broken heater = spawning pair

[DIY]

Hi all,

been a while since I've posted however I've been going along happily with my planted community tank and 8 discus in 6x2x2

I Thought I'd share my experience on getting a new pair laying eggs - first time for me so it's exciting.

Like a lot here I use a water changing barrel. Mine's located outside with a hose running under the house to my tank. I was concerned with temp loss in the hose so I've had the barrel a bit warmer and water changes have raised the tank temp just a little.

About 3 weeks ago I noticed 2 discus up one end looking like they were cleaning a site! I hadn't noticed any "pairing" activities like shimmying etc before - in fact I had resigned myself to the fact I probably wasn't going to get a pair from my current lot of discus.

Excited and since it was overdue I went to do a water change and was massively surprised when I found the water felt cold to touch!! My heater had broken and the temp had dropped to about 24 degrees. I normally run the tank around 29-30.

I reset the heater in my barrel to be a bit cooler, and the last 2 egg batches have been laid within a couple of hours after a water change. the wierd thing is the pair seem to ignore each other until the water change then "bam" while the water is filling they meet at the end of the tank and start cleaning a site.

Reading other threads, my pair are following the normal discus script, first & second lot of eggs didn't get darker and were eaten in the first 24 hours or so. The 3rd batch I clearly saw the male following the female and the eggs looked like they were going darker but were eaten between 28 & 36 hours (overnight).

Based on advice on other threads I plan to leave them in the community tank until the pair hopefully learn to get the eggs to free swimming stage then I'll move them.

I have a couple of questions for the experienced breeders though.

1. I have a spare tank (nice curved front display tank) and a small canister filter. I figure if I wrap some white filter wool around the intake and slow it right down the canister will be fine however the tank is maybe a bit too small, about 16 gallons instead of the recommended 20+ gallons. Is the tank going to be ok if I keep up water changes?

2. I did a water change last night and sure enough they laid some more but this time the male was having trouble following the female. She was constantly pushing him away to continue laying. I think he managed to go over the eggs later but how long after the eggs are laid does he have before it's too late? From other forums it seems that it should be almost immediate like maybe a minute or so?

I know I might find out in a few days if the eggs aren't eaten but I figured someone here can help my curiosity.

Thanks

[Merrilyn]

Great post, and some really good questions there.

Your 64 litre tank is probably not ideal, but I have used a smaller tank with success. It seems to depend on the dimensions. Slightly higher tanks work better than long shallow tanks.

If you keep up with the daily water changes (as you would normally do on a breeding tank) it should be fine.

With regard to the time allowed before the male fertilizes the eggs. Obviously, the sooner the better but, depending on the sofgtness of the water, I believe it's around 20 minutes before the eggs close off, and no milt or water can enter.

[DIY]

Thanks for the great information ladyred and for the kind words

Eggs were still there when I left for work this morning having survived the second night ~35 hour mark. The pair is progressing further each spawn as if scripted by countless threads I have read.

Hopefully the eggs survive during the day

I'm considering splashing out on a nice 180l display tank anyway, even have the finance controllers blessing! (see my thread in the DIY area regarding netting / divider options). that way the pair will be in a 90l compartment but will have 180l of water to act as a "buffer".

P.S. ladyred, the 2 discus I got from you last september (golden albino's) are doing well!

[DIY]

Certainly getting further this time gone past the 50 hour mark now.

not a lot of eggs left, maybe 1/3 of what was laid but at least there is some and the parents are still guarding them.

[samir]

are they getting black spots ? sometimes when the're too few eggs left the parents eat them and start over.

[DIY]

No black spots that I can tell.

The eggs are against a dark grey background and are blending in, in fact almost seem clear / opaque looking. Since it's about 69 hours since they were laid so I assume they aren't fertilised.

It could well be the male is a bit young, I've only had him about 10 months and he was about about 5-6cm in size when I got him.

[Merrilyn]

Don't give up just yet. If the eggs haven't turned white, there is still a possibility.

Can you shine a torch on the eggs. You should be able to see the little wrigglers folded up inside their eggs by now. The most visible part will be the two dark eyes.

Fingers crossed for you :P

[DIY]

Actually I've had a real good look and I think that what I'm looking at is "hatched" eggs (if i can call it that)

Each one looks like 1/2 a shell stuck to the glass with the rest gone.. could they have become wrigglers overnight / today while I was at work and the wrigglers became lunch :roll: - leaving the shell remnant?

It looks like there is 2 or 3 complete eggs left, but they are white