Ryan
06-01-2010, 12:43 AM
Hello everyone,
It looks like our contest is at a close. I have been absent for the past few months but I see that all of our challengers have done well with their fish. I'm amazed at the variation between the different groups.
For those who've been following my sporadic updates, you'll know that I started these guys in a bare-bottom 55 gallon with daily water changes of approximately 80 - 90% and multiple small feedings, usually 4 - 6 times a day. I eventually had to bump the water changes back to every other day because of my water bill (multiple tanks + daily water changes + no job for a few months = painful :().
I initially started these guys on bloodworms, ONF1 flakes and pellets, and beefheart. I learned pretty quickly that they didn't care much for the ONF1 pellets, so I tried them on Hikari Cichlid Gold and they ate it better. This has been their staple dry food, along with all of the large cichlids in my house. They still get beefheart, bloodworms, and the occasional frozen mysis, but I learned that they don't care for the mysis too much either.
I would have liked to have gotten more growth out of these fish but most have made it to about 5" SL (with the exception of a runt at about 4.5") and they are spawning now. They will eventually be moved to a much larger tank and it's possible that I'll see a spurt there.
Overall, this has been a healthy group of discus. They've never been very shy and they do not spook easily. I've treated them once with Prazi, just to be sure, and they were clean. I'd hoped to eventually try and get some fry from them, but right now they're more interested in spawning and immediately eating the eggs. I have two confirmed females with another one likely.
Please excuse the dark, blurry pictures. My fish room is dark and my camera is on its last leg. The flash almost whites out the entire photo, so most of the tank shots are taken without it. I also learned that the fish show more white markings in non-flash pictures. I can't see most of those markings just by looking at the fish under fluorescent tank lighting.
http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j49/ryansmith83/contest/799cac5e.jpg
http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j49/ryansmith83/contest/07d12096.jpg
http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j49/ryansmith83/contest/f6ac21ba.jpg
http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j49/ryansmith83/contest/36c2f937.jpg
http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j49/ryansmith83/contest/07d12096.jpg
http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j49/ryansmith83/contest/e36a1aaf.jpg
It looks like our contest is at a close. I have been absent for the past few months but I see that all of our challengers have done well with their fish. I'm amazed at the variation between the different groups.
For those who've been following my sporadic updates, you'll know that I started these guys in a bare-bottom 55 gallon with daily water changes of approximately 80 - 90% and multiple small feedings, usually 4 - 6 times a day. I eventually had to bump the water changes back to every other day because of my water bill (multiple tanks + daily water changes + no job for a few months = painful :().
I initially started these guys on bloodworms, ONF1 flakes and pellets, and beefheart. I learned pretty quickly that they didn't care much for the ONF1 pellets, so I tried them on Hikari Cichlid Gold and they ate it better. This has been their staple dry food, along with all of the large cichlids in my house. They still get beefheart, bloodworms, and the occasional frozen mysis, but I learned that they don't care for the mysis too much either.
I would have liked to have gotten more growth out of these fish but most have made it to about 5" SL (with the exception of a runt at about 4.5") and they are spawning now. They will eventually be moved to a much larger tank and it's possible that I'll see a spurt there.
Overall, this has been a healthy group of discus. They've never been very shy and they do not spook easily. I've treated them once with Prazi, just to be sure, and they were clean. I'd hoped to eventually try and get some fry from them, but right now they're more interested in spawning and immediately eating the eggs. I have two confirmed females with another one likely.
Please excuse the dark, blurry pictures. My fish room is dark and my camera is on its last leg. The flash almost whites out the entire photo, so most of the tank shots are taken without it. I also learned that the fish show more white markings in non-flash pictures. I can't see most of those markings just by looking at the fish under fluorescent tank lighting.
http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j49/ryansmith83/contest/799cac5e.jpg
http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j49/ryansmith83/contest/07d12096.jpg
http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j49/ryansmith83/contest/f6ac21ba.jpg
http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j49/ryansmith83/contest/36c2f937.jpg
http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j49/ryansmith83/contest/07d12096.jpg
http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j49/ryansmith83/contest/e36a1aaf.jpg