Discus fry

Well here is a update the dad has now been removed as he is a bit of a wife beater. But the mommy is doing as well as can be expected for her first time at mommy hood. The fry seem to be attaching to her slowly but some are struggling, I just have to wait and see.

 

Please update with some pics....

 

well done man, eagerly awaiting more pics

 

VERY COOL!


well done jason!!

 

Well al I can say is better luck next time, all the fry are goneso back to the drawing bord.

 

Damn, sorry to hear that boet

 

The joys of Discus...thats why I gave them up, sleepless nights, stress, frustration and lots os patience gone!

 

aggg sorry dude!

next time i guess..

 

OK Hennie,


You have lost patience with discus, but we must actually ask why, because a lot of the reasons why folks do not have success with discus is because of mistakes they make and because of the fishes they have bought.

Firstly, you cannot expect to get reliable pairs that will successfully raise their young unless you start with a group of at least 12 but preferably as many as 20 fishes. There are not many of us who can afford that number of fishes.

Secondly, many of the fishes that are sold here come from the East and there they often manipulate the fishes to the point that they are unable to raise their young normally any more, so you buy fishes thinking they will be able to reproduce normally but they simply cannot. Often eggs are taken away from parents that eat their eggs or do not produce enough slime (such as pidgeons and the related strains) and given to surrogate parents which raise them. Another problem is that fishes are treated with hormones and then the males are infertile. This does not apply to Jason's fishes, but often I get asked about how to manipulate the water as the eggs don't hatch and then it is not the water that is the problem but rather male sterility.

What you need to do if you want to make a success of keeping and breeding discus is to buy them from a breeder in South Africa or overseas where you can see that the fishes are naturally raised, then you have a much better chance of success. This is a lesson that I had to learn through hard experience and it has cost me a lot of money to buy fishes that I now know breed properly. So Hennie, in most cases in SA this does not have to do with a problem that discus have, but because humans have manipulated the fishes so that they cannot breed normally any more. This applies to many fishes, just look at the rams coming from the east, most die shortly after you buy them because they have manipulated by man to longer be capable of normal survival.

Jason, my advice now is to give these fishes another chance to see if they may manage a second time round which is not impossible at all, they can do things perfectly if they may learn from their previous errors. However, you have certainly also learnt and know better what to expect and when it may happen. You also know what you have to do to your tank and the filters to give the fishes a better chance next time around.

Kind regards,

Dirk

 

Thanks for the words of wisdom Prof Dirk

Now lets try this again. Its only been 2 weeks and I kept the male out of the breeding tank after taking him out in the last ordeal. I put him back in the breeding tank 3 days ago did a water change added a bit of salt and hay presto.
More eggs.

 

It was amazing to watch when I placed the male back into the breeding tank the female went from the dark colour she is in the pic above to the light colour she is in the pics half way up the thread in the blink of a eye, It was amazing to see just like if not quicker than a chameleon swimming right up to meet him in the middle of the tank. They immediately started courting again with the telltale fin quivering it was incredible to see.

 

@Dirk

The female is really a lot darker than she was last time, the first time she only changed to the dark colour after the fry hatched. the other good sign is that the male seems a lot calmer this time.

Regards

Jason

 

Hi Jason,

You show both fishes in front of the breeding cone, does this mean that the male is more tolerant of the female this time around? If that is the case this already look better. Keep us updated.

Kind regards,

Dirk

 

Hi Dirk

Yes he seems very chilled out this time I think it was the fact that I was messing with the filter and stuff last time that triggered his mood swings also I think his worried I take him away from his honey for 2 weeks again so his thinking twice about it. She also seems to be taking charge a bit more this time round cleaning the cone with him where as last time she did not go dark or even touch the food that was given. Anyway its early days yet let’s see what happens.

Regards
Jason

 

Never count you eggs before they are eaten. Got to get some of that mesh! #%^@!*

 

@Dirk Bellstedt thank you for the wise words, I have kept Discus for many years, they where my passion, I got my first pair when I was only about 22 years old, but my first male was unfertile, but I swore that I will 1 day raise my own fry, those years Discus was really scarce, not like now, and I was lucky enough to stay in Richards Bay, and gettin decent Discus was not that tough, as I was friends with the owner of Fish Desighns in Mtunzini, Tropical Fish farm (Neil).

Any ways I had to move and ended up in JHB, money was never the issue, but I read, slept, and dreampt Discus, I knew as much as I could to be able to breed these beauties. And about 2 years ago after buying 8 guys from a importer, i got 2 pairs, both fertile, all eggs from both pairs hatched, and I was over the moon, this was before I joined TASA. My passion was always breeding, and I have been breeding any types of fish I could get my hands on. So I got rid of everything, and put all my time in my Discus, as this was a dream come true since I was about 22, so almost 10 years later I had it....or so I thought! This was only the beginning of my frustration, fighting amongst the couples, males eating the fry, females eating the eggs, males eating the eggs, males refusing to fertelise the eggs but rather harrasing the female as she layed her eggs. It was over 6 months since I raised any fry, and like I said this was my passion. I was so frusrated, unhappy, sad I was emotional, as I saw my dreams crumble, now this sounds rather dramatic, but as I said I was in love with Discus since I was a youngster as I could not get over their beauty!

So after many months of frustration, I advertised them, and sold both pairs for R1000 a pair, this was next to nothing considering the fact that they where beauties, Spockrider took my last pair, and also intriduced me to TASA, so thanks to him.

Now I am doing what I am good @ without the frustration or sadness of any kind, breeding Siamese fighters by the hundreds, selling them to local petshops, and people love them, as this month alone I have sold over R3000 worth of Bettas, I have some bigger plans to, gonna import some great strains of halfmoons and crowns, the types that we only dream of getting in SA, this is what im best @ breeding and raising fry. So no more Discus for me, they will for ever remain my favorite, and I will never get over theit beauty, but I want my hobby to bring me joy and happiness, not anger and frustration.

So to all the guys @jpvd007, prof, I take my hat off to you guys! And I hope your babies hatch and you get to see those guys feeding of the perents, and grow to mature adults.

 

Okay so I have decided to wait till the fry were out of the breeding tank safe from mom and dad (as the pic of the eggs above were eaten but they laid again 6 days later) of who I must say have become excellent parents, I probably could have left the fry in longer but I did not want to take the chance not after getting so far and the fact that the last 4 batches were eaten.



So here they are up till now at 4 days after hatching.





And again today 8 days after hatching. And in there own tank going crazy for BBS.

 

Well done buddy and good luck for future breedings keep it up ,prof I noticed at the moment I know the people successfully breedings discus in pinelands my self and shaheen knows somsomone in pinelands that breeds rain or shine ,Shaheen mentioned to me the water in pinelands is different to the water in our area's .is this possible do we get water from different water plant areas please assist.

 

And are the water conditions different in different areas in the western cape

 

@salim thanks man let’s see how many fry make it, at quick count there were 40 to 42 if I get 10% out of that I'll feel like I have achieved something for my first time. Until then it’s all still a learning curve for me. By the way do you recognise the female (Blue T)?