Discusguru

Formalin do not harm the tail of your fancy goldfish. I know cos I use to breed all sorts of fancy goldfish ( oranda, ryukin, crown pearlscale, bubble eyes). I use formalin mix with malachite green powder. PP does kill off everything in your tank and it will keep everything clean. Maybe it's time to give the tank a once over including filter since you say the flukes are everywhere. You win some and lose some lol. Most med will have a effect on the filters. Ron

Formalin 37 1/2% strength at 1ml per 20 ltrs water. Pottasium Permanganate . Make up a stock solution from crystal. Drip into tank till water turns pinkish purple. Keep tank water pink for at least an hour to be effective. Repeat on third day. Make sure you have Plenty of Airations when using both treatment. Both treatment will depleate (sp) oxygen. PLENTY OF AIR NEEDED. Ron

hey Luke, Spotted discus very very popular at the moment. _________________ Yes they are very popular and these are the Leopard Snake Skin and they cost a bundle. Are you still coming tommorow? Ron

Sharn, every imported fish you buy, you are taking a risk. Especially the exotic strain where they are fed homones to get the colour and pattern out and for grading purposes. Ron

hOW BIG IS THE TANK and how many fish have you got in there? What is the Ph of the water and what filters are you using? ron

Thanks Glen, Hope I can grow them up and breed them one day. That is providing the hormone feeding hasn't make them sterile :lol: Ron

New addition to my collections Cheers, Ron

Caught this two doing it when I came home from work today Cheers, Ron

What fish are you going to put in there? Looking good so far and yes the driftwood is nice. :lol: Ronnie

try getting it from the vet that deal with farm animals. I wouldn't mix it with other med. Ron

The formalin treatment suggested in Simply Discus are 37 1/2% strength and not the 5% sh**. Get the 37% stuff and treat 1ml per 40ltrs water. Don't waste your money on the 5% stuff cos it doesn't work IME. Make sure you have plenty airation like Luke pointed out.

Welcome to discus breeding . There is always deform frys in the batch. If you are lucky you might get a small % and sometimes you ended up culling the whole batch cos' the % of deformity is too great. Better luck next time. Ronnie

Hi Fran, welcome to the forum. Whereabout do you live? To answer your questions about discus : Discus can live in either hard or soft water and at any PH provided that they are stable and not fluctuating all the time. Discus can be kept with a variety of other fishes eg. cardinal tetra, rummy nose, small plecos, cory, otto... Basically most fishes that are not aggresive and can tolerate a higher temp (28-31). hth To breed discus you will need soft water and for growing up babies you will need hard water for better growth. Babies will still grow in soft water but not as well. Cheers, ron

Plants and discus looks good. Well done. ron

congrats frestwest. That will be a good combination. Hope they survive. ron

I would'nt worry about filtering the water with peat. Just tap water will be fine. You can feed your bbs with spirulina powder before feeding it to your fry if you want. Provided you can feed the fry often I would leave it with the parents longer than 2 wks. reason being if you can't feed them they can feed off the parents instead of going hungry.

every 7-10 days

Discus are not a slow growing fish. They have to start life the right way . The first month of their live is the most crucial one. Plenty of live food, a variety of diet, plenty of feeding and waterchanges. If you neglect them in the first month don't expect them to grow to their full size. Frequent feeding and waterchanges and tank space is very important. I can grow a discus to 150 mm in 9 mths so they are not slow grower. Fishluva, your fish is probably stunted.

In order to achieve your goal after crossing you have to choose the desire fry which resemble what you are after and inbreed to improve and create a stable fish. This can take anything from 5-10 yrs (if you're lucky) or a total waste of time and effort. Trust me it is not as simple as putting two different colour fish and you get a new colour. Ron

. So are they from the same batch/parents? You shouldn't be breeding them, anyways....[/quote) Blue, mind telling me why?

You will be lucky just to break even. To breed oranda you need good facilities ie alot of ponds and good filtrations. The ponds averaging 3000 ltrs each. Good filtration system to ease maintainance. Plenty of daphnia for the frys and home made food to grow them up. Don't expect them to grow by feeding just flakes and pellets. Most important thing is good quality breeding stock. A couple of spawns will easily get you 2000-5000 frys if you know how to hand spawn them (stripping the eggs and sperms). You will have to start culling them from 2 weeks old to get rid of single tail fish (only keep the fan tail). Don't be greedy and try to grow every fry up without culling(that will be your first mistake) Your fun begins when they are two weeks old and start dying. You will have to start treating them for flukes ( usually cause be overcrowding and water quality ).IME This is not to put you off breeding but share the problem you might come come across and hopefully are well prepared to counter it.hth Ron

Congrat and nice fish. Are they in a tank of their own now? Ron

Set up your small tank using water from your com tank. Siphon the fry into a bucket. Net the parents and put them in the small tank. Put the fry into the small tank last and keep your finger cross. You need a heater and an airstone in the tank. Don't worry about the filter for the time being but change daily small wc. Ron

I've done it a few time and it doesn't bother my discus at all. Only difference I notice is they all went crazy wanting to breed Ron

isn't covering the tank a short term solution? Agree that it is always best to find the cause. What food are you feeding them? Maybe there is too much phosphate in the food. Can you post a few photo of your tank? Cheers, ron