EccentricDiscusLuver
Tue Nov 28, 2006, 08:08 AM
Hi mate,
I am really excited over my experience of getting the first school of fry that had survived through my many silly mistakes and learning. It had been a month now and I have a balance of about 40 pcs of small fry from the parentage of Snakeskin (male) and Marlboro (female). Hmmm..maybe should give them a name!! Marlboro Snake?? hahaha..just pray hard that it would be able to grow out as they appear to be healthy. This is the 3rd spawn though, after initiatial 3 unsuccessful ones. All I gain from the learnings is pro-activity in my approach and be observant.
Their first spawn is in the community tank and the second spawn is my own mistake as I did not see the eggs attached on the wall of the aquarium when I was cleaning the tank up. Just wipe them off...goshh..A BIG Lesson learnt - BE OBSERVANT!!!!
Since then, they spawn again for the third time within a month and these are my action steps and please feel free to feedback on the processes for my sharing best practices.
1. Date of Spawn - 11/11/2006 @ 6 pm
Had the pleasure to experience the scene of spwaning process from beginning to end and it was breath taking to see how the pair is so loving in the whole process. The whole process took about 1 hour. Waited for another hour prior to applying metalyne blue to the eggs. Continue to feed in small quantity and siphoning out of the left over food. Noticed that they didnt eat much during this period.
2. Hatching - 14/11/2006 @ 4 am
Time that I have been waiting for and it was just amazing to see how the pair working closely like a tag team in transferring the fry to a new area at this stage. It brought to my realization as to why the female was busy cleanning up a new area while waiting for the eggs to hatch. Another interesting observation was that this Marlboro female was very protective of the eggs and not even the male have the opportunity to get near to the eggs. This is also the time where the pair have a "NO FEAR" attitude even with your hand near to the fish. I did not ADD in any water and just allow the level lowered on my daily cleaning anticipating the fry may not attached to the pairs.
3. Free Swimming - life begins here for the fry. They were swimming aimlessly like a chicken without their head as the parents chased them all over the tank to group them back with the school of fry. Did notice that the male didnt play much role in protecting the fry hence being chased away by the female. She would place all fry at one corner of the tank and guard them earnestly. Once a while, I observed some fry attached to the male body as by nature the SS is darker as compared to the marlboro. The male appeared to be stressed and the stress bar was quite apparent. Still wondering as to why the male reacts in that way??? Out of a sudden, noticed that the male was actually swallowing in some fry!!!! Fortunately, I had observed how the female moved the fry and the male action is totally differ from that. Removed the male immediately (dunno if that is the righet action till now). Once the male had been removed, the female appeared to be less tense as the fry were allowed to move around in the tank on the 4th day after freeswimming.
4. BS was introduce on the 5th day of freeswimming in small quantity as most of the fry still do not know how to eat them. (Lol, learnt thru first mistake of dumping it all in with lots of leftover and an irritated mom)
Talking about brine shrimp - Hatch them for the first time and couldn't get BS net in the aquarium shop. Panicked struck during harvesting as the normal small net is not working as per claimed by the shop owner. Started looking for a replacement to shieve the BS. Lastly, you know what, resort of an old piece of underwear...hahahaa and yes, its mine but it work soooo fine that I am still using it today.
5. With low water level, Marlboro have no problem of getting the fry to attached to her especially during midnite (when I am not feeding) but they swims around during the day. I suspect that the mucus produced were insufficient for the school of fry.
6. Remove fry on the 23rd as I noticed that the fry is not attached to the female anymore and she seemed stressed. Immediately treat the female with Acryflavin and introduced the male back to the breeding tank with the hope of getting more fry with the similar parentage before I pair the female with my "Golden".
It was a wonderful experience, and I dont think anyone would stop spawning them should YOU experience it for your self. Like me, I would definitely "ASK FOR MORE" though it was a tiring process as one needs to be planning ONE step ahead of the needs in order to be well prepared. This fish had changed my life now as I would wake up every morning at 6 am to settle the stuff, water change, cleaning and feeding (I used to wake up late for work but now I am punctual!!!heheeh) before I rush to work and repeat the same routine when I reach home every nite....is it worth it??? or like my wife use to say "looking for trouble" but hey....it is just to nice to be a servant of KING...hahaha
So the do's:
1. Buy more ready made food at home - you would definitely spend less time out
2. Have spair air pump in hand and accessories (air stone, hose and etc)
3. Get extra pillow and bolster (for the married ones) as you would be kicked out of the room.
DON'Ts only 1 - SLEEEPPPPP!!!! :twisted:
Hope you would enjoy your experience as I had changed my life for better after romancing with Discus......
PS - Just have another spawn this morning!!!! Unbelievable.....thx to all information found in this site that had shorten the learning process for beginners like me...
