Spawning Discus

[Discus_Dude]

Silver Pigeon Blood (8"+) and Red Gold Diamond (6"):

http://i885.photobucket.com/albums/ac51/dlr1961_photos/20091201-2071.jpg

Multi-tasking: Spawning and previous weeks fry feeding on female
http://i885.photobucket.com/albums/ac51/dlr1961_photos/20091201-2068Multi-tasking.jpg

http://i885.photobucket.com/albums/ac51/dlr1961_photos/20091201-2005Modified.jpg

Prizon Break in the Making
http://i885.photobucket.com/albums/ac51/dlr1961_photos/20091206037.jpg

[Discus_Dude]

http://i885.photobucket.com/albums/ac51/dlr1961_photos/20091206024.jpg

http://i885.photobucket.com/albums/ac51/dlr1961_photos/20091208012.jpg

http://i885.photobucket.com/albums/ac51/dlr1961_photos/20091208008.jpg

Discus Nativity
http://i885.photobucket.com/albums/ac51/dlr1961_photos/20091208012.jpg

[Northernguy]

Its a safe spot to lay them!lol
They won't get eaten there.:19:
I like the mesh idea. What is that?
Congrats! They sure are beautiful fish.:22:

[Kazenouta]

Wow, this is amazing. I've never seen fish spawn before so I really enjoyed seeing these pictures. I wonder; how many of those fry will survive to adulthood?

[Discus_Dude]

Its a safe spot to lay them!lol
They won't get eaten there.:19:
I like the mesh idea. What is that?
Congrats! They sure are beautiful fish.:22:


Thanks Ray! You can buy breeding cones that come with that mesh, but it's nothing more than the stuff you can buy at Lowes or Home Depot to put in your roof gutters to keep leaves and such out. It's already precut to the width and all I did was super glue it together than coat the seam with silicone to cure for a day for added protection. I wasn't sure about using the super glue :ssmile:

[Discus_Dude]

Wow, this is amazing. I've never seen fish spawn before so I really enjoyed seeing these pictures. I wonder; how many of those fry will survive to adulthood?

The female paired up October 12 for the first time with this PB, so they're still practicing to get things right. She has been laying eggs weekly since, but has eaten them within hours. It wasn't until Thanksgiving Day that she didn't eat them for the first time from which I only had about eight free-swimming fry and only three left as pictured before she laid eggs again. Discus won't tyically take the time to raise only a few fry, so as of this week she had over 60 that made it to the free-swimming stage, but only a few of them are left.

This is all a part of breeding Discus and their particular development of parenting skills. I'll post more pictures as they advance. I'm looking forward to taking shots when the fry are swarming around the parents feeding and they make it through the first three weeks or so before becoming independant from the parents.

[Kazenouta]

This is all a part of breeding Discus and their particular development of parenting skills. I'll post more pictures as they advance. I'm looking forward to taking shots when the fry are swarming around the parents feeding and they make it through the first three weeks or so before becoming independant from the parents.

This is all extremely interesting. I'm looking forward to seeing how it works out for you. Best of luck!:11: thumbs2:

[rich311k]

Great shots and nice looking fish. Congrats on the spawn.

[Discus_Dude]

Thanks Kazenouta and rich311k for your support. More shots and info on this pair to come.

At this point most of the free-swimmers are gone and it appears the female is fattening up preparing to spawn again. We'll see. They seem to be advancing quickly as they learn from each spawn, but I may consider pulling the fry once they get to the free-swimming stage and artificially raising them.

So far my experience has been:

Hatching Timeline:

Day 1: Eggs laid approximately 80+

Day 2+: 25% turn white and or develop a fungus even with a Formalin preventative treatment

Day 3: 50-75% eggs remain and eggs hatched becoming wrigglers attached to breeding site.

Day 6: Wrigglers have consumed their yolk sack and become free-swimmers

Throughout these days the parents have been attentive fanning and cleaning the eggs. If the eggs or wrigglers fall off the breeding site one of the parents take them in their mouth and put them back on the breeding site.

[Taurus]

Those are amazing pictures Dude. I've never seen a Discus tank before (believe it or not) but those a truly beautiful cichlids. Very informative for me.

I was out shopping yesterday and stopped in at my local Petco. It's right next to the grocery store. I was amazed to see on tank with 3 50 cent piece diameter Discus in one tank. They were very timid, but very health looking.
They were red with the snake skin pattern. I watch them for quite a while and before I left, looked down at the price tag. $50 a piece. All of a sudden, the koi Angels in the next tank looked much prettier, especial at $5 a piece.

Is $50 a reasonable price for a Discus that size?

I did recognize the gutter guard.

[Discus_Dude]

Those are amazing pictures Dude. I've never seen a Discus tank before (believe it or not) but those a truly beautiful cichlids. Very informative for me.

