Heckel tank update

[Apistomaster]

Hi All,
I finished removing excessively large Amazon Swords and drastic pruned the remaining one in my 75 gal Heckel tank. There are ten Heckels which I received in May 2006 at an average size of 3-1/4 inches in diameter. They are adults now. This tank has a wet/dry filter running at ~800 gph and an Eheim Classic 2217. Lighting is provided by two dual lamp T-5 Aqualights for a total of 112 watts. It has been quite awhile since I have taken any new photos of my Heckels so with no further ado, here they are, in all their unretouched glory.
http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t41/apistomaster/3-22Heckel4.jpg
The top of my wet/dry sump is visible below the tank.
http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t41/apistomaster/3-22Heckel3.jpg
http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t41/apistomaster/3-22Heckel2.jpg
The two discus on the left are a dominant pair. Those plants with the ribbon leaves are Cyperus hefneri. They are blooming and have both aquatic and float leaves at this stage. Great plant but a slow one to propagate.
http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t41/apistomaster/3-22Heckel1.jpg

[tacks]

Hi Larry a very nice job on the tank and the wilds. With 10 Heckels in there and only a 75 do you do a lot of water changes? what ever you are doing they look great. Ed

[Darren's Discus]

Larry,
your heckels look fantastic,hope mine do as well as yours.the tank also looks great,next pics should be fry on parents ?



cheers

[Apistomaster]

I appreciate the compliments. Having an additional 25 gallons in the sump actually brings me back up to the magical 10 gal/fish and wet/dry filters are good at promoting gas exchanges.
About 1000 gph of incoming filtered water and two 70 to 75% water changes a week is all I do.

They have lived in local tapwater for several years. pH 7.4 and TDS ~340 ppm. Nothing like their native waters but I stopped caring about playing around with simulating native waters except during the first weeks after being freshly imported long ago. They seem about as happy as any other Heckels in planted tanks I've seen so far. My chances of breeding Heckels is no better than anyone else's. That is to say, the chance they will ever breed is remote.

Maybe someday when I'm rich, I will try to keep ten Heckels in a 1000 gallon tank with the "right" water. Maybe they just need more room than most of us can provide? I'd love to be able to have such a dream tank in a tropical green house environment with plenty of natural light. I would take that a step further and have two more 1000 gal tanks; one for Blues and one for Greens.

[midazolam]

I appreciate the compliments. Having an additional 25 gallons in the sump actually brings me back up to the magical 10 gal/fish and wet/dry filters are good at promoting gas exchanges.
About 1000 gph of incoming filtered water and two 70 to 75% water changes a week is all I do.

They have lived in local tapwater for several years. pH 7.4 and TDS ~340 ppm. Nothing like their native waters but I stopped caring about playing around with simulating native waters except during the first weeks after being freshly imported long ago. They seem about as happy as any other Heckels in planted tanks I've seen so far. My chances of breeding Heckels is no better than anyone else's. That is to say, the chance they will ever breed is remote.

Maybe someday when I'm rich, I will try to keep ten Heckels in a 1000 gallon tank with the "right" water. Maybe they just need more room than most of us can provide? I'd love to be able to have such a dream tank in a tropical green house environment with plenty of natural light. I would take that a step further and have two more 1000 gal tanks; one for Blues and one for Greens.

Sounds cool. How are we making the money and how can I get in on it :)

[Moon]

Larry
The Heckels are looking good. What size are they now?

[bavaria36]

Larry,

that tank and the heckels are beautiful. I am in the final stages of setting up a 120 gallon tank and am using yours as a template ! Once it is set up I am looking to add 8 or 9 heckels.

I like the idea of dividing the tank up into a BB section and a white sand section. Is your divider made of tile and if so does that not raise the hardness ? I was thinking us using those bricks that you find on pool patios... got a few sitting in the garage.

Aaron

[Apistomaster]

1. I'm waiting for Merck Pharmaceuticals to pay me a settlement because their drug, Vioxx, caused me nearly fatal acute kidney failure. I don't know what would be the best way for you to come into some money, Midozolam. I have been invited to go along on an expedition to Amazonia. When I get the settlement check, I'll start packing.
I want to try fly fishing for Arowana and Peacock bass but collecting discus is also on the agenda.

2. The Heckels are 5 to 6 inches in diameter.

3. Their tank has a glass and silicone false bottom planter box 3-inches high covering the back half. The facing is made of floor tile trim pieces 3 x 11-1/2 each. One edge is half round finished. They are attached to the glass planter box with a few dollops of silicone. The tile is ceramic floor tile which is as harmless as glass.
Bricks may become displaced over time during maintenance. You may want to take that possibility into consideration.

The front half has about 1/4-inch of sand. Not a bare bottom. This old photo shows the front half.
http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t41/apistomaster/P8210052.jpg
Thank you all for your compliments.

[Lisachromis]

Larry,

Fantastic fish... and could you post these at CRC like your original photos? :)

[Apistomaster]

Sure, Lisa.

[Brian Mc]

Very sweet tank and fish you have there. Fly fishing for arowana lol, that sounds like fun. Hope that settlement comes in soon for you.

[midazolam]

Very sweet tank and fish you have there. Fly fishing for arowana lol, that sounds like fun. Hope that settlement comes in soon for you.

You no kidding! Take lots of pictures!

[blue acara]

Beautiful, just beautiful. The overall colour and those long pelvic fins.:)

Very sorry to hear of your troubles, hope you are well now. Wish you a big payday in the near future.

