Update. Almost day 3 as free-swimmers and I count about 25 fry.
My only concern today is that parents seem to be becoming a little restless. They are display and carrying on to one another, often zooming about the tank leaving the fry alone in a corner.
It is quite normal for them to do this worry or not there is nothing you can do except pull the fry out if they start eating them or pull the parent that's doing the eating.Think of it as a experiment this is your first bach from this pair I have 4 pairs all have eaten their first spawn If the spawn is too small they will often see it as not worth the trouble to raise them and soon will start to spawn again. If I were you I would let them sort out what they want to do because as they say PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT
Well it seems they were keen to spawn again as they are laying eggs again now. Still about 20 odd fry feeding of them, so fingers crossed they allow them to continue feeding.
I have started feeding live newly hatched baby brine shrimp, but cant see any taking them yet. Am prepared to take the fry from the parents should there still be some in a few days and feeding on BBS.
Well female seemed pretty disinterested in raising the fry, were only about 12 left on the morning of day 4 (day after they laid more eggs). They were just starting to eat newly hatched brine shrimp so I took them from the parents and now in a fry saver. Thought it better to save the remaining ones as I suspect the parents had started to eat them. Fry doing well and feeding like pigs, see pic. Hopefully parents can settle down now and have another go with another batch of eggs soon.
Good luck. It's a tough job raising such young fry. I found that BBS alone didn't give them enough nutrition, and they really need to be fed 6 times a day.
If you want to pursue the artificial rearing, I suggest getting a sheet of stiff black plastic, cut it into a disc shape a bit bigger than a 50 cent coin. You'll need several of them. Then boil a fresh egg till it's hard boiled, and mix a little of the yolk with some cool boiled water and smear it onto the sides of the discs. Allow to dry before suspending the disc in the water, near the fry.
We're trying to imitate the fry feeding from a parent's side here. The extra egg yolk along with newly hatched brine shrimp will give your babies an extra nutrition boost and you should have greater success.
Good luck. Artificial rearing is a lot of work, but very rewarding
Thirty-five years keeping and breeding discus, and I'm still learning :P