The process of the offspring leaving the nest and swimming toward the parents is one of the most important markers in determining whether the offspring will grow up normally or not.
3 days after hatching, the offspring start to swim one by one. The parents hold them by the mouth and take them back to the nest. Such premature swimming by the babies points out that the "attachment" phase is fast approaching.
Soon enough the offspring will not listen to the parents at all and more and more frequently leave the nest, swimming toward the parents and clinging to the area around dorsal fins on their parents. However, not all the baby discuses that start to swim on their own are able to achieve this and some are caught in the water flow of the fish tank, to die in no time.

The parents, on the other hand, have to cooperate and be careful not to scatter the offspring with any abrupt movement of the body. Water flow naturally increases the burden on the parents to gather the offspring and carefully make them cling to their bodies. Needless to say, it should be halted during this period.
(At the time the offspring cling to the dorsal fin, the parents sometimes try to shake off the offspring from their bodies but this seems to be an effort to train the young ones to cling even harder).
I may add here that the keeper who is experiencing breeding for the first time should not miss this dramatic moment of "attachment".

If the offspring, who have started to swim, are able to cling to their parents, we can say that the environment for breeding was the right one. After "attachment" the water pump can be safely switched on.

8. Growing up

From the extremely darkened surface of the parents' skin come out small nutritious clots of 'discus milk'. These come out from all over the body. Biting these clots off, the baby discuses start to grow at a very rapid pace.
(Both the male and the female discus emit these 'discus milk' clots. Incidentally, the picture shows a male minding the offspring.)

From 5 days to 1 week after the "attachment" takes place, the baby discuses become ready to eat brine shrimp. Until then, discus milk is their sole source of nutrition.

In the total course of discus breeding, the feasting of the babies on the parents' discus milk is a unique period as well as amazing phenomenon. Many an individual keeps the discus for the opportunity to enjoy watching this very occasion. And because of this, there rarely is a person who breeds discuses without a parent discus being present in the same tank.

In the child-rearing process, there is one interesting behavior called the "transference of the offspring".

With both parents in the same fish-tank, some offspring "attach" to the mother and some to the father. Needless to say, the parent with a higher emission of discus milk is more popular with the offspring. To lighten the higher portion of burden borne by the more popular parent, the parents share in the clinging of the offspring. How deftly they do this is indeed fascinating and is what is called the "transference of the offspring". When one parent wants to have its meal for example, it gives its body a quick sudden wriggle and just as the startled offspring scatter away, it quickly slips away to be replaced by the other parent.
Almost comically, the poor little babies (probably not even aware that parental substitution has taken place), hurriedly cling to the new parent.

When the baby discuses are still very small, the parents conceal them between their two bodies to prevent others from having a look at them. Only after the offspring become accustomed to eating the brine shrimp (and thus are relieved of their sole dependence on discus milk), do they detach themselves from the parents. At this point, they return to the parents only when the parents' discus milk falls off the latter's bodies.

3 weeks after hatching, the baby discuses also start to show interest in food given to the parents, such as crushed hamburger patties. For their future nourishment, it is advisable to give them different kinds of food to enable them to become used to variety.

Because the offspring are big enough by now to show interest in hamburgers, it is also better to put them in a different water tank. If not, their unceasing demands for more food leads to total exhaustion in the parents since they come back now to bite into the parents' bodies for more discus milk.

9. Affection between parents and children

During the time the parents and offspring are together, the former always take it upon themselves to protect the latter. When the offspring are separated from the parents, the parents seem confused and then become very aggressive.

However, beside these behaviors which just may as well be instinctive ones, one cannot say there is any special sort of affection between the parents and offspring.
Once the offspring are divided from the parents, the parents refuse to recognize the offspring much less try to protect them if they are put back together in the same tank. Much to the contrary, the parents fight to protect their territory against the by now rather grown offspring.

The story for the offspring is a different one altogether, though. As soon as they are put back together with the parents, the baby discuses start to bite the adult discuses in the hope of attaining discus milk. The adults do not necessarily have to be their own parents for them to do this. From such behavior, one can only deduce, that they do not really recognize their parents and see all adult discuses as sources of nutrition and protection.