Second Annual Discus Hobbyist Challenge

[Ryan]

Thanks to the success of our First Annual Discus Hobbyist Challenge (http://forum.simplydiscus.com/forumdisplay.php?f=128) and the interest it generated, this year's contest drew a much larger number of submissions from our members wishing to participate.

The contest fish for our Second Annual Discus Hobbyist Challenge were generously donated by Forrest of DiscusForrest (http://forum.simplydiscus.com/forumdisplay.php?f=115) and Kenny Cheung of Kenny's Discus (http://forum.simplydiscus.com/forumdisplay.php?f=119). Kenny and Forrest have worked hard at SimplyDiscus to build a strong reputation for high quality fish and outstanding customer service. SimplyDiscus would like to send a big Thank You to both of you!

This year's contestants are:

- 2075turner (Evelyn T)
- acroken (Kenny H)
- avionics30 (Chad H)
- calihawker (Steve R)
- fishyj (Jim H)
- kirkp (Kirk P)
- MRQuad (Marvin R)
- wgtaylor (William T)

The control group will be raised by... me. :D I better not screw this one up!

Each member selected has been given a designated sub-forum in which to post frequent pictures and logs/updates of the contest fish. The contest will run for approximately six to eight months at which time a winner will be selected.

You can read the original discussion thread for the Second Annual Discus Hobbyist Challenge here (http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?t=69719).

This contest is dedicated to the memory of our dear friend and fellow hobbyist, Barb Newell.

[traco]

Congrats, everyone!! May your babies turn out to be big, healthy and gorgeous!!:)

[seanyuki]

Congratulations to the contestants.....Best of luck to u guys/gals.


Cheers
Francis:)

[Kindredspirit]

Congrats Everyone!!! Good luck!

[TankWatcher]

Congratulations to the lucky participants. Can't wait to see the beautiful contest fish donated by the generous sponsors.

[Diamond Discus]

Again congratulations to everyone!

[Larry208]

Congratulations to all who were chosen,looks like its going to be a interesting contest.

Larry

[kpotter2]

Yes Congratulations to everyone!

Kyle

[wall_o_fish]

congratulations, all. I'll look forward to watching the fishies grow. :-)

[gotfish?]

yay its starting! good luck to all of yah ;)

[FLGirl1977]

Wow! Congratulations to everyone! I'm looking forward to following the progress to this competition and seeing the ultimate results. Thank Al and everyone that has so generously donated. :)

[two utes]

Congratulations everyone. Looking forward to following the progress, and the different methods that you all decide to raise your batch.

Remember to have fun! :D:D:D

[Darren's Discus]

Congratulations to everyone ! thumbs up to Forrest and Kenny for donating the fish ! Let the games begin !:D



cheers

[cmich]

Congrats everyone. I look forward to following the contest.

Blake

[brewmaster15]

HI all,
Just wanted to update everyone on the Fish status... These beauties are doing very well.. They've been here a few days now and are settling in nicely. Currently they are eating Hikari Frzn Bloodworms,Ocean Nutrition Formula one pellets(small), and my homemade surf and Turf beefheart seafood mix. They have been getting multiple feedings a day and 100% wc per day. All the fish are extremely healthy...I have not treated them with anything at all as of yet....I will be giving them a single dose of Prazi before I ship them to remove any possible tapeworms... What the contestants do with them after that is soley their responsibility.

I am planning to begin shipping these fish after May 18Th and hope to everyones fish out of here by May 22 nd.


take care all,
al

[TankWatcher]

Looking forward to reading more when they settle into the lucky contestant's tanks.

[Scribbles]

Congratulations contestants and best of luck to you all. I look forward to watching your progress.

Chris

[wgtaylor]

HI all,
Just wanted to update everyone on the Fish status... These beauties are doing very well.. They've been here a few days now and are settling in nicely. Currently they are eating Hikari Frzn Bloodworms,Ocean Nutrition Formula one pellets(small), and my homemade surf and Turf beefheart seafood mix. They have been getting multiple feedings a day and 100% wc per day. All the fish are extremely healthy...I have not treated them with anything at all as of yet....I will be giving them a single dose of Prazi before I ship them to remove any possible tapeworms... What the contestants do with them after that is soley their responsibility.

