Risking peppered mugs?

That looks good for their first try.

 

Interesting bit of behaviour. One of my kids came too close with a sudden movement. Witb their protective instincts kicking in The female rushed to one wriggler and ate it (did not spit it out even after 5mins, so im taking it as a gonner) the male noticed this and now he is aggressive towards her not allowing her anywhere near the spawn

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so... classic case of counting my chickens.... but the object of me documenting it here is to learn and keep a visual journal of sorts. A few became free swimming, maybe 10 or so, but they were scattered all over by the parents, attaching them to mostly the sponge filter, the ones who became completely free swimming doesn't seem to be attaching to the parents properly mostly swimming at the top. More concerning is that the parent do not bother to go "fetch them" but are rather intent on spawning again judging by their behaviour.

Now I know from experience that all discus parent are not the same. Some are brilliant and produce great results regardless of WQ; whether there's a sponge filter in or not and are not affected by water levels, they just seem to be really good at raising fry...

whereas this pair looked to be drastically affected by:

1. WQ

2. Sponge filter (they attached majority wrigglers to sponge unfortunately)

3. Water level (most free swimmers swam at the surface not bothering to attach)


Plan of action:

1. WQ - source and prepare higher/ideal water quality

2. Sponge filter - Either remove filter after the third day of them laying eggs. (probably for about 5 days allowing them to properly attach to parent, in which case I will have to clean tank daily with daily water replenishing.

OR

and I just thought of this last night, get a filter net bag and enclose the sponge filter thus not allowing them to attach to it (this is probably the safer route and ill attempt this option first)

3. Water level - To attempt to sort this problem out i was thinking of drastically reducing the water levels for at least 3 - 5 days during wriggler phase thus not giving the fry (when they go free swimming) much room to miss the parents and "forcing them in a way to attach.


I will re-asses the situation when i get back home and see how many fry eventually did attach from the filter (not much I assume - hopefully 5 - 8). If so ill keep them with the parents for a month and allow them to spawn again with custom plan of action dedicated to this pair.

Ill keep this thread updated regularly regardless if I'm successful or not, hoping whoever reads this can benefit from my experiences.

 

Here's what I did when they attached to the sponge. I took out the spawning pot from the tank and placed the sponge in the middle where the pot was. The parents then hugged the sponge like they would hug cover and the fry moved back and forth between the sponge and the parents but eventually got the idea and moved to the parents permanently. I also lowered the water level during this time. It took 2 days in total for them all to attach.

 

thanks for sharing BoelderBeestie, sometimes you just have to use abit of imagination and be creative I guess, all part of the "fun" right?, and the reward of satisfaction increases when you do eventually raise them to adulthood knowing you had to "cheat" alittle to get it right

 

I hope they are attached when you get home. If not, there is always next week when they spawn again. If you haven't done so already, get some brine shrimp eggs and all the parts for a hatchery, you are going to need it soon.

Fun yes, cheat nah let's call it improvising haha.

 

So approx 14 free swimmers
Heres the pic with them
on the mother on the right. Hard to spot but do you notice anything odd about the photo??

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25th june 2017. Day 7

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More eggs haha.

 

yes, they laid with free swimmers on their backs.... I have read of this happening to some people before, but its the first time iv experienced this after 8 years of keeping discus

 

This is insane



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Happened to me also. Just keep an eye out, mine ate the babies after a few days of spawning.

 

So summin had to giv right.... Would hav been a bonus if i had a double spawn that hatched a few days apart, but alas t'was not meant to be as they ate the eggs. At least the free swimmers are doing well

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I think it's a win so far. Are they taking bbs yet?

 

Well... Heres the thing... Im actually here to try and prove a point to most purists... And you not going to like me for this...

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Ill explain in detail abit later

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Its a bit later

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@Discusnut hahaha, it's even later still.

 

Well wait lol

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give me abit more time gents.... I really need to think carefully as to how im going to word it as unfortunately I'm not the most articulate person in the world and I would hate for it to be construed as arrogance.

...so before I put my foot in it, give me sometime in trying to explain my "theory" as concise as possible. (I have put theory in brackets for a reason and ill try and explain why when I do eventually post my story)... in the meanwhile I'll keep updating this thread on my +-10 golden Marlboro red mix pigeon fry