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  1. #1
    Just an Egg
    Join Date
    Nov 2011
    Posts
    56

    Biting the bullet - taken eggs away from parents

    After much frustration, with parents eating eggs and wrigglers, Hubby encouraged me to pull the eggs. I also read in an article "I can kill them just as easily as the parents can!".

    2 days ago I pulled the the breeding cone out of the tank and put it into a jug with a mix of methylene blue and tank water. I hung this onto the side of the tank so I could keep the tamp the same and just take my water directly from the tank. Put an airhose into the jug on the opposite side of the eggs to provide aeration. The bulldog clip was to keep the cone from rubbing up against the side of the container and squashing eggs.







    Checked everything yesterday - all but 2 eggs still look nice and dark, can't tell if anything is moving or not as I don't want to disrupt them. Had a discussion with Hubby last night about whether the wrigglers (if they hatched) would be ok in the meth blue mix or if I was supposed to change the water before they hatched. Decided to chang water next morning.

    This morning, we pulled the cone and put into new container of tank water. Had to get a torch to get a good look at the eggs to check if they were ok. Oh My Gosh!!! They were moving!!! I had tiny little tails wiggling everywhere.





    Also had 4 babies loose in the bottom of the jug. Very carefully poured just over half the water out and replaced with the new water from the tank. Put the cone back into the jug - had to gently move one of the loose babies out of the way so I didn't squash him - and put back, hanging on the tank again with the airhose in.

    Will have to check later today to see how they are going and start getting food ready for tomorrow.
    Mrs D

  2. #2
    Free Swimmer Nev's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2011
    Posts
    420
    God luck!

  3. #3
    Eternal Moderator Merrilyn's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2004
    Location
    Melbourne Vic.
    Posts
    8,692
    Brave move Mrs D. You've taken on a mammoth task (now how do I know that ).

    When I tried it, (and I tried it several times) I found the best way was to hang a disc of black hard plastic onto a piece of wire suspended in the middle of the tank, smeared on both sides with an egg yolk and squashed baby brine shrimp mixture, up to 6 times a day.

    Biggest problem was keeping the water clean. Boy that stuff pollutes the tank quickly. Had to do an 80% water change after every feeding. Eventually I made life a bit easier by hanging a soft mesh fry trap in small tank, with the growing fry in the trap so I could more easily syphon out the water in the tank without the risk of sucking up any of the babies. Just drop the basket as the water drops, then raise it again as the tank refills.

    I kept two baskets in rotation, so one could be sterilized and placed in the sun, while the other was in use. Keep everything as clean as possible, and wipe down the inside of the tank daily with paper towel.

    Good luck. It's a lot of work, but the rewards are huge :P
    Thirty-five years keeping and breeding discus, and I'm still learning :P

    Merrilyn has passed, but will not be forgotten - Goodbye dear friend

  4. #4
    San Merah Discus
    Join Date
    Jul 2004
    Location
    Booral, Qld, Australia
    Posts
    1,558
    A challenge it most certainly is. Give yourself a huge pat on the back when they're out of the woods!

  5. #5
    Blue Diamond Discus swampy1972's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2009
    Location
    Shell Cove, NSW
    Posts
    1,038
    If you get even one to adult size I'll certainly award you "Legend status"!!

    For someone that was on the verge of giving Discus away a few weeks ago you certainly have come along way. You should be very proud

  6. #6
    Just an Egg
    Join Date
    Nov 2011
    Posts
    56
    They're going to drive me to drink!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  7. #7
    Wrigglers
    Join Date
    Jul 2011
    Location
    Perth, Australia
    Posts
    239
    Hi Mrs D,

    I've been following your progress. Good for you! I'm very interested to see how this turns out.
    After such great efforts.... you deserve at least a drink!

    Cheers

  8. #8
    Free Swimmer
    Join Date
    Mar 2011
    Posts
    488
    Very impressive Mrs D,have one big drink .

  9. #9
    Medium Discus Mr Wild's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2009
    Location
    NSW Mid North Coast, Australia
    Posts
    702
    Good Luck with it, even I never resorted to this! You get a medal for trying in my books!
    Cheers Kath

  10. #10
    Just an Egg
    Join Date
    Nov 2011
    Posts
    56

    Update time

    If I count the day I pulled the eggs as approx Day 2 (guessing eggs laid day before), Day 4 would be wrigglers... and so on.

    Day 5 - Friday checked babies and still on side of cone, but lots more tails wriggling, and they were starting to come loose.

    Day 6 - Sat checked babies and most were now loose from the cone. Shifted gourami fry into a fry basket and put into community tank, cleaned small tank they were in and set up for discus babies.



    The cone was very carefully lifeted out of the jug (most of the babies dropped into the water) and placed into the ice cream container where it was inspected and any remaining babies washed off with a baster. Remaining babies in jug were also carefully "basted" into the ice cream container.

    Babies still clumping and don't seem to be interested in anything but the clump they are hanging onto. Hubby and I wondered if they were eating old egg cases? We left them there to settle and just watched them (lol, about every 5-10 min).





    Tried feeding in the evening, using a mix of spirulina powder, egg yolk and gelatin to bind it, smeared onto black plastic feeder - AKA, cut up the base of a take away food container, making sure to round the edges and Hubby put a hole in the top so it could be hung from a piece of bamboo plant stake.





    Left food there for approx 30 min, then changed babies to another square container containing fresh water.

    Note: All of the water to fill the fry tank and the water in their container has come from the parents tank. This was easier for me as it was already set up, they came from there in the first place, and I know temp and water parameters wont change with every water change.

    Day 7 - Sun. Lifted lid to look at babies and saw what looked like a hundred free swimmers zooming around the container! Fed again.





    This is a really bad pic, but hopefully you can see the fry on the right side of the line of food feeding.



    I had set up baby brine shrimp eggs last night, but I think I forgot to add dechlorinator to the water - Hubby picked that one up and gee I felt dumb! You think I would know that. Duh...

    Cleaned water after feed and put in a tiny amount of frozen bbs, just in case they would go for it.

    Another feed.......

    Here is a pick of my lovely little free swimmers from tonight.



    P.S. Thanks for all the support and advice. Bummer for the drinks tho, I don't drink. Have had a lot of chocolate lately

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