I am planning to begin shipping these fish after May 18Th and hope to everyones fish out of here by May 22 nd.


take care all,
al


Hey Al, that's great news, I'm anxious to see these guys.:):):):)
Already started out right on your Surf and Turf beefheart seafood mix, more good news.:D

That has to be a bunch of extra work for you, must be about 60 extra mouths for you to feed. I sure appreciate all you do for the contest up front to get it going. Thank You !

Bill

[brewmaster15]

Hey Al, that's great news, I'm anxious to see these guys.:):):):)
Already started out right on your Surf and Turf beefheart seafood mix, more good news.:D

That has to be a bunch of extra work for you, must be about 60 extra mouths for you to feed. I sure appreciate all you do for the contest up front to get it going. Thank You !


Thanks Bill!!:)

-al

[Peachtree Discus]

congratulations to all the contestants. ...and good luck!!!

[brewmaster15]

Okay everyone,
I've been getting in contact with the contestants and trying to figure out when is a good time for them to recieve them this week... Some will start getting them as early as Tuesday:)

I took some movies of these guys eating that I thought I would share with you all... These are movie clips of them eating Ocean Nutrition Formula One pellets and another feeding of them eating my homemade Surf and Turf Mix.(50 % beefheart/50% seafood)..

http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l199/brewmaster15/th_Contestfish1_pellets.jpg (http://s96.photobucket.com/albums/l199/brewmaster15/?action=view&current=Contestfish1_pellets.flv)

Eating Pellets

http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l199/brewmaster15/th_ContestFish2_pellets.jpg (http://s96.photobucket.com/albums/l199/brewmaster15/?action=view&current=ContestFish2_pellets.flv)


http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l199/brewmaster15/th_contestfish3_pellets.jpg (http://s96.photobucket.com/albums/l199/brewmaster15/?action=view&current=contestfish3_pellets.flv)




Eating Beefheart/seafood

http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l199/brewmaster15/th_conestfish5_beefheartmix.jpg (http://s96.photobucket.com/albums/l199/brewmaster15/?action=view&current=conestfish5_beefheartmix.flv)






http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l199/brewmaster15/th_contestfish4_beefheartMix.jpg (http://s96.photobucket.com/albums/l199/brewmaster15/?action=view&current=contestfish4_beefheartMix.flv)

[ashaysathe]

Nicely Done Al.. the fish eating your mix video is great.

[brewmaster15]

Thanks Ashay...


one last vid...:)

http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l199/brewmaster15/th_contestfish_5_16_09D.jpg (http://s96.photobucket.com/albums/l199/brewmaster15/?action=view&current=contestfish_5_16_09D.flv)

-al

[calihawker]

Awesome!:D

[MRQuad]

man, these are gorgeous fish.. :D

[Ryan]

It appears they've settled in well. :D

[brewmaster15]

It appears they've settled in well. :D
ya Think?!:)

-al

[wgtaylor]

Hey Al, great video's.

Those guys look great. Looks like they might eat a hole in the bottom of the tank going after your homemade Surf and Turf Mix.
That might be a key to winning the competition. ;)

Looking forward to getting my group. :):):)

Bill

[Eddie]

Man Al, they are tearing those pellets up! Killer wolves on your hands. They look fantastic.

Very lucky contestants for receiving those gorgeous and hardy discus.

All the best everyone,

Eddie

[rickztahone]

i wish my discus ate their NLS with such gusto

[two utes]

Great stuff Al!!! Thanks for sharing that with us all. Awesome!

[Darren's Discus]

Al,
I think they've grown an inch already,maybe you should send all those to me and get some smaller one's for the challenge !:D



cheers

[Kenny's Discus]

Al and Ryan,

Once again THANK YOU both so much for organizing this contest, your effort are very much appreciated by every Simplydiscus member here!:)

Best of luck to all the contestants! Let the game begins!

Thanks,
Kenny

ps - Great job conditioning the contest fish with your variety of food Al! Love your vids thank you so much for posting them! :):):):)

[brewmaster15]

First couple of contestants fish are in transit:) let the fun begin!:D:D

-al

[Eddie]

First couple of contestants fish are in transit:) let the fun begin!:D:D

-al

Woohoo! Can't wait for some updates.

Best of luck everyone!

Eddie

[calihawker]

This is really exciting!:bounce: I pick them up in the morning.:D

[2075turner]

This is just like the night before christmas:D:D

Looking forward to tommorrow:D:D:D

[Ryan]

You're both going to be a day ahead of me! :mad:

My tank isn't even set up yet. I'm in the process of PP'ing it now. lol.

[fishyj]

2 days ahead of me!!!:mad: Thats ok, I'll just have to catch up. Good luck everyone. Al by the way great movies. :D

[MRQuad]

this is a bad timing for me.. :mad: my car broke down and i have to wait for my friend to drive me to the border and pickup the fish.. i can't wait for this fish..

well, i guess i will have to catch up too.. :D

goodluck everyone!

[2075turner]

Just hope that everyone will recieve their fish okay. I'm so excited that I can't sleep....note the time 2:50 am, lol

If I didn't have the babies I would already be at fedex waiting for them to open, lol

[Kenny's Discus]

I just can't wait to see them arriving in all of your tanks! :)

Good luck with everyone again...Al, I am good to go too lol!:D

Kenny

[Disgirl]

Wow Al, those discus dining pics are great! Beautiful fish and I wish I was one of the lucky contestants! Good luck to the folks who will be receiving them.
Barbara :)

[SriAngel]

Al, are those albino piranhas? I would hate to stick my hand in there...all i'll probably pull out are bones. Seriously Al, your surf & turf mix is one of the best out there. I remember the first time i opened up your zipper lock bag with the batch number on it and smelling the garlic..i was so tempted to throw it in the microwave and gobble it up myself!

[brewmaster15]

HI all,
Yesterday I shipped out 4 sets of contest fish.. A quick check this am at Fedex shows me that they are all at their destination sorting facility or already being held for Pickup.... won't be long now.


The last set of fish is scheduled to go out on Monday... and then the real fun begins.

-al

[Mr Wild]

HI all,
Yesterday I shipped out 4 sets of contest fish.. A quick check this am at Fedex shows me that they are all at their destination sorting facility or already being held for Pickup.... won't be long now.


The last set of fish is scheduled to go out on Monday... and then the real fun begins.

-al

Al
I can't imagine how you have done all of this, I would be in a right twist! I know you have heard it a thousand times already but your hard work is noticed and I am sure it is appreciated by all. Thanks so much for all the time you are spending sending all these new babies out to the challenge people it makes for VERY interesting reading for the rest of us too!

[brewmaster15]

Kath,
I am in knotts and will be till its over:(

I just had my first issue... A fedex station called me to tell me that they could not accept shipping payments with out a COD form.. :confused::confused::confused:
That they could not get me the money with that form... and I had to explain....its just for the shipping and the money paid stays at fedex!:mad:

Obviously..the agent there did not know what they were talking about.. Its done all the time...I'm waiting for a call back from them..I suggested they call someone who knows how to handle this.;).. I think the issue stems from this station being a Kinko's... but it really should not matter since they are Fedex Now.... When I told him I have done this years and that its very common....I got the"well I have been here 10 years and never had one like this."

anyhow...thats my agida for the day!

-al

[2075turner]

Al,

Fedex is a funny place....when Norm went to pick up my fish, he had to argue with the person at the counter that he had not paid for the package and that it was a COD package. He didn't want any charges going back to you so this held him up by a half and hour until a supervisor finally straigthen things out. This must have been one of those 10 year employees again:p Hope that all gets straighten out and the fish are okay:)

[kirkp]

Hey Al,

My guess is that these were my fish? When they called to tell me they had arrived, I asked them if I could pay with a credit card. I was told that all I had to do was sign and they don't do a hold for pickup if there is a charge due. When I got there I asked again and told them that I was supposed to pay for the shipping and the insisted I was wrong. Let me know what we should do. If you want to pm me your phone number I can call you. Maybe I should run back out there and argue with them some more.

Kirk

[sp33dy25]

is it too late to enter as a contestant...
can i be the 1 late entry?

GL all.

[calihawker]

:)
I think the issue stems from this station being a Kinko's... but it really should not matter since they are Fedex

Kinko's is 20 minutes from my house. The nearest fedex center is over an hour. I was going to take NO chances with this package. I drove the distance.:)

[brewmaster15]

Hey Al,

My guess is that these were my fish? When they called to tell me they had arrived, I asked them if I could pay with a credit card. I was told that all I had to do was sign and they don't do a hold for pickup if there is a charge due. When I got there I asked again and told them that I was supposed to pay for the shipping and the insisted I was wrong. Let me know what we should do. If you want to pm me your phone number I can call you. Maybe I should run back out there and argue with them some more.

Kirk Nope you make two.:( Kinkos needs to get their act together. I had to argue with them with Jims shipment and they finally called someone higher up that told them how to handle the charge. At least The station where Jim got his at called me about the order before he even got there.... afterall thats why theres a spot for the shippers telephone number....

oh well...minor glitch at least the fish are there safely... I'll probably get an invoice in the mail and we can square up then.
-al

[Ryan]

^ You never got an invoice on that COD shipment to me and that was over a year ago. I wouldn't argue with them about it; if they don't want to take money from you, just pick up the box and go. If Al gets an invoice, you can always PayPal the money to him. Otherwise, hey, free shipping. :D

[brewmaster15]

^ You never got an invoice on that COD shipment to me and that was over a year ago. I wouldn't argue with them about it; if they don't want to take money from you, just pick up the box and go. If Al gets an invoice, you can always PayPal the money to him. Otherwise, hey, free shipping. :D yep!:)

-al

ps.. Ryan I wouldn't have told you if I did.:angel:

[wgtaylor]

I wouldn't leave until they took my money, I think the line growing longer behind me helped them make up their mind.:)
Wasn't going to let Al get stuck !
Bill

[Mr Wild]

Kath,
I am in knotts and will be till its over:(

I just had my first issue... A fedex station called me to tell me that they could not accept shipping payments with out a COD form.. :confused::confused::confused:
That they could not get me the money with that form... and I had to explain....its just for the shipping and the money paid stays at fedex!:mad:

Obviously..the agent there did not know what they were talking about.. Its done all the time...I'm waiting for a call back from them..I suggested they call someone who knows how to handle this.;).. I think the issue stems from this station being a Kinko's... but it really should not matter since they are Fedex Now.... When I told him I have done this years and that its very common....I got the"well I have been here 10 years and never had one like this."

anyhow...thats my agida for the day!

-al

Al

Bloody forms and red tape always gets stuffed up by someone! Hope you will get ontop of it all and be able to relax a bit... Hey maybe you should visit Darren and have a rum and go to work with him lololol ....hard for some eh?

Same thing happened to me though I am sure we all have stories but yours are like 20 times over and over again! Glad its not me! I'll be thinkin of ya tho!.

[Chad Hughes]

Al,

This is exactly why I changed my shipment address at the last minute. Rather than go through a facility that I wasn't sure about, I went with a true FedEx station. I was too nervous to trust a place that was questionable, yet 5 minutes from my house. I drove the extra 25 minutes for piece of mind. Glad the shipments all arrived safely!

Best wishes!

[bluwaters]

I just want to say that this has Challenge has already been a wonderful learning experience for me. I acquired my first discus, 6 2.5" juvies, about a month ago, and I have another group of 6 on order. It is really helpful to me to follow along with the challengers as you grow out your fish.
The Challenge fish are simply gorgeous and it looks like everyone is doing a wonderful job with them.
Thanks Al, Forrest, and Kenny and all others who put this project together.
Thanks to the Challengers for sharing your experiences and for the great photos and videos of your growing fish.
My fish thank you too! :)

[Chad Hughes]

bluwaters,

I'm glad to hear that this effort has been a great learning experience for you. I too am learning what others do through their well documented grow out protocols.

Best wishes!

[Eddie]

All,

I just wanted to say that I am so impressed by this Second Annual Discus Challenge. I feel that everyone is doing such an amazing job in raising their fish and keeping up with the updates. Its really really impressive and I wanted to thank all the contestants for the time they are putting into this, in making it a awesome learning experience for everyone!


Take care and best of luck to all of you!

Eddie

[Chad Hughes]

All,

I just wanted to say that I am so impressed by this Second Annual Discus Challenge. I feel that everyone is doing such an amazing job in raising their fish and keeping up with the updates. Its really really impressive and I wanted to thank all the contestants for the time they are putting into this, in making it a awesome learning experience for everyone!


Take care and best of luck to all of you!

Eddie

Eddie,

It feels good to hear that you are really enjoying the contest. I have to say that I am really enjoying seeing all the different groups of fish, the different types of care and most of all the knowledge that is being generated and shared. That's what SD is all about IMO. Thanks for the post! I really appreciate that!

Best wishes!

[ifixoldhouses]

I've been looking in all the threads here and can't find any mention to what strain these contest fish are? gold melons or something?

[Disgirl]

Brian they are Golden Albino Crosses. I have been wondering myself so looked it up. It is post 158 in 2nd Annual Hobbyist Challenge contest info thread.
Barb :)