Heckel Project from Croatia

[Zorz]

Hello all,

Few weeks ago i started my new project - Heckel project! 8 young Symphysodon Discus from Rio Negro arrived in my tank in January.
Four on size cca 6-7 cm and four on 10-12 cm.

Placed in my 150 gal tank (cca 620 liters) dimensions 110x75x75 cm. They will be there until they grow a little bit more. Plan is to move them in new bigger tank, cca 350 gallons hopefully at the end of this year.

Water paremeterswhic i can measure, Ph cca 6.5, Conductivity 300 µS, temperature 30 °C, NO3 cca 10 mg/l. Not ideal for them, but i will try to lower hardness, pH and conductivity in next few weeks.

Here are few photos ot the fish from the first day of arrival.

I will try to update photos/videos from time to time.

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[Zorz]

Video on week after arrival.
Sorry for low quality and dark video, there was only few Watts of light at that time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_En8IfZXpkY

[Mattgoanna]

Very nice fish. What species are the Satanoperca?

[Zorz]

Very nice fish. What species are the Satanoperca?

Thanks!

Satanopercas are Leucosticta.
But they are not anymore in the tank. Heckels needs peace in the tank if i whant them to grow fine. Satanopercas was pretty big, and still growing.
Altrough i like to have some "eartheater" in my tank because they are useful for keeping tank bottom clean. Maybe i will buy some Satanoperca or Geophagos sp. once Heckels became's bigger.

[Mattgoanna]

I removed my earth eaters for the same reason. I miss them, but the Discus come first.

[DatDiscusDude]

Exceptionally beautiful!

[aray]

Hi,what are you doing for maintaining ph and how you plan to lower it?:)

[DatDiscusDude]

I have always liked geo's and those sorts. You guys are saying that they can be too aggressive for discus?

[Zorz]

Hi,what are you doing for maintaining ph and how you plan to lower it?:)

At the moment i have carbonate hardness cca 6-8. This is what keeps pH stable.
With low hardness, pH is unstable an can be lower. Ussualy i just put some peat and a lot of leaves in the sump. This can slowly lower pH value and also make nice tea color water. Heckels love it. Darker water makes them happy. They feel safe.

[Zorz]

I have always liked geo's and those sorts. You guys are saying that they can be too aggressive for discus?

No, not aggressive. From my experience with Discus and altums, they are not aggresive to each other. I did keep both species with Satanoperca or Geophagos, and never saw any aggression. But those species are big and always hungry. They can eat a lot and if you have small discus with them you need to feed them much more than ussualy. This means more clean water and more job to keep the parameters ok.

[Zorz]

New video after 6 weeks in tank..

https://youtu.be/Cc3u1YiPteA

[Zorz]

One year pass, and my Heckels are still with me. Now bigger and with nice color. I made some selection, and 2 pcs I gave to my friend. The other 6 pcs is still in 620 liter tank, and the plan for next few month is to move them in bigger tank, 1300 liters.

Water parameters:
Temperature 28.5 degrees C
Kh - 0-1
pH 5.0
Coductivity 40 microSiemens/cm

[Willie]

These are the roundest Heckels I've seen in a long time. Absolutely gorgeous.

Willie

[DiscusBR]

These are the roundest Heckels I've seen in a long time. Absolutely gorgeous.

Willie

+1

[tolga]

They are beautiful! The conductivity of 40 micro Siemens which is very low, appears to have made a positive impact on these heckels. Are you using pure RO water? It would be great to know how you prepare your water. Also could the 350 gallon be too big for just eight heckel? I would be tempted to add some more...

[Joe]

Looking good!!! Nice job!!!

[plecocicho]

Pozdrav sa one strane Koupe!
Those heckles are really gorgeous, you grown them well. What is your water changing regime, what do you feed them and whats your lightning. You use pure RO?

[Zorz]

They are beautiful! The conductivity of 40 micro Siemens which is very low, appears to have made a positive impact on these heckels. Are you using pure RO water? It would be great to know how you prepare your water. Also could the 350 gallon be too big for just eight heckel? I would be tempted to add some more...

Thanks all!

Yes, I am using pure RO, stored in tank in the cabinet under main tank. Heated to 29 degrees. Sometime I add Humins from Discusfood in the water. Change is cca 200 liters every two weeks. I am using clearwater resins in the sump.

For 350 gallon tank I have in plan to add 6 more Heckels. 12 pcs in 230 cm tank will be more then enough, especially when they mature. I will add some branchees and roots soon.

[Zorz]

Pozdrav sa one strane Koupe!
Those heckles are really gorgeous, you grown them well. What is your water changing regime, what do you feed them and whats your lightning. You use pure RO?

Pozdrav :)

I change cca 30 percent every two weeks, sometime longer.
I feed them 4-5 times per day with frozen larvae (black, white or red), artemia, some shell mix. They dont want to eat granulated dry food. Only spirulina flakes.

I have just 2 x70 cm led strips with controller to simulate early morning and evening. Will add 15-20 Watts T5 soon because I have some red lotus in the tank. They are not biotopic, but are great for making shadows for the fish.

I hope they will grow more during next year :)