Lynne

I have a couple of questions. This is their 5th spawning, the fry are 2 weeks old, (the fry died in the first few days in the other 4 spawnings). Will the parents mate again or will they focus on raising their young? Also, the parents are getting a little argey bargey with each other, is this normal? I have just the parents and babies in the one tank.

Sorry for posting this here. I've tried the FAQ's which said I could edit my original post and the link would be at the bottom, but I can't see it. I am assuming uploading pictures on the general breeding forum isn't permitted or I don't have permission. Also tried finding a way to contact a moderator, or a section for queries like this but can't find that either. Can anyone tell me if I have a restriction or the forum has a restriction on uploading pictures. If I'm missing something vital, can someone point me in the right direction please. thanks. :-?

:bounce: This is the 5th spawning and my fry are 2 weeks old today and I notice an increase in size from when I leave for work in the morning to when I get home! They are at the stage where they are feeding from the parents but mostly from the food I give them. I have around 40 of the little fellas. The other spawnings were in one big tank which was divided off. When the current eggs were deposited I decided to move them, and by the time I got to do that they had hatched. I replicated the environment in the new tank, and included 80% of the water from the existing tank. I transferred the parents and the babies who were hanging off the magnetic cleaner and they all appear to have survived. Thank you to all who made positive suggestions. I'd put a picture up but can't see where the upload link is.

Well the eggs from 4th spawning are now fry. Mum and Dad are vigilant with their faces hovering near the nest 24/7 When the fry dislodge or swim the parents suck them up and spit them back in the nest. I am sitting with fingers crossed. Q1. Can I do a water change now the fry are out of the eggs but not yet free swimming? Q2. I understand the fry will feed from the parents slime, and when they are free swimming I can feed them newly hatched brine shrimp. Can someone enlighten me the 'newly hatched brine shrimp' procedure? I have frozen brine shrimp for baby mollies but I expect newly hatched is something different. Q3. Can the parents accidently kill the fry with their sucking/spitting procedure. (I've seen a couple of dead ones that the parents keep sucking up and spitting back) :-?

Mum is a Marlborough and the other one is a peachy base with blue snake skin type markings and blue shots through the fins. When should I transfer the fry? At what age? The longest I have got so far is a day or two after swimming free. I'm reluctant to separate them from the parents because I don't have the ability to stay home and care for them - that four letter word WORK gets in the way!

My discus, subject of the above messages have spawned for the 4th time. The eggs are on a magnetic glass cleaner, where they have laid their previous 3 batches. The last batch hatched into fry, this is the furthest I have got with fry so far. I noted the parents would swoop down when a fry dislodged from the nest, collect the fry in it's mouth and spit it back into the nest - both parents would do this. After a few days they moved the fry to a piece of wood. It was about the 7th day (I think) after I first saw the eggs that the fry become free swimming. I have a divider in my tank separating the 'family' from 3 other discus and some other fish. The parents would front up to the divider and defend their babies against curious discus on the other side of the tank. While this was happening, the babies would dart about, sometimes too close to the divider (which is plastic with tiny holes, you know the type you buy at aquariums). If the babies got too close, the non parent discus would suck them through the holes! So I put another offcut of this plastic stuff on the opposite side of the tank so that the non parent discus couldn't suck the babies through. Anyway, I did this one morning and when I got home at night I could only detect 3 fry. When I went to bed that night no fry were left. Now they have spawned again. I'm concerned that I am not doing enough for them. The parents seem to be very good at protecting their young. Should I be feeding them something different? I thought the fry fed from the parents so I wasn't feeding the fish anything other than what I would normally.

Well, perhaps spawned isn't the right word, I don't know but the eggs that were there for the last 2 days can't be seen any more (well the little I could see of them anyway). I have put a divider in to separate out the other fish from the mum and dad. Both mum and dad are still hovering about in the same spot despite eggs not being evident. Perhaps they are now little fishies and I can't see them. Any ideas?

My discus have spawned for the first time. Their eggs are on wood and in a position where I can't see them without peering down the end of my tank to the far end, so visibility is distorted and virtually nil. I have 4 other discus, 2 whiptails, 5 mollies of varying ages and a couple of neons in the tank. I noticed the eggs two nights ago. I am going to get a tank divider to keep the parents and eggs away from other fish. I'm unsure what to do after that. Will the parents eat them? When and if the fry hatch, should I keep them with the parents? If so for how long?

I don't have the dead mollie anymore. My sick mollie still has an appetite and is eating well and is active. I'm wondering if it could be worms? Perhaps sucking the life out of her. Is there anything I can give her for worms that won't hurt my other fish she is communing with? She is in with 5 neons, 1 hatchet, 2 whiptails, 2 orange sail fin mollies, 4 discus (5 to 6cm in diameter) More importantly, if it is worms can my other discus or whiptails catch them?

My white sailfin mollie had babies last week. She ate most of them! She was absolutely humungously fat and now she is super thin, compared to my orange female who had babies on the weekend. The white one also looks like she is developing a blood like (pinkish/red) appearance under her skin near her eye. I wouldn't have paid too much attention to this if my other white sailfin mollie (I had 2) hadn't had the same thing earlier this week, she died on Saturday. The first white female also went super thin after having babies, but, in addition to this her body ended up with a bent look, she had a kink and looked like her sides were sucked in, more so on one side than the other giving her the kinked/bent look. I'm worried that my remaining white female is going down the same track. Does anyone know what this might be?

Hi, I'm new here. This is a brilliant place to gain knowledge. My son introduced the site to me. Sorry I posted a 'fish for sale' notice before I dropped in here. :oops: I must mind my manners. Anyway, I have two tanks and have been enjoying tropical fish for about 9 months. I was fortunate enough to have kribs spawn, the babies are now adults (they are the ones for sale). I have the normal run of the mill fish like neons, hatchets and sailfin mollies, but am enjoying my new additions the discus and my whiptail. I have newly spawned sailfin mollies in my little tank and juvenile white sailfin female mollies in my large tank. I find kribs absolutely facinating to watch and wonderful parents. The whiptail bought as a baby has grown quickly although is still a juvenile. The discus are my favourites, they are beautiful fish. One in particular has a preference for eating blood worms only and seems to ignore anything else I feed them. The other 3 discus will eat anything. Well that is it from me.