Breeding

[Hungriee]

O boy its been a breeding season in my 50G breeder tank. First my 3 olive snails somehow had baby snails, I found a bunch in my XP2 when cleaning out and they were all cleaning the trays.

Today I woke up and noticed my two discus were surrounding my manzanita branches, and bam you see a bunch of orange dots on the branch. They laid Eggs. WAHHOOo! Now I don't know whose the male or female but I know whose the pair. Unfortunately a red checkerboard paired with a leopard skin. HMm. their babies will be multi colored =I

Its my first time keeping discus and actually having babies. I do have 2 other young adult size discus that when coming close they chase them away from the branch. I have two juveniles who are safe and know better to stay away. The tank also has cardinals and cories. Will these be safe?

When will I actually see baby fish swim? How many days does it take to hatch? I see one of the parent discus pecking the wood, I'm not sure if its eating them.:eek3:

I'm excited, but clueless on teh next steps. :wall:

[wataugachicken]

maybe better to repost or move to the cichlid forum.

[Lupin]

maybe better to repost or move to the cichlid forum.
Moved.

[pinkertd]

Here's a quick, approximate timeline for you:

Day 3 - Wrigglers emerge
Day 5 - Fry should be freeswimming (count this day as the day they were born)
Days 5-12 - Fry should be feeding off of parents slime coat
Day 12 - Should be able to eat BBS (they are now one week old)
Day 25 - Should be able to eat larger food
Day 26 - Move the parents out (they are now three weeks old)
Move into grow out tank at about 4 weeks of age

It's going to be near impossible to get fry to survive in a community tank. Once they become freeswimming, they need to attach to the parents to feed off of the slime coat. This is a critical stage and there's lots of things that go wrong in a community tank and the babies don't get to do this. It is normal for the parents to use their mouths to keep the eggs clean in addition to their fanning them. They also may eat them, not unlikely for the first several spawns. I've had females continue to clean the wrigglers and spit them back. The parents also will eat the unfertilized eggs that are in between the good eggs. Good luck to you!!! And keep us posted!

[Hungriee]

Thanks pinkertd.

I'm so new to this. Hopefully all comes out well. =D

[Hungriee]

Today was the second day since the eggs were laid. About 50+ orange eggs on teh branch, and tonight there are zero left. The pair decided to feast on their kids. UGH!!!

My first time experience is now a bummer.

[Hungriee]

My discus pair did it again. THis time twice as much eggs as last time. It was just 4 days ago when they ate all their eggs, now it laid more. Wahahahhaa

Hopefully they dont eat it again. The pair haven't left their breeding tree in a long time. Not even for food.

[pinkertd]

It is very common for discus to eat their eggs for the first several spawnings. In a lot of cases, the female is mature enough to be a parent but the male isn't. The males mature slower and later than the females. Take notice if you can though to see if you can see the dots of little eyes in the eggs. That would be step #1 for me to see if the eggs are actually fertilized by the male. If ferilization is taking place then at least there's hope to raise some of those fry from a future spawn! Good luck to you. I must say, 4 days between spawnings is awfully close. All of mine spawn 8-10 days apart.

[Tongue33]

FUN!!