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Thread: Baby Discus

  1. #1
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    Baby Discus

    Hi everyone,
    i have my first batch of fry that have survived after letting my discus pair spawn and eat eggs/wrigglers more then 10 times.. so finally they have babies they are about 3 weeks old now and just wondering when would be the best time to move them away from the parents, they only have 9 babies but im happy with that becuase they survived lol
    I feed the parent brine shrimp and flakes/granules food and the babies seem to be trying to eat the food away from the parents,
    the fry swim around the tank and peck and the ground,cone and sponge filter but sometimes come back to parents and swim near them..
    Also one of the babies is alot smaller then the rest, is this bad or is it just a runt?

  2. #2
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    any ideas/advice?????

  3. #3
    Hi discuschickien
    I just looked it up in Andrew sohs book he says you can seperate the fry from the parents from 18 days old.You might also want to start hatching brine shrimp to feed your little ones thats if you arent already.

  4. #4
    Eternal Moderator Merrilyn's Avatar
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    Hi Discuschickie, and welcome to the forum.

    Well done on your first successful spawn

    You've done well with what has obviously been a difficult pair.

    Now, we need to get some food into those babies before you remove the parents. They're obviously looking for food, so that's a good sign. Baby brine shrimp are the ideal first food for discus fry. Most breeders start to offer shrimp to the babies at around 7 days of free swimming.

    Do you have some brine shrimp eggs, and do you know how to hatch them. There are stickies on this forum about raising baby brine shrimp. Yell out if you need any help.

    They will also quite happily pick at any food you offer the parents, but they really need high protein offered about 4 times a day to grow their best.

    Lots of feedings means lots of water changes, at least 50% twice a day, and definitely put them to bed for the night in clean water.

    Any further questions, please don't hesitate. We have lots of friendly folk here to help you :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

  5. #5
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    Hi Merrilyn
    thanks for the help, yes they have been a very difficult pair to try and breed i brought them as a breeding pair and had given up almost on ever having them keep any babies so i am really happy these ones are here...

    i dont have any brine shrimp at the moment only frozen brine shrimp and they seem a bit interested in that but i do need to get some of the live brine shrimp or the eggs to grow them myself, do you know where i can get them from?

    Thanks again...

  6. #6
    Eternal Moderator Merrilyn's Avatar
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    You really do need brine shrimp eggs that you hatch you hatch yourself. Those newly hatched baby brine shrimp are little packages of protein. As they grow older, they lose a lot of their nutrition, and the frozen adult brine shrimp is mainly water and shells. Not ideal for babies. Hatch some for yourself . It's dead easy, and watch your babies grow! Most LFS will have packets of the eggs, or you can order them online.

    Also get some good quality dry food, and crush it into a powder. The babies will eat that too. Freeze dried blackworms from one of the sponsors on the forum are great as fry food. Just chop them up with scissors to make them small enough for fry.

    I'd also be offering them some finely minced beefheart too. All the above will form a well rounded diet for your babies and help them grow and reach their full potential.: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

  7. #7
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    my advice you need to get them used to eating from you. baby brine shrimp poured over them for a week, and then seperate them

  8. #8
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    Ah thankyou heaps i have found some brine shrimp eggs that i can buy online and its going to be fun to watch them grow aswell..
    i have some frozen bloodworms here already so will chop them up and give them a go and have been crushing up food for them today to see how they go, thanks for your help..

  9. #9
    Eternal Moderator Merrilyn's Avatar
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    Ohhhhh no, don't use frozen bloodworms

    They have a very hard exoskeleton and it can block the intestine. It's fine for adults, but not for babies.

    I was talking about freeze dried BLACKworms.
    Thirty-five years keeping and breeding discus, and I'm still learning :P

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

  10. #10
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    ok i havent used them yet... i thought i would wait to see what was said.. i wont use them for the babies now lol

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