Brown pair....possible?????

[tsien707]

Hello everybody! I enrolled here because a student of mine messed up in a forum as she gave a controversial statement and we need non bias opinions.
Accompanying this post are the photos.

The details given by the author of the pictures are as follows:
1) The eggs took 4 days to hatch.
2) 5 days later.... the day when the first photo was taken
3) A couple of days later , they were fed with newly hatched brineshrimp.

I have never bred discus before ( although I have a dozen healthy and strong ones) but I cannot help noticing that the fries are too big to be 5 days old. Farthermore, I took a closer look by enlarging the photo and I noticed that something is wrong with the lighting effects. Instead of seeing reflected light or details of the fries around and near the head where light concentrates, I noticed that the fries in the "shady "area of the flank have more details while en reality, they should appear blurry.
My student and I share the same opinion but as we are not experts, please help us with your opinions as she is being "attacked" mercilessly in that particular forum and I can do nothing about it as the messages supporting her are instantly erased.
Thank you.

1) 5 days after hatching........

[tsien707]

A day later after she made the "complain", the author submitted the following photo......
6-7 days after hatching and feeding on brineshrimp......


[img]http://img258.imageshack.us/img258/3448/67daysoldhc1.jpg

The purpose of this post is merely to "console" my student and will not be used as references to cause prejudice to anyone.
Thanks again.[/img]

[tsien707]

sorry....

http://img258.imageshack.us/img258/3...daysoldhc1.jpg

[samir]

they look like 5 days after free swimming. i don't see any reason for a person to fake that picture. browns are very easy to breed.

[tsien707]

5 days after free swimming means 8-9 days old, right? The fries of the first photo are 5 days old since hatching. Considering that they need another 3 days to be free swimming, then, they are really about 2 days after free swimming. I find it hard to believe their size at this stage. Regarding the photo being a fake, one has to know the basics of the effects of light.......well, it is irrevelant here. Why fake it? There can be many reasons but my concern is to make my student feels better.
Cheers!!!!

[samir]

could be even three days, the pair look quite small compared to the heater so its a bit hard to make an accurate estimate. the spawn size is very small so growth could be faster. you could ask for a video.

[tsien707]

3 days after free swimming? Personally, the first thing that caught my eyes is the size compared to my angels´ fries. When they were 2-3 days after free swimming, my adult angels were constantly helping them to swim , also "cleaning" them by swallowing and then blowing them out to areas they have chosen. I guess that discus parents are not that different either.......it was just a thought that occured .
Cheers!!!!!!

[discus lover01]

hi well firstly the 4 days to hatch and free swim is wrong from when the eggs are laid until free swim you have 120 hours give or take a few hours and they are a good size fry for 5 day olds but this alone dosnt mean the photo is a fake and 5 days old since hatching i think he means 5 days old since hatching off the pole and swimming maybe.
But to break it down the discus spawn and lay eggs fan eggs for 60 hours if fertile they will hatch to wrigglers then they fan for another 60 hours and the fry will free swim from that day the free swim day is when i say okay thats day 1 of a discus life not from the day they were first laid as an egg.
I would say that 5days would mean they are 10 days from the first egg laying day and that would make them about the correct size.
I would think that at this stage they would be on brine shrimp but the breeder has his times of hatching and free swimming wrong so maybe he has altered the picture some way.
But you will probably never find out if it is.
goodluck