My Final Update

[fishyj]

Hi all, First I wanted to thank Kenny's Discus and Discus Forrest for donating these beautiful fish. I also wanted to thank Al for picking me in this contest. Now for the update. I have had these fish for a year now and I have learned so much about them. I have kept them in a 45 gallon tank and then moved them to a 125 gallon tank. I probably moved them too soon for most into the 125 but I wanted to try something different. They were fed 5 to 6 times a day with a beef heart -seafood mix, and also given brine shrimp. Water changes on the 125 were daily but only enough water taken out to clean the tank. Every once in a while they were given a 80% to 90% water change. They were also put through the process of a planted tank which is when I had 2 pair off and lay eggs. After problems controlling nitrates with the planted tank , they went back to bare bottom which is when the egg laying stopped for me. A few facts for me as these are only my personal opinions,
1) Quality of the fish matters.
2) Go with a bare bottom tank.
3) Fed heavily and quality products.
4) If you use bigger tank than needed, with proper filtration, water changes do not need to be 80 to 90% daily. I relied on my tds meter for this.
5) These fish do require more main. than even my salt water tank.
Like I said, these were my opinions only and because they worked for me does not mean this is the standard. Now here's my final pictures of these fish and a movie of them: http://i959.photobucket.com/albums/ae74/fishyj_2010/th_100_1503.jpg (http://s959.photobucket.com/albums/ae74/fishyj_2010/?action=view&current=100_1503.flv)

[wgtaylor]

Hi Jim.
Some of those guys look huge. You have done an excellent job with them and have enjoyed watching your posts. :) Wish you the best with the contest judging.
Take care,
Bill

[2075turner]

Good job Jim with your group. I personally found it interesting growing this group out in a planted tank. Thanks for all the information on it. The fish look great.

[DiscusKev]

Looking great Jim, they sure look healthy and hungry :D

Good luck in the contest,

[two utes]

A job well done!

We've all learnt from your experiences. Thanks

[Justice]

Very nice looking bunch you have raised, your hard work shows, Best of luck in the judging

[calihawker]

Great job Jim! I enjoyed all of your posts throughout the contest. Good luck in the judging!

[Larry208]

Jim:

It was interesting to see your progress in a planted tank, I have thought about doing a planted tank for a display and have been encouraged by your progress. I also have to agree with you that for the contest it was better to use a BB tank, they seem to do much better. Your fish look great and the hard work really shows through. Good luck with the contest.

Larry

[Chad Hughes]

Jim,

THe fish look awesome! Great work my friend!

Best wishes and good luck!

[Ed13]

Fish look great! Interesting paint job on the tank's bottom!

[Eddie]

Awesome group Jim, they all look fabulous! Excellent work and thanks for sharing your experience in keeping them.

All the best!

Eddie

[Armandi_Fishcarer]

Jim, from a little I think scrapy begining, too a tremendous turn out. Yes you are never too old my friend. Keep up a remarkable job with them!

Regards
Ahmed ;)

[fishyj]

I enjoyed watching them grow and develop over the year. Hopefully the next step is getting fry from this group. Its amazing to me how much I learned about these fish and the care they require. If I had to do it over the only thing I would have changed would have been to keep them in a 75 instead of the 125. I believe they would have grown bigger than what they did. I also believe the quality of the stock matters more than anything. I hope every one enjoyed the updates on these fish. Thanks to all for the input during the course of the year, Jim.

[Scribbles]

You've done a great job with your group of discus. They look wonderful!

Chris