Hints & Tips on rasing discus fry

[RJ_Archer]

ok im about to start breeding discus and i dont want to stuff it up....
ok heres a list of stuff i want to know...
1)how often to treat HEX and what to use?
2)Do i have to worm these and how?
3)Whats the best food to use?
4)how long should i leave the fry in with the parents for?
5)Water changes?(im thinking of syponing the bottom of the tank 2x a day)
6)Lighting?
7)What deases can my discus get and how to treat them?...

If u have any infomation on any of the above please let me know

[Merrilyn]

Good to see you're doing the sensible thing and asking questions before you embark on breeding.

Okay, now the first thing I would do is to treat my pair for gill and body flukes and tapeworm (one tablet does both) then you can treat with levamisole which will remove any round worm or thread worm infestation. That way your parents are as clean as possible before going into the breeding tank, and less likely to pass anything on to the fry.

Feed the parents with good quality, high protein foods, like beefheart, bloodworms, brine shrimp and dry foods. I don't ever use live foods in the breeding tank, too great a risk of passing on some diseases.

Water changes twice a day are fantastic for fry, and you will see good appetite and growth rates.

I leave fry in with the parents for two or three weeks depending on the circumstances. If it's a small brood, and the parents seem to be happy, you can leave them longer, maybe up to a month if you wish.

As soon as the parents start to look a bit ragged, time to take them out and give them time to recover. Raising fry puts quite a strain on the parents, and you want to give them plenty of time to recover their full health before breeding again.

Hopefully Hex is something you won't have to deal with, but you might like to keep some Flagyl ( Metro)on hand, just in case. This is a restricted drug, and you'll need to get it from your vet.

If you've treated the parents before breeding, you shouldn't see any signs of flukes or worms in the fry, and they shouldn't need anything done till you do a routine worming at around 4 months.

Most common diseases in fry are gill flukes, and worms. The symptoms are pretty obvious, but you can reduce the chances of your fry contracting anything from the parents by treating them before breeeding.

Hope that helps.