Egg eating

[mawhins]

I have aquired a breeding pair of cobalts from Mr wild and despite a rocky transit to brisbane they have settled in well. Theyve been with me about a month and they are in their own breeding tank with a pH of 6.5 and general hardness around 6 degrees. They laid their first batch of eggs the other day and ate them 2 days later.

Im wondering now whether i should have kept the water conditions at a higher pH for longer to allow more conditioning and therefore prevent them eating eggs due to hunger. Do they do that? Im feeding only a cube of blood worms and a cube of discus dinner each day. Might need to increase this.

Any and all advice welcomed as this is my first go at breeding discus.

[swampy1972]

Hey mate ;)

Good to hear you've ventured in to Discus.. Give them some time to settle properly, even if you decide to increase the feeding slightly to add condition.

As you're probably aware, Discus generally take a few attempts at getting the spawning/raising correct anyway so they could just be going through that phase again on their new surroundings.

If they're still eating thei eggs after a few attempts then start looking at placing a physical guard over the eggs (like chicken mesh) to prevent them reaching them, but still allowing them to fan the eggs to prevent mould.

Your best bet would be to ask Kath what conditions and feeding regime she kept them in then replicate that as closely as possible for a while.

[Ben75]

Good advice from swampy. Let them settle in, the only advice i can add is to have patience. If you provide stable consistant water to your fish they will respond. They will get it right when they are ready.
Good luck with the pair and i hope to see pics of their fry soon.
If they are the pair Kath was selling a while back then you have a made a good choice in your purchase, quality fish.
Regards,
Ben

[mawhins]

Thank fellas. Yes these are the Cobalts Kath was selling a while back. Kath gave me the drum when she sold me the fish and I've replicated the conditions pretty well without knowing the exact TDS of my water. They're happily spawning. I've just been in the garage and they're in the process of putting down another batch. The chosen location is interested though. After the first eggs were laid I decided to put a stocking over the HOB filter intake and this is where they've laid their second batch! I guess they're going to get good water flow over them! Theres a second large sponge filter in the tank so should be ok even if the water flow is slowed by the eggs... Lets see how this batch goes.

[swampy1972]

Good to hear mate.. All the best for a good outcome ;)

[mawhins]

Batch 2 eaten. Have added breeding cone so i can slip some gutter guard over the eggs if i need to but will let them keep going without intervention for a while. Hoping theyre doing it as a natural process of not being ready yet.

[swampy1972]

Don't let it get to you mate. They often do this, then without doing anything different to your setup they'll suddenly get it right.

[mawhins]

Its all good swampy. All part of the intrigue of discus. They seem to like the breeding cone. They starte cleaning it almost immediately. I wonder why a terracotta cone... wouldnt have thought thered br too many of those in tge amazon basin.

[Decapper]

From Andrews Soh reading don't swing the PH once breeding is started - Also don't scare them - And try and keep PH at 7.4 as a acidic water makes them irritable

[mawhins]

Thanks for the advice Decapper, I've got to get myself some decent reading material.

I have had this pair at a steady 6.5 since I got them. You think I should raise the pH to 7.4 now that they have started breeding? I was under the impression that the lower pH is better during breeding.

[Decapper]

Well I always thought that 7.4ph harden the egg shell.. But I think its a higher PH than that..

As far as adjusting the PH Andrew recommends swinging the PH from 6.5 to 7.4 to induce spawning and back again evey second day I think. If you get caught at 6.5 for the spawn he says to raise it to 7.4

So on that note I would raise it slowly

[swampy1972]

From Andrews Soh reading don't swing the PH once breeding is started - Also don't scare them - And try and keep PH at 7.4 as a acidic water makes them irritable

Sorry to disagree but alkaline water isn't ideal for discus.
I've never heard of anyone recommending them to be kept in alkaline conditions. They're a soft, acidic water species and as a result, placing them in hard alkaline water actually makes it more difficult for them to breed. The egg harden faster making fertilisation and subsequent hatching more difficult.

Look through some of the posts from Hollowman. He's extremely experienced and keeps some of the highest quality fish I've seen. He kept his at mid Ph 6 and below.

[mawhins]

Given im no expert in water chemistry i think ill play it safe and leave well enoigh alone. Patience is the key im sure.