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Discus Wrigglers- hatched 9-22

10K views 39 replies 10 participants last post by  Calmwaters 
#1 ·
This are really tough to see but I had to share! The wrigglers are attached to the side of the driftwood, they are the gray "dots" that are in a cluster in front of Mom's face. They spawned on the back of the algae magnet and yesterday once the eggs hatched they moved them over to this section of driftwood. I saw the wrigglers on the back of the magnet, got all excited and went running for my camera. I came back and they were all gone. I thought to myself, "Oh well, at least this time eggs hatched. Next time maybe they'll get farther". I called my guy at the LFS to tell him and he said, "Are you sure they ate them? Alot of the times they will just move them". I walked back over to the tank and sure enough, that's what they had done. This spot is much better than the back of an algae magnet. If they get to the free swimming stage I'll be amazed.
 

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#2 ·
congrats on the babies..... XD
 
#3 ·
Great pictures, Kym!! Looks like Mom is doing her job well. I really hope they make it to free-swimming. I'd love for you to share the same experience and excitement I experienced when my Angelfish fry became free-swimming for the first time. It's just so darn cute. I still feel for your male who shoots blanks, but hopfully once he's all better he'll get the hang of it as well ;-)
 
#4 ·
I still feel for your male who shoots blanks, but hopfully once he's all better he'll get the hang of it as well ;-)
Thanks Lisa, but I think I'm happy with him shooting blanks. Can you imagine a tank with two different pairs trying to raise babies? Yikes. I also hope they make it to free swimming. I know it'll be so exciting to watch! It so funny as I never thought this pair would be successful. When they first laid their eggs they would BOTH freely swim away from them to eat. The other pair would never do that, one was always on guard. Now that this pair has wrigglers one of them always stays with them. Only dad ate this morning, mama wasn't leaving her babies. I wonder if at lunch time he will stay and let her go eat? It's sooooo much fun! I have babies!! :-D
 
#5 ·
What I did was feed all the other fish at one end of my (6 foot ;-) ) tank, then feed mom on her own near the fry. It worked out well that way and Mom didn't have to leave her precious babies. Once mom left the babies and the other fish swam near. I yelled at them, but I believe the big threat was dad rushing over to the fry when he noticed the other fish close to them ;-) Lots of luck to you and your babies!
 
#6 ·
I just feed them lunch (live blackworms, yummy!) and even though I fed from both ends of the tank Dad ate but Mom never took her eyes of her babies. She looked at the pipette, saw that the worms were dangling but then she just focused all her attention back to her babies. They say Discus are good parents and I can see why. I'm loving this experience!
 
#8 ·
that is AMAZING. what a great experience it must be to see that live and in person.

congrats. and keep us posted. your fish are stunning btw.
Thank you! It is amazing and what's even more amazing is that it's a beautiful sunny day and I haven't left the house once, which is not like me at all!
I have been spending all my time gazing at the wrigglers, coming back to the laptop, going back to the wrigglers, etc. :lol:
 
#10 ·
Wow! Awesome vid, Lisa. How ever in the world are those parents going to be able to keep those babies all together? Mom does a great job of snagging them and spitting them right back out onto that leaf. I hope mine, at least some, make it to that free swimming stage. I like your narration. Pretty amazing stuff! We are grandmas!! :lol:
 
#16 ·
Well Kym, they couldn't. That was two spawns ago when my fry became free-swimming. Once they were all free-swimming, they lasted 48 hours. When I woke up on the 3rd day all the fry were gone. Not sure if they got eaten by other fish or by the parents. It was a really neat experience though. My last spawn only lasted a day. I think the parents didn't like where they laid the eggs. It was partially on a leaf and partially on the back wall to the aquarium.

I came home last night to more eggs. This time on the heater :-?. Not the wisest choce Mom and Dad! But, the room is warm right now so I doubt the heater will actually kick on, but if it does I don't expect the eggs to last long.

Thanks forthe compliments on the video everyone. It was so exciting to experience it for the first time. I really hope Kym gets to, too :)
 
#11 ·
Oh my! That's so awesome. Reading your post "Kym"? I got really happy and excited, great news! I kept thinking about when my angels get big enough and hopefully have babies of their own. Then I kept reading and scrolling down and saw your baby Angels 'Lisa' and.. WOW.. just WOW :) happiness! Interesting how the parent Angel keeps sucking up the one baby that wants to venture out and spits it up back with the rest.. haha.. Congrats to both 'mommas' :)
Felipe
 
#13 ·
Kym, that's so exciting. Discus babies! How many are there? You sound as nervous about those babies as mama Discus is. lol

Lisa, what a great video. Congrats on your babies too!
 
