Discus Fry Not Attaching to Parents

[Discuschickie]

I brought my pair of Pigeion blood discus which are pictured in the critique area, they spawned the 1st time and ate all the wrigglers as soon as they hatched, the second time they spawned for me they let the fry grow up and as soon as the fry got off the cone the little bubs just swam around the tanks with the parent kind of hearding them into corners of the tank and just looking at them, the fry didnt attach to the parents and now i cant find any fry left so my guess is they died or the parents ate them again.. can someone tell me y the babies would not attach? is it common for them not to and is there any way to fix it or help them out?
They are currently spawning again as i type lol

thanks Stacey

[swampy1972]

Hi Stacey,

Don't be disheartened. If you look through many of the posts here you'll se it's common for a new pair to have troubles for a while as they 'learn' how to be parents.

I have a pair of Blue Diamonds that have just got some fry to the pont where they're eating BBS after at least 10 attempts.

My only advice would be to ensure the current in the tank is low so the fry don't get pushed around. I've also read that if you have dark things in the tank like black sponge, some fry will go to that rather than the parents. Having said that, my fry hatched from a black plastic pot in my tank and went straight to the adults.

Best of luck and I hope to see some pics of your success soon

[silviaf]

I too am having maiden parent trouble. This is the fourth attempt now. First time the fry didn't attach to the parents,they laid a second batch while having fry,then fry did attach and they and they guarded the eggs too it was so cute until I done a tank clean and then all was lost. Now I will do nothing and watch. Fingers crossed....

[ILLUSN]

Drop the water level to just above the height of the parent fish with fully erect fins.

Make sure there is nothing dark in the tank, if the sponge filter is dark or dirty wrap it in white filter floss, same goes for the rubber/plastic end of the heater.

Put a small desk lamp next to the tank with a 2-4w globe in it and leave it on 24/7

If your pigions are light or orange red colored try replacing your fluro tube in the tank light with a blue tibe.

Add salt to the water at 1tsp/10-15gal it will help the slime coat of the parents and might aid them in producing milk.

If your pair is spawning again now then the female ate the eggs (makes the male take care of the new batch) when this lot hatch try removing the female and letting dad raise them on his own.

Feed BBS every 8 hours to keep stress off the dad, once the fry are 2 weeks old remove dad and put him back with mum in a seperate tank, keep up the BBS and the water changes 10% twice a day for the first 2 weeks then 25% twice a day for the next 2 weeks then 50-90% a day till they are ready to sell