# Discus babies



## Brilliant (Jun 25, 2006)

My discus are always spawning but this is the farthest they have ever been. 
The babies were spawned on filter intake Saturday and moved to the leaf today. I thought they were goners but I found them. I cannot wait to see the parents with free swimming fry.

Check out the picture.


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## ohiodave (Nov 11, 2007)

Congrats and good luck with them.


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## Tex Gal (Nov 1, 2007)

Congrats! :cheer2: They are so little! Glad the filter didn't get them. Aren't discus protective parents? Keep us updated as they grow! :biggrin1:


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## Brilliant (Jun 25, 2006)

Thank you! I'll give em two treats for both of you :mrgreen:

Yah they are so small. The filter intake is not functional, its a trick  They like to spawn on it. I was scared babies could fall and be sucked in so I setup this decoy. 

The pair is very protective. There are no more threats in the tank. It would be really cool if the babies lived in the planted tank. I will update if they go free swimming.


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## cs_gardener (Apr 28, 2006)

Congrats! That was a good trick setting up a dummy intake for the discus to spawn on. Best wishes for the babies continuing development!


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## Brilliant (Jun 25, 2006)

cs_gardener said:


> Congrats! That was a good trick setting up a dummy intake for the discus to spawn on. Best wishes for the babies continuing development!


Thank you. This is pretty exciting. I've been making improvements each time I see failure and so have the parents. 

Hmmm...well so much for that. Mom looks about ready to spawn again.

The fry are still there and appear to be free swimming. The parents seemed to be aware of their location but no go. I dont know what to expect.


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## lauraleellbp (Jan 31, 2008)

I *just* read a discus article recently where the breeder decided that young discus have a hard time IDing their parents if there is something large and darker in color than their parents in the tank (in his case it was a black sponge filter). The babies would starve to death picking at the filter instead of feeding off of the parents' slime coats. Perhaps if you painted your filter intake a lighter color or found something else for the discus to spawn on that might help?


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## Brilliant (Jun 25, 2006)

Thats right. I need to relocate them to bare bottom tank for breeding.

The filter intake is lighter color . I will keep that in mind when I relocate them.

If anyone is interested in the discus look at the fish story.


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## Brilliant (Jun 25, 2006)

Today I found a nice suprise. The largest spawn yet. Yet again the babies are attached to the leaf.
Here is a picture.

This pair has proven to me they are ready but I dont think I am ready for non planted tank. Maybe I can do it in tank with hairgrass.


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## bratyboy2 (Feb 5, 2008)

are the babies being layed on the leaves now? from what my friend has told me that the babies stay on it for a day or two then move to the parents and feed.


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## Brilliant (Jun 25, 2006)

To be honest I didnt really know...

So I went reading after I posted. It seems as if the parent care for these wiggling eggs for 3 days. Moving them around, fanning them and protecting them. Basically tending to them in every way they can. 

I thought they were supposed to move right onto the parent after they hatch...from what I read thats not true and proving to be the case.

Now its the third day and they are still there!!!! I cannot get pics yet but tonight I will. This is soo cool they are doing it!!!


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## Tex Gal (Nov 1, 2007)

So excited with you! It will be so amazing for you to watch these little guys grow up. Isn't it something that fish are smart enough to care for their babies like this? I think it's incredible!


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## Brilliant (Jun 25, 2006)

Its incredible! 
I always wished to see this but could not imagine it happening in my planted display tank.

The babies are freeswimming and flirting with the parents!!!!!!
Wooo! Next I expect the entire brood to swarm them!

From all that I have gathered reading about discus these parents are doing exceptionally well for having such little experience.

They were moved to the front corner of the glass now they are back on the decoy filter.

Here is a lousy pic. 

They break away from the babies thinking they I will feed them so I try not to go near the tank.

That is a pic of dad...he is in rare form!


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## Brilliant (Jun 25, 2006)

I am so amazed at how much instinct these fish have. Just keeping them you realize how complex they are then you see something like this. I am so amazed that they know just what to do. 

I left the room light on for them last night. The dad appears to be herding stray fry. Mom keeps checking out the old spot to make sure they didnt leave any behind. I took a video!


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## cs_gardener (Apr 28, 2006)

Wow, how exciting to have this happen! The dad looks great, any chance of pics of the brood?


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## Brilliant (Jun 25, 2006)

Thank you! 

None of the pics are coming out because of glare in window...in the video I have its hard enough to see fry as it is so after its compressed it will be real bad. They are free swimming and eating from the parents. The number of fry has dropped dramatically. She appears interested in moving on already. He will be a great father.

There is no doubt in my mind that this is possible. The free swimming discus fry know exactly who and what the parents are and swim distances to catch up. While I am not exactly confident any fish will come of this spawn I have faith these two will get it in right sooner or later. 

