Revan's Self-Challenge Grow Out

[Revan]

Hey All,

I recently acquired 11 of Al's wonderful Blue Turq/Snakeskin fry. These are from the same parents as the fry which were used in the 2018 Grow-out Contest. Reading through those contest threads inspired me to have a little contest of my own, against myself.

The purpose of this is to keep myself motivated, maintain a record of my endeavors, and most importantly, obtain feedback and suggestions from experienced hobbyists!

Stock:
- 11 Blue Turq/Snakeskin fry from Al
- all 11 arrived between 1.75-2.0 inches
- received late May
- not much color as of now, maybe faint blue. A couple do show slight SS patterning.

Tank & Filtration:
- starting in a 40 Breeder (so technically 46 gallons) painted on the bottom, back, and one side
- no lighting for now, I may add something later
- sponge filter rated for 50 gallons. I don't trust those ratings much but it's definitely sufficient for now.

Water:
- temperature kept around 85-86.
- Indiana tap water, aged with an air stone and heater. More details in the WC section.
- PH settles between 7.8-8.2 depending on the season.
- water is very hard. I don't know specifics, but around here we call it liquid rock.

Feeding Plan:
- 4 times a day : 7am manual, 11am auto feeder, 3pm auto feeder, 7pm manual
- BH Mix Flakes, Discus Granules D-50 Plus Baby, HBH Flake Seafood Lovers
- later I will introduce FDBW and frozen BH mix
- much later I will introduce Sera Discus Granules and Hikari Vibra Bites

Water Changes and Cleaning
- two WC daily : 50% in the morning, ~95% in the evening
- due to space limitations, I have only a 40B tank for aging. Since I will do ~150% daily, this of course means it can't all be aged 24 hours
- the morning 50% WC will use 12 hour aged water. The evening 95% WC will use half 24hr and half 12hr aged water
- this WC schedule is where I'm least certain of how good my plans are, and would welcome feedback
- vacuumed at each WC
- glass scraped and/or wiped once a week

Thank you for reading! Pictures to follow soon, with updates as I can.

Evan

[Revan]

Here is a full shot of my setup. The discus are up top, with the water ageing tank below.

The top tank is drilled and has a ball valve. This connects to a PVC network I run through my fish room which leads to a drain. This empties water very quickly. The bottom tank has a high GPH pump with tubing that hangs snugly on the top tank for refills. The pump is on a remote control.

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Here are the discus in question.

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And while I have your attention, here is my existing adult tank! I'm a bit proud of it, despite a few troubles I've had along the way. Some of these fish are from my earlier days of Discus-keeping and may reflect that. Several though are from after I turned up my husbandry game and I like to show them off.

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[LizStreithorst]

Are the filters in your 40 gallon cycled?

What is the swing in pH between your tap and aged water?

[Dee1958]

Your right about not much color especially at that size are you sure their snakeskin. Dee

[Second Hand Pat]

Your right about not much color especially at that size are you sure their snakeskin. Dee

You can tell by the number of bars Dee. SS have 14 bars and turks nine bars.
Pat

[jeep]

Hey All,

I recently acquired 11 of Al's wonderful Blue Turq/Snakeskin fry. These are from the same parents as the fry which were used in the 2018 Grow-out Contest. Reading through those contest threads inspired me to have a little contest of my own, against myself.

The purpose of this is to keep myself motivated, maintain a record of my endeavors, and most importantly, obtain feedback and suggestions from experienced hobbyists!


Good for you!! I'm glad the challenge contest has provided some motivation for others to follow!!

[Revan]

Your right about not much color especially at that size are you sure their snakeskin. Dee

No I'm not certain on that, but it does appear that way. I can see faint pattern lines that seem like SS.

[Revan]

Are the filters in your 40 gallon cycled?

What is the swing in pH between your tap and aged water?

Yes the sponge is cycled to a bio-load heavier than this, so it's all set. :)

Right now the PH comes out ~7.6 and settles ~8.0.

I've decided to track PH in a schedule for precise data gathering. For the next week I will sample the water from both tanks before and after a change. This will outline the true swing the fish are exposed to.

[danotaylor]

Al's SS pair give red based SS, blue based SS and turk types in their offspring. You won't see consistent color though until 3+" and it will get better and better. Just look at the grow out challenge contest to see what to expect. Discus genetics is so obscure due to all the line & selective breeding processes to get the strains we see today. One thing is for sure with Al's fry, the genetics for shape and color (whichever you get in the mix) are sensational!

[LizStreithorst]

Do you age. IMO with a swing of .4 you should.

[Revan]

Yep, aging water in-between the daily WC.

[Revan]

Below is a schedule detailing the PH consistency in my tank, as it relates to my WC program.

Overall I think the changes are acceptable. However I welcome feedback.

My water wants to settle at 8.0 (at least in summer), but it takes over 48 hours. After 12 and 24 hours it's usually 8.1-8.2. A perfect scenario would be to have twice the aging capacity of the main tank, so that the water could stabilize for >24 hours. However I cannot accommodate that. Given the below data, though, I think I'm fine. The discus are rarely exposed to a sudden change of more than 0.1, and gradual changes within 0.2.

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[Revan]

Update : I must unfortunately report that I lost three of the eleven discus.

One of them jumped from the tank; I found him hours later a couple feet away on the floor.

Two others died from what I've come to know as "whirling disease". I understand it to be more of a symptom than an actual disease, with a good deal of debate surrounding what actually causes it. While I do not know for certain the biological cause, I suspect a large WC was the catalyst. Both deaths occurred within 12 hours of a single WC, one of the larger changes I had done yet. The jumper also occurred the day after the WC, so maybe his death was also related.

Now I do two 75% a day, rather than a 95% and a 50%. I've had no issues since.

The remaining 8 are doing quite well. I will post pictures soon.

It was quite saddening to lose three fish which are, currently, irreplaceable. However I take solace in chalking this one up as a learning experience. This is my first time raising discus of this age, and mistakes are how we learn best. I now know more about how to do it right in the future.

[Second Hand Pat]

Hi Revan, sorry to hear you lost three discus :( Is it possible something was forgotten during that large water change?
Pat

[Revan]

Thanks for the thought Pat.

And anything is possible I suppose, but I do think unlikely in this case. Temp was within a half degree between the two tanks, water was aged the same as all previous and post changes. I've never forgotten to use de-chlorinator, so I don't believe it was that.

I think it could've been micro-bubbles and the additional volume of water changed made it too much to handle. Or that my PH swing range is OK at 90% but not OK at 95%.

Either way, my revised program seems to be progressing much better.

[Sturiosoma]

Have you tried checking the ph in your tank before a water change and compare that to your water change source and then adjust your percentage of water changed to prevent a ph swing.
Jeanne

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