Parting words:
"The road to happiness lies in TWO simple principles:
1. Find what it is that interest you and that you can do well
2. When you find it, put your whole soul into it ...every bit of energy and ambition and natural ability you have.
John D Rockerfeller III
Signing off.....Eccentric
I am really excited over my experience of getting the first school of fry that had survived through my many silly mistakes and learning. It had been a month now and I have a balance of about 40 pcs of small fry from the parentage of Snakeskin (male) and Marlboro (female). Hmmm..maybe should give them a name!! Marlboro Snake?? hahaha..just pray hard that it would be able to grow out as they appear to be healthy. This is the 3rd spawn though, after initiatial 3 unsuccessful ones. All I gain from the learnings is pro-activity in my approach and be observant.
Their first spawn is in the community tank and the second spawn is my own mistake as I did not see the eggs attached on the wall of the aquarium when I was cleaning the tank up. Just wipe them off...goshh..A BIG Lesson learnt - BE OBSERVANT!!!!
Since then, they spawn again for the third time within a month and these are my action steps and please feel free to feedback on the processes for my sharing best practices.
1. Date of Spawn - 11/11/2006 @ 6 pm
Had the pleasure to experience the scene of spwaning process from beginning to end and it was breath taking to see how the pair is so loving in the whole process. The whole process took about 1 hour. Waited for another hour prior to applying metalyne blue to the eggs. Continue to feed in small quantity and siphoning out of the left over food. Noticed that they didnt eat much during this period.
2. Hatching - 14/11/2006 @ 4 am
Time that I have been waiting for and it was just amazing to see how the pair working closely like a tag team in transferring the fry to a new area at this stage. It brought to my realization as to why the female was busy cleanning up a new area while waiting for the eggs to hatch. Another interesting observation was that this Marlboro female was very protective of the eggs and not even the male have the opportunity to get near to the eggs. This is also the time where the pair have a "NO FEAR" attitude even with your hand near to the fish. I did not ADD in any water and just allow the level lowered on my daily cleaning anticipating the fry may not attached to the pairs.
3. Free Swimming - life begins here for the fry. They were swimming aimlessly like a chicken without their head as the parents chased them all over the tank to group them back with the school of fry. Did notice that the male didnt play much role in protecting the fry hence being chased away by the female. She would place all fry at one corner of the tank and guard them earnestly. Once a while, I observed some fry attached to the male body as by nature the SS is darker as compared to the marlboro. The male appeared to be stressed and the stress bar was quite apparent. Still wondering as to why the male reacts in that way??? Out of a sudden, noticed that the male was actually swallowing in some fry!!!! Fortunately, I had observed how the female moved the fry and the male action is totally differ from that. Removed the male immediately (dunno if that is the righet action till now). Once the male had been removed, the female appeared to be less tense as the fry were allowed to move around in the tank on the 4th day after freeswimming.
4. BS was introduce on the 5th day of freeswimming in small quantity as most of the fry still do not know how to eat them. (Lol, learnt thru first mistake of dumping it all in with lots of leftover and an irritated mom)
Talking about brine shrimp - Hatch them for the first time and couldn't get BS net in the aquarium shop. Panicked struck during harvesting as the normal small net is not working as per claimed by the shop owner. Started looking for a replacement to shieve the BS. Lastly, you know what, resort of an old piece of underwear...hahahaa and yes, its mine but it work soooo fine that I am still using it today.
5. With low water level, Marlboro have no problem of getting the fry to attached to her especially during midnite (when I am not feeding) but they swims around during the day. I suspect that the mucus produced were insufficient for the school of fry.
6. Remove fry on the 23rd as I noticed that the fry is not attached to the female anymore and she seemed stressed. Immediately treat the female with Acryflavin and introduced the male back to the breeding tank with the hope of getting more fry with the similar parentage before I pair the female with my "Golden".
It was a wonderful experience, and I dont think anyone would stop spawning them should YOU experience it for your self. Like me, I would definitely "ASK FOR MORE" though it was a tiring process as one needs to be planning ONE step ahead of the needs in order to be well prepared. This fish had changed my life now as I would wake up every morning at 6 am to settle the stuff, water change, cleaning and feeding (I used to wake up late for work but now I am punctual!!!heheeh) before I rush to work and repeat the same routine when I reach home every nite....is it worth it??? or like my wife use to say "looking for trouble" but hey....it is just to nice to be a servant of KING...hahaha
So the do's:
1. Buy more ready made food at home - you would definitely spend less time out
2. Have spair air pump in hand and accessories (air stone, hose and etc)
3. Get extra pillow and bolster (for the married ones) as you would be kicked out of the room.
DON'Ts only 1 - SLEEEPPPPP!!!! :twisted:
Hope you would enjoy your experience as I had changed my life for better after romancing with Discus......
PS - Just have another spawn this morning!!!! Unbelievable.....thx to all information found in this site that had shorten the learning process for beginners like me...
Parting words:
"The road to happiness lies in TWO simple principles:
1. Find what it is that interest you and that you can do well
2. When you find it, put your whole soul into it ...every bit of energy and ambition and natural ability you have.
John D Rockerfeller III
Signing off.....Eccentric