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discus eating fry

ghostgirl228

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
our breeding pair of discus always eat their fry. they lay their eggs, let them develop and hatch into wrigglers. as soon as they become free swimming the parents always eat them. any advice will be greatly appreciated.
 
Most of the time the pair eats the fry due to stress...such as shadows above and around the tank, too much traffic, bad water quality, or even a weak spawn. Any one of these and a few others could be the reason why they are eating the fry. Also, young pairs will do this for a little bit until they get things down..experience is the best teacher.

-Ryan
 
i keep my fish room very calm..and do daily water changes..they are breeding in 8.2 ph and very hard water so yes the spawns are week...but they get them a few days further every time....they are very young pair..thanks any help is good..about 50 to 100 fry...
 
if hte pair is to young i would seperate y\them and let them age a little so this way you won;t stump their grouth.jmo
-tony :)
 
if i do that wont i loose the pair? i had to move the male once and she still layed eggs...i have tried leaving only her with eggs and only him..no luck..they r with other 5 discus in a 55g lots of plants..i tried them in there own tank and they fought! they both seperatly raised them to free swimming stage...then gone..jeanie
 
You might want to remove all the other fish, including plecos and such. If the parents feel the fry are at risk they will usually eat them. I know this is true for other cichlids but not so sure with discus. It might be worth looking into. Good luck.
 
i have tried that,they need target fish or they tear eachother up..i have even tried a devider but the fry got to other side some how..well maybe they just need more time..thanks so much 4 the help...
 
Have you tried the opposite of what they suggested? Two danios Danios are great cheap dither fish and if they get eaten they make a nice high protien snack. If adults don't have something to protect the fry agains you will notice them spending too much time mouthing the fry afraid of a water mark on the glass that isn't moving. Darken the tank as much as possible. If a rainy season is cause of the spawn then it would be natural for there to be little light in the river.

Fry actually learn how to parent from their parent's It is likely that you purchased this pair from another breeder. That downfall is that if they were pulled from the parents they will be less likely to rear young on their own. You can pull fry however if you do so you risk loosing them or stunting there growth. When they reach the size where you can tell what kind of fish they are (size of a pea) you should think about getting more tanks.

Discus form alpha dominance. you will get some large and some small. Cull the small ones and leave the alphas. They will grow faster and be healthier.

Two words.... Cyclop-eeze. If you don't have some you need it. Great food a bit bigger the BBS. Much healthier, and it's got a lot amino acids to keep everyone healthy. Not a lot is neaded. I've got frozen if you want $30 however it's not the one I would suggest. there is a smaller cheaper bottle that would be your best bet (made for marine fish and reef).

Hope this helps. PS pick up a TFH subscription, if you don't know Jack you need to. "Jack Watley"
 
Waldo said:
Have you tried the opposite of what they suggested? Two danios Danios are great cheap dither fish and if they get eaten they make a nice high protien snack. If adults don't have something to protect the fry agains you will notice them spending too much time mouthing the fry afraid of a water mark on the glass that isn't moving. Darken the tank as much as possible. If a rainy season is cause of the spawn then it would be natural for there to be little light in the river.

Fry actually learn how to parent from their parent's It is likely that you purchased this pair from another breeder. That downfall is that if they were pulled from the parents they will be less likely to rear young on their own. You can pull fry however if you do so you risk loosing them or stunting there growth. When they reach the size where you can tell what kind of fish they are (size of a pea) you should think about getting more tanks.

Discus form alpha dominance. you will get some large and some small. Cull the small ones and leave the alphas. They will grow faster and be healthier.

Two words.... Cyclop-eeze. If you don't have some you need it. Great food a bit bigger the BBS. Much healthier, and it's got a lot amino acids to keep everyone healthy. Not a lot is neaded. I've got frozen if you want $30 however it's not the one I would suggest. there is a smaller cheaper bottle that would be your best bet (made for marine fish and reef).

Hope this helps. PS pick up a TFH subscription, if you don't know Jack you need to. "Jack Watley"

The discus pair eat the fry due to stress. The stress comes from an almost countless variety of sources, from parasites (internal or external) all the way to shadows above and around the tank. If they pair feels threatened, then they WILL eat the fry. Darkening the tank will do more harm than good. The fry are drawn to dark objects in the tank, if you darken the tank, there is a VERY good chance the fry will not be able to find the parents and will die due to starvation. Been there, done that.

The fry learning how to raise their own fry from their parents is totally false...atleast in discus. I have had pairs from several breeders who raised those fish artificially...and they were some of my best parents too.

You cant use Cyclop-eeze on fry that young...3 weeks of age is the youngest ive been able to get them to take it. Its simply just too big. Discus fry once free swimming are barely able to take BBS...3 days from free swimming is the earliest they are easily able to take BBS. You can get them to take the BBS on day 1 free swimming, but it requires a lot of patience and a lot of know how and equipment.

As far as Jack goes...IMO he's outdated and is old school in his ways. Best bet if you want to learn about discus is to join one of the major online discus forums.

-Ryan
 
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