Nhamunda Blue Heckle show tank

[Discus Origins]

Hi everyone,

The Nhamunda Blue Moons are finally out of QT, de-parasited and into a 90 gallon Amazon biotope. Couldn't find any floating plants, so a nice lily budding multiple leaves on the water surface will have to do.

This is their second day in the show tank, so a few are still stressed out and not looking as brightly colored as they should. But you should be able to see the nice blue heads on a few along with a few that is almost totally blue, looking almost white in the pictures.

Enjoy!! Mark

[jball1125]

Verry nice fish!

[Disgirl]

Very beautiful Mark! Their cones are in production.
Barb:)

[Discus Origins]

Very beautiful Mark! Their cones are in production.
Barb:)

Thanks Barb....it may take them til next spring to spawn but I'll be ready for it when they are ready!!

[Eddie]

Are those tree branches in the tank?

[vera]

Beautiful group!!and very round
Best of luck with them

[MikeF]

Those are sweet Mark! Good job

[Discus Origins]

Are those tree branches in the tank?

Eddie those are actually two very cool pieces of driftwood I was able to get a hold of, I wanted something to look like roots going into the water but it's rare since driftwood usually look like tree stumps. Took about 3 weeks to sink but looks good in the tank.

[blkrob]

Very nice set up and gorgeous fish! Is your tank normally that well lit? I look forward to seeing your updates.:D

Robert

[Discus Origins]

Very nice set up and gorgeous fish! Is your tank normally that well lit? I look forward to seeing your updates.:D

Robert

Robert the tank is lit by power compacts totalling 120watts over the tank. I like the way brighter lights bring out blue in the fish. I had to acclimate the heckels over a 4 week period to brighter light in steps. They are now comfortable and swimming around under the lights.

[ashaysathe]

Very Nice Mark. I had to go thru the process of light acclimation myself but after fact I realized I like them better in lower lights - fish are way less stressed and hence look bright.

Nice Heckles Mark.. awesome..

[DiscusOnly]

Robert the tank is lit by power compacts totalling 120watts over the tank. I like the way brighter lights bring out blue in the fish. I had to acclimate the heckels over a 4 week period to brighter light in steps. They are now comfortable and swimming around under the lights.

Mark,

Do you mind sharing your experince in getting them used to higher lights? I currently have 2 stock 24" fluorescent on my tank and they are still not adjusting. I want to convert the light to 2 55watts AHSupply CF to grow other plants.

Thanks

Van

[Discus Origins]

Very Nice Mark. I had to go thru the process of light acclimation myself but after fact I realized I like them better in lower lights - fish are way less stressed and hence look bright.

Nice Heckles Mark.. awesome..

Ashay, thanks for the compliment. They are awesome fish. Not sure if its just the difference with Nhamunda Heckels, they are actually dark when stressed and get lighter sky blue when relaxed.


Van,

No big time secret moves on my part...I did the good ol' poke holes in aluminum foil. haha

Put a strip of aluminum foil underneath your light strip and I just used a pen to poke holes. I started off pretty much putting holes every 2 inches apart and spaced them out about the same. After about a week I take the same strip and start adding more holes now making them about an inch apart. After another week I start cutting out 1 inch wide strips out of the foil. The last week I take all the foil off. Took me about a month, but the fish swim around like nothing happened. But being discus, if you give them cover in a biotope tank they will still congregate under shade which is normal behavior. Mine come out into the open and eat with no problems.

[DiscusOnly]

Got it.. I learn something new every day.

I've been leaving my lights on for 15 hours every day. At least I got Riccia and Frogbit to grow with just those lights. I'll remember your trick when I convert these lights to CF.

Thanks

Van

[erikc]

Congratulations on the group.

Doesn't look like the tank was fully established, a bit hazy ! Just have to let the heckels settle in and to colour up. It will take some months before they regain their full colours but welll worth the wait.

Thanks for sharing.

[Discus Origins]

It does look a little hazy doesn't it?? Don't know if it was the camera, I did have to manually turn the flash off because the pictures kept coming back blurry. But the tank had been set up for 3 months with 40 tetras and a few corys before I added in the discus. Might be the discus rooting around the sand made the water cloudy but the tank looks great to the naked eye. Defnitely looking forward to the fish settling down!

[Northwoods Discus]

Stunning fish and tank. I have been looking for a source for some light or white sand. My show tanks are planted and have fluorite which is dark. I am thinking of setting up a tank similar to your set up that is more natural biotope looking. The sources that I have looked at for gravel that are white in color are marine sand. Is that OK for fresh water. Where does everyone get there substrate or what do you use. Thanks in advance.

[Discus Origins]

Stunning fish and tank. I have been looking for a source for some light or white sand. My show tanks are planted and have fluorite which is dark. I am thinking of setting up a tank similar to your set up that is more natural biotope looking. The sources that I have looked at for gravel that are white in color are marine sand. Is that OK for fresh water. Where does everyone get there substrate or what do you use. Thanks in advance.

Do not use anything that is 'marine or reef' sand in nature...most of that is aragonite and will drive up your ph and hardness. I use quartz sand for all my freshwater substrates, its about as close as you can get to nature as most lakes or rivers don't really have gravel as the bottom unless we are talking fast flowing white water.

Go to Lowe's or Home Depot and ask for where 'playground sand' is located. You don't want the concrete base or construction sand, you want 'playground' quality because since its made for children to play in, its the safest source of clean sand without chemical additives. The bags are usually clear and you'll be able to tell that its a light colored fine sand, some bags will say quartz sand.

Take it home, pour small amounts into a bucket and rinse several times until the water doesn't get cloudy anymore and then add to your tank. Only need a thin base, nothing more than 1/2 to 1 inch and you are good to go!

[erikc]

It does look a little hazy doesn't it?? Don't know if it was the camera, I did have to manually turn the flash off because the pictures kept coming back blurry. But the tank had been set up for 3 months with 40 tetras and a few corys before I added in the discus. Might be the discus rooting around the sand made the water cloudy but the tank looks great to the naked eye. Defnitely looking forward to the fish settling down!

I wouldn't worry too much about it. It's probably the tank adjusting to the bio load, it won't affect the heckels.

They will be showing some magnificent coulours in a few months !

[Göran Ekholm]

Give them som driftwood to go under, then they feel more secure and vill lock nicer. You have real nice fishes, but if you want them to bloss, take me advise.

Like this:http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?t=66823

[Discus Origins]

Give them som driftwood to go under, then they feel more secure and vill lock nicer. You have real nice fishes, but if you want them to bloss, take me advise.

Like this:http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?t=66823

Thanks for the advice Goran, but I have 2 large pieces of driftwood in there and also a large lilly with over 10 leaves covering the surface. The fish are schooling under the lily and swimming peacefully in between the driftwood feeding well. I'm going to leave it the way it is so there is open space to display them.