that they will hatch? Do I take the cone out and let the parents concentrate on the current fry? What do I do? There are currently about 40+ fry in the tank as we speak and this spawn of eggs is even larger. This is crazy and considering this is my first time breeding this pair, kind of freaking me out!!!! Here are some pics of the male and the freeswimming fry from the first batch of eggs hatched.

Marlboro Male
http://members.shaw.ca/mdfury/redmarlboromale.JPG

Freeswimming Fry
http://members.shaw.ca/mdfury/discusbabiesA.JPG

Freeswimming Fry Pics
http://members.shaw.ca/mdfury/discusbabiesB.JPG

[fishinggame]

i have had this happen before on a couple of occasions on one occasion the parents ate the existing free swimming fry and on another occasion a different pair ate both the fry and eggs, maybe removing the cone may help but not sure let us know how you go and good luck
Tony

[Merrilyn]

Hi and welcome to the forum. Those are some wonderful pictures you have there. Wish my photography skills were half as good.

When a pair have a small brood, they will sometimes lay eggs again. In this case, I'd say it's due to your pair being young and inexperienced.

I'd just leave things as they are for the moment. You could find that they will allow the new brood to feed right alongside the first brood. Being only a week apart in age, they should all survive and grow well. One of our more experienced breeders, Kaza currently has a pair doing the same thing, so although it's unusual, it has been done before.

Keep up the good work. You must be doing everything right for them to be so happy to spawn. :P

And keep those photos coming. Love them. :P

[jim from sydney]

Welcome to our great group of friends.....top pics...keep them coming....Jim

[animagusbc]

Thanks for all the warm welcomes!!! :D

Well, Day 2 and the eggs are now darkening up. There are a few fungused eggs but the Male is taking very good care of the eggs blowing and fanning them. He even lets the fry feed off his mucuous coat. The female usually takes over at feeding time so hopefully this is a good sign that this pair will be awesome parents.

Here are some more pics of the parents:

Yellow Crystal Female with Fry Attached. Normally she's a pretty clean yellow with very little peppering.
http://members.shaw.ca/mdfury/discusbabiesA%20070705.JPG

Marlboro Male with Fry Attached. Fanning/Blowing the Eggs on Cone
http://members.shaw.ca/mdfury/discusbabiesB%20070705.JPG

It looks like this pair of Red Pearl Pigeons are starting the mating ritual, so who knows what will happen overnight with this pair.

Red Pearl Pigeon Female
http://members.shaw.ca/mdfury/redpigeonbloodC.JPG

Red Pearl Pigeon Male
http://members.shaw.ca/mdfury/redpigeonbloodA.JPG[/b]

[Merrilyn]

Perfectly normal for the parents to darken when they are carrying fry on their backs. Looks like they're doing a good job too. That second batch of eggs is huge.

Well done.

[animagusbc]

Well, the eggs hatched this morning and I'm again blessed with so many fry. The wrigglers are all doing fine and the parents are taking care of the 1st batch of fry and taking turns eating when they are being fed. This is so crazy seeing 2 batches of fry of varying ages. I'll let everybody know how it goes if the 2nd batch get to the free swimming stage. Would love to hear from other people what their experiences have been when they have overlapping fry. :)

[jim from sydney]

Great work...how exciting...keep the pics coming...Jim

[animagusbc]

Well, it's now Sunday and the 2nd batch of fry are now freeswimming. I have about 30+ fry and all are doing very well. The mother is staying very close to them letting them know that she is there and I expect that they should be attaching to her for the Mucuous in the next couple of days.

The 1st batch of fry are now eating BBS and you can see their fat orange bellies but they are also attaching the father. So funny watching them and they have such personalities.

Anyways, just wanted to share an update on these overlapping fry and their outcome.

Thanks for reading.

[jim from sydney]

Looks like that you are having success...that is great....Jim

[animagusbc]

***** UPDATE *****

Well all is well with both spawns. I can't believe how good the parents are in taking care of both spawns that were born a week apart. Both spawns are now taking newly hatched BBS and it's so funny watching them. So much growth in these young ones it's actually quite amazing. I have now kept a small night light going near the tank as I had a major algae bloom so am now using a Sterilizer in the tank and all is now well. I'll be separating the fry from the parents in the next week. Here are some updated pics of the babies and parents. Don't mind the green background :oops:

Yellow Crystal Female with Babies
http://members.shaw.ca/jvillocero/discusbabies071605C.JPG

Discus Babies 2 Weeks Old hunting BBS
http://members.shaw.ca/jvillocero/discusbabies071605A.JPG

Parents and Babies
http://members.shaw.ca/jvillocero/discusbabies071605D.JPG

[jim from sydney]

they are great shots.........you lucky to have such good results...keep the pics coming....well done.....Jim

[Merrilyn]

Lovely pics. Those parents have done a wonderful job.

The fry are growing well and look very healthy.

Congratulations.

[animagusbc]

Thanks to everybody for their encouragement!! :D

Seeing this is my first Spawn, can somebody let me know when peppering will be apparent on the fry as seeing both parents are Pigeon Bloods? When does everybody else start culling to find out what fry they are going to keep and what they are going to sell? I'm sure this is a bit premature but any info is always good info.

Jonathan

[Merrilyn]

Hi Jonathan. Your job now is to keep those babies growing on, with lots of good food and plenty of clean water.

The colouring will start to develop at around 3 months, but the peppering could take 6 to 12 months to become evident.

Grow then on for as long as you are able, and then choose the ones you will keep by their even colouring and nice round shape. A red eye is another thing to look for as a desirable trait.

[jim from sydney]

Jonathan......congrats .....looking great.

[TeeFM]

nice job....i will start my discus tank soon...hopefully, i will have the same results as you....keep up with the good work!!

[animagusbc]

****** UPDATE ******

Well all the fry are doing very well. All are eating BBS, Grindal Worms and picking at my Beefheart Mixture. So cute as they are all acting like Piranhas picking at all the food. I can't believe how fast they are growing!!!

We separated the parents over a week ago and now have another batch of Fry that went to the Wriggler stage as of last night. I will post pics soon as it's quite amazing how they look. There looks to be over 70+ as I lost count after that.

[jim from sydney]

Jonathan......you must be doing something right.....lol......Jim