Got to wigglers. BUT!

[KAAZ]

Hey everyone!

One of my pairs have spawned and got to the wigglers stage, ohhh and their in the community tank as well. To begin with I was afraid the other discus would eat the eggs, but that didn't happen because the parents stopped them getting anywhere near the eggs. And now the parents are playing the sit and wait game! they sit and wait till the wigglers are free and then chomp! :shock: What can I do? and can the wigglers survive without the parents?? I didn't know they would eat their own wigglers?
Help please!!!! :(

[Merrilyn]

Well, good news and bad news Kaaz. What your parents are doing is actually very normal.

Look at it from their point of view. While their babies were on the spawning site, they could protect them. As the fry started to move off, they would probably catch them and spit them back into the brood. Once they start free swimming in earnest, the parents can no longer protect them, so they eat them to protect them from the enemy. Depressing for you, but it makes perfect sense to the parents.

I allow all my pairs to lay eggs in the community tank and try to protect them. It makes the pair bond stronger, and they tend to make better parents when they finally move into a breeding tank.

Fry can be raised without the parents, but it is a highly labour intensive procedure involving a paste made from egg yolk fed to the fry every two hours, and constant water changing.

Just allow things to take their natural course, and when you put them in a breeding tank, you'll find they will be model parents.

[KAAZ]

Thanks Ladyred, they've eaten all the wigglers now. So I guess I'll have to wait till they spawn again....