My heckel discus one year ago...

[tolga]

https://youtu.be/ZZunnx-f6CU

Hi this a video of my heckel discus taken approximately a year ago.
Sorry about the bad quality I had taken it with an iPhone at the time. I hope it'll work for you.
Cheers
Tolga

[Phillydubs]

Very nice! Do you still have them?

Any current videos or pics? Care to share more info on your set up? Any full tank shots?

[tolga]

Hi Phil, thank you. This tank is now empty. I've had to move all my heckels to a smaller temporary bare bottom tank when I moved to a different address approximately a year ago. I still have these same fish. I've had them for about 4 years in total. I'm going to set up this same big tank in the next month or so to house the heckels and perhaps some earth eaters such as geophagus altifrons and few orange uarus or festive chiclids (this is my preliminary view not final). At the time, my ph was 5; conductivity 80 micro Siemens and nitrates under 10. Temperature was 28 C. I was using straight RO water with a very little amount of seachem equilibrium (I'm now using replenish) additive. The tank was approximately 1000 liters including sump. Filtration consisted of K1 fluidized bed + Poret foam + purigen. I also had a large oxidator designed for ponds. I had set up an automatic water change system on a timer and was changing 15% water per day. My heckels are currently swimming in a 200 liter tank with a massive trickle filter consisting of all the media I've taken from the previous sump. They are okay but they'll be happier once they move back into their bigger home. I just thought I should post this video to document the process so far. This has been my first attempt to keep discus after a long break of two decades. There were problems along the way but I've benefited greatly from all the help and advice I've received from this site. The idea of keeping heckels in a room divider type tank had its challenges to say the least. I now want to add some tank mates to encourage the discus to be less skittish and I think they ought to be able to handle the other fish now that they are adults. Anyhow, that's it for the time being. Thanks again. Tolga

[tolga]

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I didn't know I could attach photos directly from my iPhone. I hope it is not tooo much...

[Kyla]

not too much... we can never have too much lol, these guys r beautiful.... thank u for sharing!

[Phillydubs]

Thank you for all the info!! These heckles are just stunning, the reds in them make them in my opinion and that nice thick bar! True beauties. What was your source for these?

Talk to me more about their skiddishness because I seem to be experiencing this since I moved my fish from a 40 breeder to a 72 gallon bow.

[PAR23]

Very cool....The pic just before the last one gives the appearance that the fish is floating in mid air as the tank is essentially invisible.

[tolga]

not too much... we can never have too much lol, these guys r beautiful.... thank u for sharing!

Thanks Kyla. I thought I should share. Better late then never...

[tolga]

Thank you for all the info!! These heckles are just stunning, the reds in them make them in my opinion and that nice thick bar! True beauties. What was your source for these?

Talk to me more about their skiddishness because I seem to be experiencing this since I moved my fish from a 40 breeder to a 72 gallon bow.
Thanks Phil. They came from Hudson via Chens in U.K. In terms of skittishness, this is very hard to work out I'm afraid. Ultimately, when the water was pristine, they were happy and not so skittish. Too much light also made them hide under the driftwood but the main problem was too much light coming from outside the tank. I experimented with different levels and angles of light inside the tank to rebalance the situation with mixed results. Sometimes they would be out and about swimming happily under sting lighting coming from above but they generally preferred the subdued lighting of the night time. It's very hard to know exactly what the deal is in terms of lighting (ambient outside light as well as various types of aquarium lighting). They are beautiful beyond words when they are happy but frustrating when they are not. Playing with the decor could also help. Too much places to hide v more open type arrangement could be something to experiment with. Having been inside a bare bottom tank with no decor inside for a while has also meant that they are always out and about since they have no where to defend or to fight over. But it's boring for them and I'm still not convinced with a more minimalistic approach. They definitely benefit from larger numbers so I'm wondering if that might be the reason for their skittishness inside the 70 as opposed to the 40. They are amazing with great personalities and worth every effort I think.
Tolga

[tolga]

Very cool....The pic just before the last one gives the appearance that the fish is floating in mid air as the tank is essentially invisible.

Thanks Pete. Purigen + UV + clean windows helped with the effect. Ive also tried the tea stained look which was also nice in a different way.
Tolga

[Pipa]

https://youtu.be/ZZunnx-f6CU

Hi this a video of my heckel discus taken approximately a year ago.
Sorry about the bad quality I had taken it with an iPhone at the time. I hope it'll work for you.
Cheers
Tolga

WOW beautiful heckles ... I have a group of nine young WILD heckles .. I had no idea they at dried red sea weeds. What else did you feed them if you don't mind me asking?
Thank you !

[tolga]

Hi Pipa. Thank you for your kind remarks. They eat all sorts. They love live cultured white worms. I use porridge oats and kefir (which is a type of live yogurt drink full of probiotic bacteria) in my white worm culture. It's always good to get some of that beneficial bacteria for their guts especially after medication. They also like frozen mysis shrimp (sometimes I enrich these shrimps by soaking them in vitamins), dried black worms, beef heart, live adult brine shrimp, various types of dried pellets and the dried sea weeds such as the purple, red or even the green varieties. This is good if you can get them used to it. I think seaweed increases their appetite. It also clears their guts by helping to move things along. I have also experimented with small frozen krills but this might have been too rough although I'm not sure. I've heard about people feeding various types of fruit to their heckels but I haven't had much success in getting them to eat fruits so far. Also I've tried earth worms and they didn't take to that either. Good luck with your group.

[tolga]

Just to put things into perspective: these photos represent a high water mark in my experience with this group of heckels. They have had some difficulties in the last nine months or so as we had to move to a smaller flat and they ended up in a 200 litre aquarium which was supposed to have been temporary. I've lost some of these fish and sadly, the one that can be seen in the third photograph is no longer alive. I still have seven heckels left including the ones I've inherited from a friend.