#14 ·
Kym, that's so exciting. Discus babies! How many are there? You sound as nervous about those babies as mama Discus is. lol
Ha! You picked up on that! It looks to be about 30 wrigglers. Already I see a big change in them from this morning to this afternoon. It's like they grow before your eyes. If I still have them come tomorrow I maybe able to get a clearer picture of them. When I walk up to the tank with my magnifying glass the parents huddle in front of them, as if they don't want me looking at them. I guess they forget who feeds them, eh?
 
#15 ·
Great video Lisa. Momma fish is one busy lady :)

I love how the two angels stared down that albino cory until they were satisfied that he wasn't hanging around the babies.

Congrats.
 
#18 ·
Congrats on the babys! Sounds like mom and dad are haveing a hard time decideing were they want them. LOL
 
#19 ·
Kym, this is all good stuff. Them moving the fry repeatedly is a good sign of parenting. Like I said before, my Angels moved their fry 5+ times before they became free-swimming. And that's only what I witnessed. Who knows what happens in the overnight hours the eight plus hours a day I spend at work :) Your discus are doing a fantastic job of caring for their fry.
 
#22 ·
Fry- First Pic!

Around 4 days after wigglers start. The whole process from egg laying to free-swimming is 7 days. What day did they first lay the eggs?
The eggs were laid on Sunday morning, they hatched Wednesday morning.
I was able to get a pic. This is so exciting to me as I can see that they are actually itty bitty fish now.
I'm going to call Ron (my LFS guru) so I can get up to speed and ready to feed them, if and when the time comes. I have a cycled tank the fry can be moved to, I'll have to figure out the baby brine shrimp hatchery "thingy majig". I need to not put the cart before the horse. If I get too prepared someone will end up eating them! Of course, I told myself prior to this I would let nature take its course but now that I see little tails moving it's hard to not want to take care of them. :)
 

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#23 ·
You are very, very close my friend! By Sunday evening they will be free-swimming. As in my video, only a few will start swimming and as the hours go by, they will all become free-swimming. The brine shrimp hatchery takes 48 hours, so you'd have to start it today. There is this powder by Hakari called "First Bites" that you can try if you can't get a hold of a hatchery in time, but baby brine shrimp will be the best for them. To transfer the fry from your 100g to your fry tank, you can use airline tubing that's a bit thicker (the hole bigger) and syphon them out through the airline tubing into the fry tank. This will cause less stress than netting them, exposing them to air, and placing them in the fry tank, IMO.
 
#24 ·
Great tip on the airline tubing! I have more than a few days on setting up the hatchery. The free swimming fry feed off of the parents slime coat for the first week or so. If we even get that far...
 
#26 ·
Ron tells me when you start seeing them venturing away from their parents it's time to pull them and start feeding newly hatched baby brine. He has a hatchery for me and says it's as "easy as pie" but he also said it's "stinky" smelling. Wade's going to love that! lol
 
#28 ·
does any 1 have any advise on setting up a brine shrimp hatchery (sorry 4 interupting) or a site on the infomation :):):)
 
#30 ·
Okay, the stress of watching all this is killing me! A fry will fall away from the magnet and start swimming, Dad or Mom sucks them into their mouth and deposits them right back on the magnet. At one point there were six of them going every which way and I was worried that Mom and Dad wouldn't get them all before someone (ram, loach, other discus) made a quick snack. At this rate I don't know how the fry will make until morning. Arrgh.
 
#31 ·
The parents will work hard all night to protect them. But once they are all free-swimming is when it gets difficult for them in a community tank. Hopefully a few will find shelter among your plants. They can also feed off of zooplankton for many months.
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#32 ·
This morning when the tank lights came on I saw that there were only five fry left. The five that were there were already feeding off of mom & dad's slime coats. I was so excited! I went into the kitchen to rinse some blackworms, came back to feed the tank and all babies were gone. How sad. I'm not sure if Discus are affected by losing their fry but dad ate like a pig and mom had no interest. This marks the forth day since she has shown no interest in food. I wonder how long before they spawn again?
I said I wouldn't do this but I think setting up a separate breeder tank is in the works. It's so hard to not want to do this knowing I have a pair of "successful" parents. Clearing out the laundry room today. :)
 
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