All the best-
Dave

[Apistomaster]

Dave,
Thank you. I was very lucky. Five days in intensive care and another five of hanging out, then they let me go. It took a couple of years, but my kidneys are working fine but I can't help but think that the experience is worth some compensation. I filed suit in Federal Court before they withdrew Vioxx from the market in 2004. They have finally set aside the largest amount in history, $4.7 Billion, for settlement payments, each of which will be based on the severity of each case but just the average without making any allowances is about $250,000 per case filed. I could go on a serious discus buying spree(and will.)

I don't think I could have as many Greens or Blues in this 75 gal. + 25 gal in the sump as I can Heckels. Heckels are more sociable, ime, than the other two species of Discus. The others are more boisterous and aggressive with Blue/Browns being the most domineering of all the species. I would think a 125 gal is about the minimum for ten wild greens or blues if they are to have a chance to act normally without the lowest position on the pecking order to be tenable. I'm a firm believer that each discus species has its' own unique set of behaviors just as they have specific water chemistries they prefer. I do find it curious just how well mine do in my tap water. Other than water changes, one thing I do only for my Heckels, is to run a PhosBan reactor modified to retain Purigen. Purigen seems to increase the threshold Heckels have to be frightened or panicked. I recently tried carbon for the first time with them in the PhosBan reactor and they became very easily frighten. I ran this experiment for a month then went back to Purigen. The Heckels were soon acting normally and lost much of their tendency to go into fight mode.
I have a hypothesis that most fish but especially Discus , release pheromones to communicate the presence of perceived danger. In the closed system of an aquarium these pheromones may persist long after the perceived danger since dilution and degradation is much slowed down. Purigen adsorbs a wide variety of organic substances and apparently that includes any of the so-called "fear substances."
The design of the PhosBan Reactor assures very good contact times. I divert about 75 gph from the main wet/dry filter return line into the reactor.
I have also experimented with using Purigen with another species given to flight, Corydoras hastatus. This species is usually reluctant to school and feed out in the open but mine are always out and about. I placed a media bag containing Purigen in a AquaClear 50, HOB power filter. Their's is a permanent breeding set up in a 20 gal Long. I began with ten wild caught specimens and now, counting the numerous hiding larvae and all the larger fish I have close to 100. In the rubble pile made of filter media, there are literally dozens of tiny C. hastatus larvae. They complete their metamorphosis into the final Corydoras hastatus body plan when they reach about 1/4-inch long. At that time, they leave the rubble pile an blend in with the main school. Here is a photo of them behaving normally and it shows the larvae hiding place, the ceramic media rubble pile. I also have a thriving poulation of red cherry shrimp with them. The intake of the AquaClear filter has a media bag covering the inlet to prevent losses of larval Corys and shrimp. The other filter is a large sponge filter driven by a MaxiJet 600 power head and there is a air stone running at a brisk rate. The Purigen really calmed them down, as I was running their tank without any for most of the time but they would stay in the dark corners. Corydoras hastatus is among my favorite fish of all those I keep and breed. They are not that easy to find as 99.9% of the time Corydoras pygmeus is marketed as C. hastatus. They school and look very much like a species of Tetras. Here they are.
http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t41/apistomaster/Chastatusbreed3.jpg
Having the chance to grow up together as a group is something more I think has to do with how well my Heckels get along well.

[Genirous]

Hi Larry,
very beautifull tank you have there, is getting better everytime you present it! And those heckels... :)

I would love to hear some of your near-future plants for these magnifiscent discus! Very interesting subject about purigen, worths a trial...!

[Apistomaster]

If I can afford to build a new fish room then I will set up the two pairs that have formed in their own 75 gal tanks and any other pairs that move up in rank afterwards.
Then they will gradually acclimated to the closest I can come to duplicating their natural water conditions and wait them out. I think pretty much the same style of tank set up will keep them happy and be a good place to start.

I am currently in the same position many of my Altum Angelfish friends are in where there is courtship and pre-spawn cleaning behavior but no spawns. I have been this far with Heckels before. How to induce the nice phase is the the $64,000 question. I'll probably never learn much more until and unless I start working with the individual pairs. I am certain that there will be at least three pairs to experiment on.

I have some new wild blues that are far more likely to breed under my current situation. They aren't very fancy but it has been fun to have a group of them again. What constitutes a blue versus a brown has always been a subjective call but apparently the line between blues and browns is lower than mine has ever been but even a nice brown has beauty. They are so much more rowdy than Heckels. One nice blue I have had for a two years spawned with his Red Turquoise mate yesterday for only their second time in one of the new 40 gal tanks and I am hoping they decide to raise this spawn. It is their tenth time so I am beginning to lose patience. In a few months the new blues will be in good condition and I can match the older wild blue with one of the new wild females and try that combination. I have always had a pretty good feel for sexing discus so all I need to do is choose the most dominant female from the new group and place her with the older male blue. The Red Turquoise can be placed with the new wild blues which are approximately the same age and one of the males is likely to try pairing with her since she is spawning so regularly. One way or another, I'll get that cross accomplished. The cross should produce some with colors more along the lines of what I consider a blue discus.

[blue acara]

Exciting times, I bet you cant wait to put your plans into action. Like you I dream of having 3 massive tanks for each species, 50 in each tank, auto water change systems and a mass of smaller tanks with many different fish species in. That will have to wait for a lottery win I'm afraid.:p

Interesting thoughts on pheromones and using Purigen. How much do you use on the tank, how long does it last?

[Apistomaster]

I use about 80 to 100 g of Purigen in the reactor. This lasts about 2 months. Purigen is rechargeable to like new condition by soaking it in a strong bleach solution over night. I run mine through two recharge cycles since it is pretty dirty. It will look like chocolate but when it has been recharged it is like new.
The Purigen itself appears to be reusable indefinitely. That feature makes it much cheaper than it first appears. I have some that is still working after four years. I have a couple liters so I can refresh it any time I want. I usually accumulate a liter of used Purigen then clean and recharge that.