Thank you to everyone for tagging along...until next time! :-D


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## apistomaster (May 24, 2008)

There is no truth to discus fry being attracted to other objects than their parents. Newly free swimming discus larvae are a bit disorganized during their transition from being stuck on a leaf and eventual attachment to the breeders. If you use a HOB or Canister filter in a discus breeding tank it is strongly advised that you place a sponge pre-filter over the inlet. There are enough natural losses that one cannot afford losing any to a filter. I began breeding wild discus in 1969. Here is one of my wild Blue Discus with the spawn on the slate just behind the fish.


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## Brilliant (Jun 25, 2006)

Thats awesome. Maybe I will get along well with wilds, I am trying wild angels now.

So far I have done well getting tank bred discus to pair up.
Here is my first pair
Here is my second pair
This is the pic of this pair

Since 1969 have you ever seen discus fertilize egg in harder water?

I plan to follow your advice, I have sponge filter for my intake.


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## Gordon C. Snelling (Jun 20, 2007)

Living in Southern California, my water is naturally on the hard side. I never had trouble with fertile eggs in my tap water.


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## apistomaster (May 24, 2008)

Hi Brilliant,
And I am getting back into wild Angels.
Hi Gordon,
Nice to see you here. You know I could never give up wild discus.


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## Brilliant (Jun 25, 2006)

Hi,

I think you forgot your answer!  

Gordon,
Are you sure the hard water is high in calcium or is it just high TDS water?

I came to the conclusion that discus eggs are not penetrable in real hard water...that is high in calcium.


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## apistomaster (May 24, 2008)

I have bred and raised wild Brown/Blue Discus in tap water with a KH of 8, GH 12 and pH 7.6. TDS was 475 ppm. That shows what is possible but not what I recommend to beginners.
There is a lot more to breeding discus than test results. 
Wild discus are more difficult to breed yet when they do they tend to be better parents than many domestic strains.
I could write a book on nothing but the urban myths of the discus crowd. 
What color of shirt should a discus breeder wear?
Want to know more about what a discus really is? Read Bleher's Discus Vol. 1.
Red Turquoise 11 months old with first spawn.








Spawn from pair at four weeks old.








Same fry at two months.


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## Brilliant (Jun 25, 2006)

Thats great. Did you breed those wild Heckels? 
Duh silly everyone knows discus breeders wear light blue shirts...;-D

My pair spawned again...this time it seems more of the eggs made it past that transformation. I expect to see the free swimmers buzzing the parents by the end of the weekend.

If you want to see good pics please buy some Phyllanthus fluitans from me...hahah!


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## fastang80 (May 7, 2008)

Congrats. They look so fragile and cute. Keep us informed.


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## Brilliant (Jun 25, 2006)

Thank you! 

They spawned again and the tank was alive with fry. They are all gone now but it was enjoyable watching while it lasted.

I tried taking pictures but didnt get anything good.

Here is a picture of the mom with fry...I dont know if you can even see any.

Here is a picture of the trail of fry once mom moved a little quicker. I think you can see them better.


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## star rider (Feb 27, 2006)

Hey Larry

did I read that right?? "And I am getting back into wild Angels?"


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## Brilliant (Jun 25, 2006)

They spawned again today I walked in and snapped a pic. They have really shown some blue today. Too bad about the water mark I cleaned it up for future pics.

Here is today's picture.

Here is wild angel.

Wish me luck for the next pair.


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## cs_gardener (Apr 28, 2006)

Beautiful! They really glow, don't they? Love the angels too. I hope the discus do better this time. They're getting a little better every time, so hopefully it will work out this time.


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## Brilliant (Jun 25, 2006)

Thank you for your support. 

They are in rare form for sure. They typically show more red like in my profile pic. All of my best pictures of discus are post spawn.

From what I saw last time this will not work in the large planted tank. The baby discus are not foolish attaching to other things like plants they just become lost in the bleheri abyss sometimes in tight packs. Like when mom decides to put on the jets and leaves a few behind. Eventually that catches up and all are lost after a few days. I am thankful that the pair is productive. I am making motions to give them a smaller tank.


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## Brilliant (Jun 25, 2006)

So the babies made it past the transformation stage. They are at the point now where they are just barely swimming. I am tempted to take them out and raise them myself. I will need to setup the auto feeder and auto water changer before that happens.

I took this picture a day or two ago. Maybe you can see the little bunch of babies.


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## Tex Gal (Nov 1, 2007)

They are so cute. I hope it will work this time. Get that feeder going!!!


