Three little fish
Fri Sep 14, 2007, 12:42 AM
Hi,
I have a pair of Discus that are spawning every 7-9 days. Until recently I was not sure if I had a male or not because all of the eggs would go white and finally get eaten. I assumed that they were not being fertilised.
The last two spawns however have produced results. Both parents have been very protective of the eggs which had tails poking out after about 60hrs. Three to four days after hatching they became free swimming. The first batch of fry just spread out in all directions and seemed to make no effort to get together or find their parents. The parents themselves only seemed to make a token effort to get them together grabbing the odd one or two, mouthing them, spitting them out, mouthing and spitting back out a few times. I switched the aerator and filter off to stop any current hoping that the still water would help, and went away for a couple of hours. When I returned they were all gone.
The second batch started free swimming either at night or early in the morning. I had turned the aerator and filter off and left a night light on before going to bed, anticipating them breaking free and hopeing to give them a fighting chance. When I rose this morning there was only two left. One was obviously on its last legs and the other swimming around madly. The parents only showed interest in the swimmer when it swam past their faces at which time they would grab it and spit it back out repeatedly. The wriggler made numerous attempts to feed off either parent but when it approached it was hit with a fin,tail or simply shrugged off. It slowly ran out of energy and died.
Niether of my parent fish appear to have any slimy stuff on them and do not seem to know what to do with their young once they become free. Subsequently I don't know what to do.
I was wondering if anybody else had experienced this problem or has any knowledge of why these fish cannot/will not feed their young? Any ideas would be gratefully appreciated.
I have a pair of Discus that are spawning every 7-9 days. Until recently I was not sure if I had a male or not because all of the eggs would go white and finally get eaten. I assumed that they were not being fertilised.
The last two spawns however have produced results. Both parents have been very protective of the eggs which had tails poking out after about 60hrs. Three to four days after hatching they became free swimming. The first batch of fry just spread out in all directions and seemed to make no effort to get together or find their parents. The parents themselves only seemed to make a token effort to get them together grabbing the odd one or two, mouthing them, spitting them out, mouthing and spitting back out a few times. I switched the aerator and filter off to stop any current hoping that the still water would help, and went away for a couple of hours. When I returned they were all gone.
The second batch started free swimming either at night or early in the morning. I had turned the aerator and filter off and left a night light on before going to bed, anticipating them breaking free and hopeing to give them a fighting chance. When I rose this morning there was only two left. One was obviously on its last legs and the other swimming around madly. The parents only showed interest in the swimmer when it swam past their faces at which time they would grab it and spit it back out repeatedly. The wriggler made numerous attempts to feed off either parent but when it approached it was hit with a fin,tail or simply shrugged off. It slowly ran out of energy and died.
Niether of my parent fish appear to have any slimy stuff on them and do not seem to know what to do with their young once they become free. Subsequently I don't know what to do.
I was wondering if anybody else had experienced this problem or has any knowledge of why these fish cannot/will not feed their young? Any ideas would be gratefully appreciated.