Third wheel Heckel *sad face*

[myofibroblast]

Started introducing fish into my 125g (60"x18 deep x 24 tall) two days ago, and I saw a few lovely wild discus at the lfs that I couldn't resist! I bought two wild blue discus (from manacapuru supposedly), both about 6 inches and kind of fat, and one wild Heckel that is much smaller (and eats kind of like a juvenile too...about 4 inches maybe). The two wild blues are probably still getting used to the aquarium, since they haven't bothered or shown aggression towards each other or the Heckel yet. The wild blues are with each other all the time, but never seek out the Heckel. The Heckel, on the other hand, seems to crave their attention because it tries to swim with the wild blues but the love is not reciprocated. The wild blues don't seek companionship from the Heckel like the Heckel seeks out the wild blues. Wonder if it's a size difference issue or just not the same species issue? They will be the only fish in the aquarium for the next two months (along with a 2 inch stunted domestic juvie from another tank as a canary) until I see how they do.

[myofibroblast]

Broke down and added a Heckel friend.

http://youtu.be/NUDCAiLGFGE

[William Palumbo]

Nice looking tank and wilds. Heckels usually do keep to their own kind, which is why most of us keep Heckels only tanks...Bill

[myofibroblast]

Thanks. I may be anthropomorphizing a bit, but it seems to me the Heckels are always following the two blues, but the blues don't really seek out the Heckels. The blues are a bit snooty.

[OC Discus]

Looks nice. What kind of sand do you have?

[myofibroblast]

I used Petco's white aquarium sand. It's supposedly safe for fresh and saltwater. I also used a lot less than recommended (I used 60 lb for 125g rather than 2 lb per gallon) just for a thin layer except in planted areas. Not really knowledgeable about sand, but vacuuming with the python is not as hard as the staff suggested. Also it's very white...every poop will show up. Happy holidays!

[OC Discus]

I was looking at that sand too because mine is silica based. How does it affect your pH? Did it rise to 8 or more? My tap is about 7.2. I was afraid the swing would be a problem.

Hows the new guy working out? You know people have their groups too- those who follow and those who want to be followed, or not :bandana:


I used Petco's white aquarium sand. It's supposedly safe for fresh and saltwater. I also used a lot less than recommended (I used 60 lb for 125g rather than 2 lb per gallon) just for a thin layer except in planted areas. Not really knowledgeable about sand, but vacuuming with the python is not as hard as the staff suggested. Also it's very white...every poop will show up. Happy holidays!

[William Palumbo]

I use the same sand from PETCO, and it is WHITE. I had mixed it in with my Carribsea sand, because I did not want to spend more on another bag of Carribsea, because that's just crazy/stupid money for a sack of sand! It's a bit courser, but because of that, easier to keep clean. I have a small layer of it in my Heckel tank...Bill

[myofibroblast]

OC Discus: I haven't noticed any measurable change in my water's pH and KH/GH after it has been in the tank (per API masterkit). Our municipal water is quite soft with fairly low TDS (around 40 ppm per last quarter's report) but pH is around 7.4 out of the tap (I suspect chemically elevated to prevent erosion of the city pipes). I have noticed some upward drift of the conductivity from 90microS to 100 microS over two days, but I think this is from the root tabs rather than sand. KH did not change as above. If anything, my water gets slightly more acidic from 7.4->7.2 (low buffering capacity tap water, organics, wood stuff, etc) according to the very easily discernible API colorimetric "pretty green" and "maybe less green" scale (sarcasm).

[myofibroblast]

OC Discus: The original Heckel (Pineapple) is fine. The new Heckel friend I introduced last week seems to prefer following the blues, and the two Heckels don't seem to be excited about each other. They are definitely ravenous pigs, and they nudge each other out of the way when eating. The bigger blues are dainty eaters...they take their time to pick things off the sand. Hopefully I'm not overfeeding the Heckels and underfeeding the blues.

[OC Discus]

With a mixture of good foods, they should all get enough. Someone said you can't over feed the fish but you can over feed the tank. Your tank seems big enough to handle it.


OC Discus: The original Heckel (Pineapple) is fine. The new Heckel friend I introduced last week seems to prefer following the blues, and the two Heckels don't seem to be excited about each other. They are definitely ravenous pigs, and they nudge each other out of the way when eating. The bigger blues are dainty eaters...they take their time to pick things off the sand. Hopefully I'm not overfeeding the Heckels and underfeeding the blues.

[myofibroblast]

Hope so! I feed enough that all food are gone from the sand in 30min. Sometimes I like to feed slowly by piecemeal with a pair of plant tongs and nothing makes it to the sand. I like to watch them eat and observe who's eating and who isn't.

[myofibroblast]

Almost 2 weeks, I think they are settling in but still getting used to the bright LED plant light. The two wild Heckels are not good friends with each other *sad face*. I'm still waiting for the bars to come back on the wild blues.
http://youtu.be/ttYRWOfB00A

[GeauxDiscus]

Nice looking fish. :)

[White Worm]

Very nice tank and fish. I like the sand and it looks like a simple but effective planted setup. The discus are active and seem to enjoy their surroundings. Congrats!

[myofibroblast]

Thanks White Worm. I'm debating adding the rest of my juveniles (3 of them) to this tank so I can free up my 40g planted aquarium for another purpose. The only concern I have is that one of the 3 juvies in the 40g used to bully the juvenile that is currently now with the wild discus. Now that the bullied juvenile is playing the canary by itself in the new tank with the new wilds, it has been a lot more vibrant without the other juvenile bully around. If I introduce the three juvies into this tank, I worry the bullying will happen again. Granted this is a much bigger space, and there are adults in the mix so the dynamics could be very different, I guess I won't know until I do it. That being said, it's a lot easier to do gravel vacuum and partial wc daily on one tank than two! So I may end up experimenting with it and see how it goes...for a little more convenience in my life. :-)