I was out shopping yesterday and stopped in at my local Petco. It's right next to the grocery store. I was amazed to see on tank with 3 50 cent piece diameter Discus in one tank. They were very timid, but very health looking.
They were red with the snake skin pattern. I watch them for quite a while and before I left, looked down at the price tag. $50 a piece. All of a sudden, the koi Angels in the next tank looked much prettier, especial at $5 a piece.

Is $50 a reasonable price for a Discus that size?

I did recognize the gutter guard.


Hi Taurus,

Thanks for the compliment on my discus. All my tanks are pretty plain right now. Bare bottom for the breeding tank and only sand substrat in my main and juvenille tanks. My main tank will be converted to a planted display tank come Spring, but I want to add an ozone and have a CO2 system ready to go first. It will make maintenance much easier for me.

Petco! That's amazing... I think I read an advertisement somewhere that they were getting some in December. I'll have to check out my local out of curiosity. Thanks for the tip!

$50 is common for 2.5-3 inch discus, but I'm always leary of local fish store's ability to care for them and keep them healthy. I have always had mine overnighted from an importer. There are a few breeders within a two hour or so drive and that would be a good choice as well. Given the pricing, I'm much more comfortable with my investment and have received great follow up support from them as well. I was totally impressed with my one California importer personally called me to see how the discus were doing 24 hours after receiving them. Sweet!

As for pricing, my purchases have ranged from $50-250 each. The $250 price tag is for "show quality" and breeding purposes not to mention the larger size that was 7-8".

Anytime, you have questions, don't hestitate...

Regards,
DD

[Taurus]

With good reason, you should always be cautious about purchases from Petco. They do use R\O water in their centralized filtering system, key word there being "centralized." I did purchase an freshwater Angel from them last summer, but only after I had watched the fish for a week or so. I got lucky as the Angel has been very healthy and so far, not a problem fish.

Thank you for your offer of information and advice when it comes to Discus, but they are out of my price range and at this time cannot afford to purchase equipment and supplies to raise them properly.

It's nice to know that if my situation changes, I have a credible source if information pertaining to them. :ssmile:

I'm always looking for information that will add to my knowledge base of tropical fish.

Again, yours are beautiful, and well cared for.

[Discus_Dude]

Well I guess I'm just nervous with any local fish store; unless, I know for a fact that someone on staff has experience with Discus and that centralized fitration system is always a risk.


With good reason, you should always be cautious about purchases from Petco. They do use R\O water in their centralized filtering system, key word there being "centralized." I did purchase an freshwater Angel from them last summer, but only after I had watched the fish for a week or so. I got lucky as the Angel has been very healthy and so far, not a problem fish.

Thank you for your offer of information and advice when it comes to Discus, but they are out of my price range and at this time cannot afford to purchase equipment and supplies to raise them properly.

It's nice to know that if my situation changes, I have a credible source if information pertaining to them. :ssmile:

I'm always looking for information that will add to my knowledge base of tropical fish.

Again, yours are beautiful, and well cared for.

[Discus_Dude]

Maybe 10 times will be the charm! As of today, my young female has laid eggs 10 times since October 2009 and exciting as each has been, she and her mate are still learning to be good Discus parents. So far only a few have made it to the free-swimming stage, but have only survived a few days after.

Below is today's spawning with a pretty good size batch of eggs...anyone want to count them?:ssuprised:

http://i885.photobucket.com/albums/ac51/dlr1961_photos/20091214050.jpg
http://i885.photobucket.com/albums/ac51/dlr1961_photos/20091214100.jpg

[Lab_Rat]

Very cool pics! I think it's cool how the fry feed on the parents' slime coats.

[rich311k]

Great shots! Good luck with them.

[brianyu]

thumbs2: very nice , any update dude ?:hmm3grin2orange:

[Discus_Dude]

Very cool pics! I think it's cool how the fry feed on the parents' slime coats.


That is definitely one of the top reasons why I really love keeping Discus! It's fascinating to watch the fry attach to the parents to feed and they care for them for several weeks until the fry become independent feeding on baby brine shrimp.

[Discus_Dude]

thumbs2: very nice , any update dude ?:hmm3grin2orange:


Hi Brianyu,

The shots of the spawn in Post #14 are from earlier today. I actually counted the eggs for the first time and came up with 472 of them...LOL. I've screened them in to protect them from Mamma again, not trusting wheter she has outgrown her egg eating yet. In 2-3 days they should hatch if viable and if no fungus forms. I've added Formalin to help prevent fungus, so we'll see.

Fingers crossed that this pair goes all the way this time to having a lot of free-swimmers that can last a few weeks of feeding on Mom and Dad!

[Dagamoth]

So i just counted and came up with the number 467 (at least i think i added correctly) I thought for sure there was only like 125 there or something when i started counting, they add up quick.

[Discus_Dude]

So i just counted and came up with the number 467 (at least i think i added correctly) I thought for sure there was only like 125 there or something when i started counting, they add up quick.

That's pretty cool how you colored them. The kind of look Christmas lights!

Thanks so much for the double check. I printed out a picture and crossed them off. No where near as creative. thumbs2: