My New Heckels

[sridharp77]

I have a silent member of the forum for quite some time now. I have been reading all the post and the wealth of the information available in the site has helped me a lot. Recently i got some heckels from Singapore. In total i got seven heckels, two greens and one blue. Currently all of them are in the same tank. Though in future once they are settled i will transfer the heckels to a separate tank of their own. They are with me for close to a month and half now. Here are some of the photos . Hope you like them.

Heckel Photos

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w196/sridharp77/IMG_2317Medium.jpg

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w196/sridharp77/IMG_2318Medium.jpg

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w196/sridharp77/IMG_2327Medium.jpg

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w196/sridharp77/IMG_2316Medium.jpg

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w196/sridharp77/IMG_2278Medium.jpg

Green

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w196/sridharp77/IMG_2270Medium.jpg

Will post better photos soon. The tank was a planted tank but after i added discus the planted tank is a totally neglected state and i wanted to give more importance to the Discus than the plants.

This will be future home of the heckels

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w196/sridharp77/IMG_2314Medium.jpg

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w196/sridharp77/IMG_2313Medium.jpg

Regards,

Sridhar.P

[plecocicho]

Nice fish . Your future tank will be great! I would only change the outflow of the filter , so tahat water would come from surface, not under surface. Wild discus don't like strong current in water coulomn. Otherwise is the ambiant prefect.:D
lp

[Tropical Haven]

Nice looking fish, good luck with these down the road.

[Gajowa]

Lovely fish Sridhar.
The heckel tank look great, but I would remove stones, they may rise pH up

Barbara

[sridharp77]

Here are some better photos of my Wild green discus

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w196/sridharp77/IMG_2440Medium.jpg

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w196/sridharp77/IMG_2441Medium.jpg

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w196/sridharp77/IMG_2427Medium.jpg

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w196/sridharp77/IMG_2426Medium.jpg

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w196/sridharp77/IMG_2425Medium.jpg

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w196/sridharp77/IMG_2424Medium.jpg

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w196/sridharp77/IMG_2423Medium.jpg

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w196/sridharp77/IMG_2422Medium.jpg

Heckels

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w196/sridharp77/IMG_2442Medium.jpg

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w196/sridharp77/IMG_2429Medium.jpg

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w196/sridharp77/IMG_2434Medium.jpg

Regards,

Sridhar.P

[Moon]

Hi Sridar
Welcome to Simply. Nice looking Heckels. I too have six Heckels growing up nicely.
They seem to grow slowly compared to domestics.
Joe

[plecocicho]

Very nice discus! How big is the current aquarium and how big will be future aquarium (lenght, wide, height, volume)for heckel discus. Are those heckels blueface, because i can see a hint of blue on their gill plate? Moon, they actually grow slower than other two species and achiave on average the smallest size compared to other two species. It must be an enviromentale adaptation to nutrient poor waetrs, from whrer they come.
lp

[Moon]

I've had mine for a year now. In this time they have grown from 2" to 4". How big do they get when fully mature?

[Gajowa]

Hi
What size do they grow? We have 3 that grew up to 19-20 cm (with tail). 2 are smaller. They came to us in january 2007, and were from 14-16 cm in size.
Check this thread
http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?t=61044
You will see waret conditions we keep them in
The fish looking at termometer, we think is a pair. They are huge with big appetite

Barbara

[Moon]

Barbara
Your Heckels look very nice and healthy. The size I mentioned was SL not including tail. The largest that I have is 19cm TL. They still have some growing to do. I hope you have a pair and they spawn for you.
Joe

[sridharp77]

The size of the present tank is 5 X 1.5 X 1.5. I think the volume is approximately 75 gallons. The new tank is a bigger one of size 6 X 2 X 2. I am planning to move that big driftwood out and add some other pieces as that big piece is occupying lots of volume and i am not happy with look of it. I have some driftwood that resembles the roots of trees. This will be more suited for the tank i feel. Will post pictures of the new once i make the changes.

Regards,

Sridhar.P

[Heiko Bleher]

Hi Sridar,

I already miss India, have been collecting in your area last year that time, in 37 rivers and lakes and found a new Devario, hopefully to be described soon.

Anyhow, I had a look at your nice discus and wanted to give an advice.

They are all (the Heckel discus and the green) to small for their age and you can easy see it by looking carefully at the size of their eyes. Those are to big in relation to their body size. And if you want to be happy with them, you must start immedietely to feed them at least 3-times per day. The bones on the side must disappear and they must grow, unless they will stay this size forever and you will not have such nice fishes and luck.

And give them varied foods, live foods if you can (you must have plenty of mosquito larva, daphnia, etc.), do not think you can bring them into good shape with dry foods. Rather give frozen live foods.

Believe me, I know, (and you can always look at my book what those two species eat in nature - there are 80 pages of it...).

best regards and good luck

Heiko Bleher
www.aquapress-bleher.com

[sridharp77]

Hi Heiko,

Thanks a lot for your advice. I quite did not understand what you meant by the below comment.


Hi Sridhar,

They are all (the Heckel discus and the green) to small for their age and you can easy see it by looking carefully at the size of their eyes. Those are to big in relation to their body size.

Do you mean to say that they are stunned. I got them from Singapore only one and half months back. I got the information that they landed in Singapore one week prior to that.

I am currently feeding then three times a day. I am only feeding them frozen blood worms and then a home made recipe which contains Boiled Spinach, shrimps, and lots of other stuff which my friend prepare at home and then is kept in refrigerator and then fed to the discus. Some of the discus are also eating tetrabits but not all of them. I will try and get more live foods and feed them. Is feeding Daphnia harmful to discus. I have that they cause gill flukes in Discus. i can get Daphnia and brine shrimp both frozen ( Hikari stuffs).

Regards,

Sridhar.P

[plecocicho]

Sridhar i have never heard of Dafnia carring diseases to fish. You can infect your fish by feeding them with gamarus, because they can carry Acanthocephalus parasite (recognized outside by smal red pots on the surface of a gammarus). I think that daphnia is a great liv food, because they are apart of a diet in nature and have value as a balast food, which is always helpfull in fish digestion.
lp

[sridharp77]

I was not quite happy with the new setup for my Heckels so decided to set up the tank again. Here are some of the pictures of the new setup. Please let me know your suggestions ..

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w196/sridharp77/IMG_2589Medium.jpg

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w196/sridharp77/IMG_2586Medium.jpg

Left Side

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w196/sridharp77/IMG_2587Medium.jpg

Right Side

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w196/sridharp77/IMG_2588Medium.jpg

Regards,

Sridhar.P

[blue acara]

Nice pieces of wood and tank Sridhar.P. Your Heckels will like living in there.

[fuzz16]

i must say i do like the seond setup better but the big rootwood piece from the first that was to the left was really neat looking.

very nice fish too

[Heiko Bleher]

Hi Sridhar,

sorry for the late answer.

I have tried to tell you, that you should feed them real good, as those discus have stayed in the Amazon-shippers place long time without food, as most shippers never feed their discus. And if they were shipped on to you they did also have no time to feed at the Asian importers place. In addition wild discus need always several days to acclimatize and to take food.

I suggested it to you, as you can still make some good discus out of those, but food, food, (and live Daphina is no problem, it is good as they will hunt the live ones, some of their natural instinct).

But I suggest two more things:
1. Separate the Heckel discus from the green, they live in very different habitats/parameters (see Barbara has only Heckel and they are doing very well).
2. Your first decoration is perfect for the heckel discus, just add some floating plants (ie Salvinia, Eichhornia, etc.) as they need shade. Your second decoration is to open, it is not typical for those wild discus.

Best regards from a wild-discus-man 8and other fishes and plants),

Heiko Bleher
www.aquapress-bleher.com

[sridharp77]

The Heckels has been transferred to the big tank. I transferred them yesterday and they are slowly settling down in their permanent new home. Here are some photos. The photos are not all that good. But once the discus settles in i will post better pictures.

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w196/sridharp77/IMG_2605Medium.jpg

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w196/sridharp77/IMG_2603Medium.jpg

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w196/sridharp77/IMG_2602Medium.jpg

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w196/sridharp77/IMG_2606Medium.jpg

These are their tank mates. Corydoras. Still not fully sure what corydoras they are. Any help in identifying them would be great.

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w196/sridharp77/IMG_2592Medium.jpg

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w196/sridharp77/IMG_2600Medium.jpg

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w196/sridharp77/IMG_2599Medium.jpg

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w196/sridharp77/IMG_2597Medium.jpg

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w196/sridharp77/IMG_2598Medium.jpg

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w196/sridharp77/IMG_2596Medium.jpg

Regards,

Sridhar.P

[sridharp77]

Thanks Heiko,

I am feeding them variety of foods. Frozen Bloodworms, Mysis Shrimp, earthworm Flakes, Tetra bits and the home made food. I am also trying to get earthworm pellets and some other frozen foods such as brine shrimp and daphnia. To my eyes they look better than when arrived at my place. Though i am not a great expert.
Meanwhile i got your book volume I from Paul ( discus-south). I still cannot get over the excitement of seeing the photos of the different strains of the wild discus and also the beautiful description of the various habitat. Eagerly waiting for the second volume

Regards,

Sridhar.P

[plecocicho]

Nice heckes and aquarium Sridhar!:p. I believe your corydoras are C. cf.arcuatus. Look here for more detals and similar species:http://www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/index.php?task=&genus_id=1&family_id=1. Nice catfish, thats for sure.
Greetings,
***

[Heiko Bleher]

Hi, Sridar

I just wanted to thank you for your nice comments and I am very happy you like my book. I also hope you read it all.

Make this a nice biotope aquarium with the fishes I found in nature living with it, and you will see how much pleasure you will get out of it. It is just wonderful to see the discus in their own world, they will thnak it to you on every way.

Paul Lucas is a very good guy, one of the best I know with discus...

Keep up the good work,

always
Heiko

[pan]

The heckel discus tank is very beautiful and your fish look very happy.Nice job:thumbsup::thumbsup:

[sridharp77]

More photos .....

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w196/sridharp77/IMG_2765.jpg

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w196/sridharp77/IMG_2735.jpg

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w196/sridharp77/IMG_2754.jpg

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w196/sridharp77/IMG_2758.jpg

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w196/sridharp77/IMG_2762.jpg

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w196/sridharp77/IMG_2761.jpg

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w196/sridharp77/IMG_2760.jpg

They seems to be getting more colourful.

Love taking their photos and they also love to pose for the photos .... :)

Regards,

Sridhar.P

[pan]

just lovely.They are looking having fun.Can you tell the parameters of the water because i have just set a heckel aquarium and it will be very helpful to know the parameters of the water and the diet you follow(What food you feed them how many meals per days e.t.c) that the fishes are so well looking.
Thanks

[Apistomaster]

Hi pan,
Larry here. I am not trying to speak for Heiko or Sridhar but only mean to share my own approach with acclimation and maintenance of Heckel Discus much as I have with a fellow Greek Heckel Discus keeper known here as Generious, whom you may already know. I have on-going personal communications with Giorgos now going on about six months.

I gather you have Bleher's Discus Vol 1 but there is so much informations as to be a bit overwhelming at times and then translating that information to how best to apply it in your approach to caring for Heckels in captivity is another matter.

My advice is to keep things as simple as possible. Supply them with a reasonable facsimile of their native haunts. Use med fine quartz sand that is easy for them to sift through much as earth eaters, Geophagine Cichlids do. Quartz is perfect because it is an inert substrate so it will not alter your desired water chemistry. Wood and floating plants are desirable although I also have a couple of potted Amazon Swords too.

Here are the foods I prefer to feed my Heckels.
Earth worm sticks
Frozen and freeze dried blood worms
Tetra Color granules
Live black worms. If live black worms are unavailable the consider culturing enough white or Grindal worms for occasional feedings; 1 or 2 times a week.
That is about all I feed mine although they will graze on algae wafers I add to their tank for some of my small Pleco species I keep with them. I have a few Common Ancistrus sp 3 and some Hypancistrus zebra with my ten Heckels which I bought in May of 2006 when they were average of 3-1/4 inches in diameter/8.25 cm.
I keep them at about 28.5*C. I change about 70% of the water twice a week.
The only area in which I do not follow Heiko's advice and that of other is that I do not try to duplicate their native water chemistry. I use only my local tap water which has a pH of 7.4 and ~340 ppm TDS. I am not suggesting that everyone do this but only saying that it has worked for me. I did give them peat filtered RO water during the first six weeks after receiving them but once they had substantially recovered from their shipping travails I gradually began replacing water changes with my tap water.
I now have mature Heckels and several pairs formed by association and pre-spawn behaviors but no further progress beyond this point. I first began keeping Heckels in 1970 and this pre-spawn behavior was attained back then. No one has been breeding Heckels in the "right water conditions" so I see no problem for me as long as they are at least happy enough to indulge in these behaviors. Their growth rates were excellent and all ten fish are large and thick bodied specimens with voracious appetites.
I have come to believe that the most likely path to captive breeding of Heckels could be using a green house enclosure, thousands of gallons of dozens of large aquariums and hundreds of specimens. This would allow for the largest number of permutations and experimentation until the breeding break through occurs. Unfortunately, this scope of effort this size is presently beyond my financial means.
Meanwhile, S. discus remains for me, the king of the tropical fish and those I have provide me many hours of gratifying observations.

[pan]

Hi Larry thanks for your answer.I asked for the parameters of the water because i have been confuzed a little.I have read the bleher's book and many many more books.Blehers book which a masterpiece of wild (in my opinion)says the parameters that heckel and other species live in their natural environment.It doesn't says in what parameters we must keep and many more that i am unxious to read in his volume 2.I have conversate and read a lot about their parameters.My heckelswhen i bought was in a shop with PH 7.8:confused: and was fine ,i have met people who has them at the parameters of yours but they do extremely large changes of water(i do 30% once a week totally from ro it the best i can do) others who think that at a 5,5 would be ideal and not lower and some others that i must have them at least below 5 as bleher says that they live in wild and i hear about parameters of ph 4 and 3.2.I don't know what is the ideal.

[Apistomaster]

Hi pan,
I completely understand your dilemma regarding what water conditions Heckels should be kept in. After four decades of keeping them I have come to the conclusion based on my experience, that to just keep Heckels healthy and happy that it can be done in water with a pH of about 7.4 and a TDS of about 340 ppm. I know this is far from being close to their native conditions but they seem to adjust well enough.
Now, if someone could show me that Heckels would finally breed if I only kept them at a pH lower than 4.0 and no more than 5.0 ppm TDS then I would have my fish in that water in an instant. But no one has been breeding Heckels based on the information I have seen with but few exceptions over the decades and no one has repeatedly bred them and established an aquarium raised strain after all this time.

My fish have grown up from youngsters 3-1/4 inches in diameter to full sized adults. I have definite pairs that go so far as to indulge in possible spawning site selection and cleaning behavior. I have reached this point every time I have kept Heckels. No spawns.
So if the darned fish won't breed regardless of the water conditions I figure why should I knock myself out to provide the more extreme wild type water?
Regardless of the water chemistry we elect to keep them in, Heckels still need the fresh water that only water changes can produce. This is one of the few guide lines I feel one can ignore at his own peril. I am not given to taking an absolute position on most things but generous water changes are something I have found are a corner stone of successful discus keeping and breeding.
Knowing what is possible and knowing what it is like where Heckels live, it still comes down to what an individual discus keeper is willing to provide. In my case, my Heckels are going to continue to live in my tap water a they have for the past three years. Now your fish appeared to me to also be in excellent condition despite living in water with a pH of 7.8.
It is my opinion that they could continue to thrive in those conditions so the choice is really yours. They are going to do well for you even if you elect to provide the soft acid water. It sounds like to do so will make it difficult for you to change enough water each week. I really think you will find that they will do much better if you changed more water each week than 30%. I consider that to be too low for most aquariums. It all depends on how many fish you have and what size is their aquarium. Six Heckels, by themselves in a 125 gal tank that are fed mostly live foods, would probably do just fine with a 30% water change each week.
The more crowded they are the greater the water changes should be.

Moving on to feeding frequency. I feed my adults at least twice but more frequently, three times a day. When they were still youngsters I fed them at least four times a day. At least one of their daily feedings is with live food. This is what has worked for me.
I hope my sharing of my approach contains information that you may find helpful in deciding on what your methods of caring for your Heckels will be. They are a source of much enjoyment to me. I just hope we some day can learn how to induce breeding. It was this wish that led to me to ask Al to think about starting this subforum on Heckels. I feel this is too complex of a project for any one person to have all the answers or we would have solved the breeding problem decades ago. Even if we can never breed them we can still keep and admire them for many years.

[pan]

Sincerely thanks Lary for your detailed answer.I keep my 6 beauties in a tank of 600litres and i am waiting another 3.I think that the key to everything is stable parameters and the experience you obtain and what you face every day with this beautiful creatures.I keep right now at ph4.75 and if my economic situation will be better a will create a tank exactly the same but i will do brave water changes with tap water only filtered with peat and i will be happy to write here the pros and cons of each tank.I think this will be the only solution.
Thanks again for sharing your valuable knowledge about the King ;)

[Genirous]

Hi pan,

Larry is a very experienced hobbyist with many years of aquarium activity, but his greater advantage is that he is always thirsty for knowledge! This combination makes him a special individual and of course he is always there to help you and any other...! He has helped me a lot till now and I thank him for that! Is always a pleasure discussing with him and always he has something interesting to tell you!:)

As for water parametres for Heckels, we all know in what ph, TDS, temp etc they live... My humble opinion is to give them their naturall condition as near to biotope as possible, because they have greater chances to stay healthy and thrive without many problems... I'm not such an experienced hobbyist as Larry or many others here to be able to constantly watch my discus and understand what may be wrong with them and fix it... It is much easier for me to offer heckels the best biotope possible with less dangers and less possibilities for diseases possible...

[sridharp77]

Hi Giorgos,

Request you to kindly post the photos of your Rio Negro heckel biotope tank.

Regards,

Sridhar.P

[MSD]

Larry is one of the most sensible, helpful people I have ever seen on a forum and I take his advice on discus keeping to heart.

[Apistomaster]

Hi Giorgos,
Thank you for your compliments. I do always want to learn more but a great deal of what I learn is directed at trying to make keeping and breeding fish as easily as possible so I can be as lazy as possible. I do love discus, though.
I have tried learn more about breeding the small fancy plecos in recent years. I have been able to spawn some of my more difficult species and have failed so far with some I thought were easier. Like Discus, they take care of their young while they are the most delicate.
I have had two batches of Peckoltia sp. L134 released from the breeding caves within the same week so I have this 20 Long aquarium crawling with 50 fry and I suspect another spawn is being incubated presently.


It helps me a lot to keep in mind that fish are not very intelligent and meeting their needs can be simplified a great deal. If wild discus were cheaper we would not find them difficult to experiment more on just how much can one get away with without harming them.
I have been fortunate to have been in a position and time in history when wild discus were not so expensive so I wasn't afraid to explore some of their limits. I have been pleased to discover early on that clean warm water and a good diet met most of their needs. That so many survive capture, transport and still live for years in aquariums speaks volumes about their inherent hardiness.

I have studied trout behavior a great deal and how they perceive artificial flies and that has been helpful to me as a breeder of tropical fish. In both cases it boils down to how to trigger the desired behavior. Get it right and the going is easy but if I'm overlooking something important, well its back to the drawing board or fly tying bench.
Just because I think like a fish, is nothing to brag about.

[sridharp77]

It has been almost close to a month since i took some photos. So thought i will update some that i took yesterday. Hope you like them. The journey so far has been good.


http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w196/sridharp77/IMG_2904.jpg

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w196/sridharp77/IMG_2905.jpg

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w196/sridharp77/IMG_2907.jpg

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w196/sridharp77/IMG_2908.jpg

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w196/sridharp77/IMG_2894.jpg

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w196/sridharp77/IMG_2899.jpg

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w196/sridharp77/IMG_2903.jpg

Another wild discus tank is in the making. This time size of the tank will be 6 X 1.5 X 2.5(in feet). I have ordered some more heckels and some red discus. They will be with me by the end of this month or early next month. bounce2::bounce2:

Regards,

Sridhar.P

[plecocicho]

Sridhar, those heckels are developing quite nicely.:p. Another large tank? I hpo you will decorate them this nicely also.
Greetings

[Moon]

Those Heckels look a little pale to me. I think it is the white substrate. A darker substrate will bring out then colours a bit more intense. Mine are in a bb tank with dark base and they appear much darker. You can also see it in Larry's fish.
Any comments?

[sridharp77]

It could be also because of the fact that the tank does not have any background. They love playing and picking the food from the fine sand that i have put in the tank. Also it is quite difficult for me to put a background now for the tank because of the accessibility to the back side of the tank.

[Dan S]

Hello Sridharp,

They look great and the tanks look beautiful aswell.

Ive noticed with my blues that the colour gets much richer when in tanks with a dark brown background even though I always use silver sand.

Dan

[Apistomaster]

I am going to guess that the photos seem lighter colored than the discus are in life. They are really healthy adolescent Heckels and the lack of a background and flash may be making them appear lighter.
I'm sure their color vary a lot depending on their moods too. Mine lighten up when they get into a feeding frenzy and then will darken some when they are just hanging out.

Have you considered a background made out of painted card board or something else that is temporary and easy to experiment with different tones?

In any case, it is far better that they are light colored instead of black and hanging in the a corners.

[sridharp77]

I will try and make a backgound for the tank and see if there are any difference. I am planning for a light blue background. What are the other suggestions. Should i try any other colour.

Larry,

These photos were taken after they were fed. And at times when they are hanging out in the tank, they become more darker than what you see in the photos. Also as you have mentioned i did not use flash to take the photos.

Regards,

Sridhar

[Nanu]

...Thought I'd reply here
:)
..They are looking nice. Very nice fish :-)
Cheers,
Nanu

[Gajowa]

You are doing a realy great job with those heckels :) They look realy nice

Barbara

[katt-ja]

that is a lot better. where did u get all that branchy driftwood from. i love it...

it WILL look fantastic when complete

[Heiko Bleher]

Hi,

this Heiko Bleher, and Sridhar I just wanted to tell you: those heckel discus are beautiful and you are doing well. One of the reasons why they are not so strong in colour, is simply because they are all young fishes, less than one year old (or at the most: one year). Their colour develops and they will be much brighter in a few month time.

Your bitope is nice, beautiful, just try to give them some shady area (with floating plants, driftwood from the top, or a Philodendron growing into it).

Keep up the good work, from a collector,

Heiko Bleher
www.aquapress-bleher.com

[Genirous]

Hi Giorgos,

Request you to kindly post the photos of your Rio Negro heckel biotope tank.

Regards,

Sridhar.PHi Sridhar,
I'm in the middle of a period of chances in the aquascape of my heckel biotope tank, promise to upload enough photos as soon as possible with a presentation!:)

Friendly,
Giorgos

[sridharp77]

some photos of my tank (Front View) ...

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w196/sridharp77/IMG_3007.jpg

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w196/sridharp77/IMG_3008.jpg

Side View ....

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w196/sridharp77/IMG_3049.jpg

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w196/sridharp77/IMG_3050.jpg

Photos of the tank mates ....

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w196/sridharp77/IMG_3042.jpg

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w196/sridharp77/IMG_3043.jpg

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w196/sridharp77/IMG_3054.jpg

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w196/sridharp77/IMG_3056.jpg

Some shots of the Heckels ...

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w196/sridharp77/IMG_3031.jpg

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w196/sridharp77/IMG_3020.jpg

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w196/sridharp77/IMG_3010.jpg

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w196/sridharp77/IMG_2992.jpg

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w196/sridharp77/IMG_2993.jpg

Regards,

Sridhar

[Apistomaster]

Hi sridharp77,
Your Heckels and aquarium are looking great. I am missing the lighter colors mine had when they were young like yours.
Mine must be about 4 years old and it seems that those that take on breeding colors can become much darker and that isn't necessarily as pretty as when they were smaller.
They are healthy but my most dominant pairs have dark body colors and sooty colored fins that are normally clear when young. The less dominant fish remain lighter in overall color.
I use a sand very similar to your's and a light background. This change in my fish is accompanied with pre-spawn behaviors like site cleaning, false spawning runs and just generally being very assertive towards the other Heckels. (Read; being butt heads)
We just took some new photos using a friend's Nikon D80 which is a much better camera than mine. I'll post some of them in another thread once I get a CD of all the photos. We took about 100 photos of all the different fish I'm raising and of my wild Discus to choose the best for my website which is under construction.

[sridharp77]

Looking forward for the photos of your fishes Larry.

Regards,

Sridhar