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## Brilliant (Jun 25, 2006)

Hehe...I really like watching my Apistogramma mother parade the brood around, both discus do the same thing. After free swimming they want to lead them into the Bleheri abyss which is almost instant death for young ones. I really want to relocate them into a different tank and see how they fare. I would like the parents to raise them to where they eat bbs. It seems like a few days...maybe I am wrong. Last time they started to go after foods I was feeding two days after going freeswimming.

These baby discus are much larger then the baby galaxies.


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## mulita (Jul 31, 2007)

Congratatulations They ready look cute!

I was looking for a thread with recomendations about places where to get discus and found your post, I kept reading as I read it was really hard to breed them, so double congratulation, beside that they look just beatiful in your planted aquarium, I hope a can keep some healthy ones as yours look.

Now, taking advantage of your post, could you recommend me a place to buy some discus Blue turquoise as yours? I want get these and try them into a new project aquarium.


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## BryceM (Nov 6, 2005)

Very cool. You guys are seriously tempting me to give discus a try. I've always been a bit nervous to jump in.

A successful spawn of free-swimming discus fry in a planted tank would really be the "Holy Grail" of aquariumdom for me.

I'm working with angels at the moment. I've raised 100s of them in glass-bottomed tanks, but trying a natural rearing in a planted tank is a whole different ballgame. Thanks for sharing and good luck.


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## Brilliant (Jun 25, 2006)

BryceM, Thanks man...its really great but when you are there then you will want to add a foot or so to the tank and replace glass with starphire... You know what I mean?! This hobby is like a never ending ride. I really enjoy all the good times. I thought spawning Taeniacara candidi was the Holy Grail!

Thanks again and good luck...hopefully this will help others understand whats going on with discus. I've seen them spawn many times but I was unsure of what happened after that.

The pair is actually raising the eggs again now. Last spawn was the largest of them all...she really covered the tube. I dont think I they can raise them in such a large tank. I was tempted to remove all plants but that would be disasterous because the plants are keeping the water clean. I have not changed water on this tank in three months. I've only added water and changed 5 gallons with maintenance. The eggs recently spawned have hatched and parents are tending to them right now.


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## Tex Gal (Nov 1, 2007)

I was wondering how things were going. So you can't seem to get them beyond a certain age because they get lost in the plants? Do you think the parents will get better at it? You'd think you'd have a few survivors.... (course I know nothing about this..)


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## Brilliant (Jun 25, 2006)

I think that when the babies are lost from 'home base' they become free game. It seems once they are broken away from the parents then the parents loose interest and stray babies through the tank become a snack...and by then mom is already scouting for the next spawn. I think if I get them in closer quarters the bond will be stronger.


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## lauraleellbp (Jan 31, 2008)

Any update?


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## Brilliant (Jun 25, 2006)

I gotta order some aquasoil and start up a smaller tank. I am removing a 20L and replacing with 29g.


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## Brilliant (Jun 25, 2006)

I replanted the tank the other day with some crypts and swords ordered from Sweetwater aquatics. I was happy with the order. 

The discus spawned right on the new crypt leaf! I should have taken a picture. From what I gather the object they spawn on does not have to be familiar. One time they spawned on a magnetic glass cleaner I forgot I left in the tank. I got a picture of that one 

On a more exciting note...I found some baby corys in the tank. When I replanted the tank I saw them swimming with the parents. I hope to learn more about cory breeding this weekend at BCAS. I would like some recomendations on good source for Panda cory.

Does anyone feel like telling me how much AquaSoil I need for a 29g 30x12 inch tank?


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## FishyBusiness (Sep 30, 2008)

I have had some success breeding discus, but I must admit I removed all the other fish. Once they have heads and tails it takes a little while before they attach to the parents but once they have I have never lost the babies. Good luck it is an amazing thing to watch.

I thought I would add some photo's these where taken after about 14 days after becoming wigglers




























Again good luck.


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## vakvn (Oct 11, 2008)

This is my discus fish and some babies


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## Brilliant (Jun 25, 2006)

Nice!  Thank you both for the inspiration. 

I begin to wonder how long the pair will be productive.

So far I've only seen about a dozen babies make it to the size of a corn kernel. I really want to relocate them into breeding tank, I have to get moving on that.


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## bigstick120 (Mar 8, 2005)

To you question on the aquasoil a few posts back, 2 9l bags should do the trick, maybe 3 if you want it a little thicker


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## vakvn (Oct 11, 2008)

Some update


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## Tex Gal (Nov 1, 2007)

Wow! That's a lot of spicey meatballs! (... remember that adv.) Are they all from one spawn?


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## bs6749 (Dec 23, 2007)

I love a good quality blue diamond!


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## nonamethefish (Feb 25, 2004)

What happens when they become free swimming in the wild? Discus usually breed in areas of heavy cover right?


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