Discus breeding question

[rwbush55]

I have a mated pair of blue discus that have finally raised some babies versus eating the clutch. Only 10 of around 50 made it to grazing on parents' slime coat, but they're doing ok.

The strange thing, to me anyway, is that they just spawned again- 150 or so eggs, while the fry from the previous spawn are still hanging on the parents- they're just barely (a few days) free swimming.

Is this normal for discus to spawn while they are raising the previous hatchling?

 

[Andy Sager]

I have a mated pair of blue discus that have finally raised some babies versus eating the clutch. Only 10 of around 50 made it to grazing on parents' slime coat, but they're doing ok.

The strange thing, to me anyway, is that they just spawned again- 150 or so eggs, while the fry from the previous spawn are still hanging on the parents- they're just barely (a few days) free swimming.

Is this normal for discus to spawn while they are raising the previous hatchling?

Discus can spawn every 7-10 days for a season so it happens when the parents are feeding fry. The old fry should be off the parents and on to newly hatched brine shrimp by the time the next spawn should be needing the slime coat. You'll want to remove the old spawn before the new spawn start free swimming. I would start trying to feed newly hatched Brine shrimp when the fry have been eating the slime coat for 7 days. You'll know the fry are eating the shrimp by their orange bellies. Once you see that, remove the fry to a smaller tank ( ie 10 gallon for such few fry) so that the parents can start prepping themselves for feeding the new spawn. You want to use a small tank as a first tank so the the fry don't have far to hunt for their food. When they are about a month old +/-, you should move them into a larger tank for growing.
Keep in mind that you are dealing with a younger pair so it's going to take them a few spawns to get their parenting routine down. In the future, when they have larger spawns surviving, they may not be so eager to breed while feeding young. For them now, they could be thinking " Pfft 10 fry, why bother? " Use this situation as a learning tool so you will be prepared for the next time.