[New Haven Newbie] Min's tank Journal

[20200811 got delivered from Discus Hans, Unboxing]

Hi all,

I'm writing this in front of my tank with excitement while I am watching my discus playing around in my tank on day0. I'm Min from New Haven, CT. I should mention that my current job here in New Haven is not permanent, so I may have to move somewhere far away in a few years, so that I want to leave a good history of my discus in case I need to ask you guys to adopt them or any help.

I ordered 5 discus, 2.5'' Juvies from Hans. 3 German Wonder, and 2 solid Turquoise. (If you wonder what strains they are, visit Hans' or Stedker official webpage for Discus color chart.)

Firstly, my tank setup: 29gal BB (with few rocks), with 2 large sponge filters. In addition, I placed 5 gallon sump with 3lb larva rock and a customized small HOB filter filled with full of Biohome filter media. I may need to get a larger tank when they grow up, but I decided to start with this setup and to become a everyday WC slave.

I cycled the tank for 2 months with 16 cardinals. Actually I was planning to have my discus bit later, but my wife happened to be absent for weeks, so I decided to order them bit earlier (just because I thought there would be less people to distract them:))

I ordered them on Friday, got an email from Hans to confirm the order on Sunday. Shipped by Fedex overnight priority. (I live in CT) It was supposed to be delivered before 10:30AM, but got them at 3pm. (guess just because of Covid situation and the local Fedex issue. Same thing happened when I ordered Cardinals from California).

I took one day off and was waiting for them. As soon as I got a text update, I rushed downstairs and moved them with care into my place.

Attachment 128660

A big <LIVE FISH> caution was placed on the side of the box. In a big styrofoam box, the 2 different strains were delivered separately in different plastic bags.

Attachment 128661

I was a bit worried about the delay, but the water quality looked good. (And the fish were good too, it will come later). Hardness was a bit higher than my place, but the other parameter was similar.

A detailed guide for acclimation came together. Personally I prefer a drip method, but this time, I followed Hans' protocol because I wanted to minimize stress from the process and also the water parameter was similar.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmEc5GpsEIA

While I was waiting for acclimation, I got a call from an unknown Baltimore number. I answered it without any thought, and it was HANS!! I felt like getting a call from some celebrity! I told him that they look fine although shipment was delayed, and he was like, 'OF COURSE they're fine'. I could feel his pride on the fish and shipment, which was true. He was very kind and let me contact him anytime I have a question in the future.

Yes, he was right, they were darn fine, great and beautiful. First of all, I was surprised that they were pretty calm when I opened the box, and then right after, I was captivated by their beyond-description-beauty. I was not ready for it, since I was expecting some pale color/pattern given their size and shipment, but I was wrong. They were just beautiful.

I digressed. I acclimated them for 30 min, and transferred them into my tank. How cute they were! When I put my net closer gently, they somehow lean themselves, like, 'okay, I'm ready, do it!'. I placed them on my other hand while transferring, they were calm even in the outside of the water.

Attachment 128662

My original plan was not to watch them until next morning, but I couldn't help but look at them after a few hours. Blame them for not hiding in the corner but roaming around the tank. Well, I took it as a good sign, and couldn't leave the tank before I emptied 3 bottles of beer. (Sorry for the dark photo, but I should lower the light).

Will update later.

Min

Well Min good luck with your new discus! Hans does have great discus. I have 14 of his :). Ok first thing let them sit for the night maybe leave the light off for tomorrow. Try feeding in the morn. Young discus need to be fed a lot. As often as you can. These fish also reach a size of 6-7” so a 29g has got to be just temporary. You will need a 55-75 with in 2 months if they are growing correctly. Because of all the feeding and the small tank you will have to change water daily.

Good move on getting the discus in when the wife is away. I built an entire fishroom this way ... ;)

Did you get away with giving her flowers during the fish room build or did you have to resort to jewelry, Willie? Or perhap she has her own hobbies that she throws away money on.

Early in our marriage, my wife would take the kids and spend the entire Summer with her family in San Francisco. Every time she returned, there'd be another stack of tanks. Eventually she asked me "how many more tanks are you going to get?" My response was that I'll stop when the racks reached the far wall. I'd ignore the credit card charges from California and she ignored the credit card charges from Discus Hans!

So you allowed her to buy up all of California to get the fish room? Sounds like a fair deal to me.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by LizStreithorst

So you allowed her to buy up all of California to get the fish room? Sounds like a fair deal to me.

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A successful relationship requires not thinking too much about what your partner is doing. :p

Haha, Thank you all for the comments! She was quite supportive for this hobby when I told her, but she doesn't know yet how much time I spend in front of the tank, not only for maintaining but just watching it without doing nothing.... We'll see how would she like it this weekends:)

Here's the week 2 update of my tank.Now they established pecking order, eating fine.I was worrying about the one in the bottom of pecking order because he showed less appetite.After some trial and error, I figured that he prefers to eat TetraMin, and has no or much less interest in other foods.. (Never touch FDBW, shows little interest in Fluval Bites, FDBS, Sera-O-nip. What a picky one!)

Routine:
40-50% WC daily. 5-6 times feeding, all dried food.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rL0TY9qUx5g

Wish I could see but I have an advertisement taking half of the video. Don’t know how to remove it?

Thanks to whomever for removing the add!
Discus look great good luck with them!

Tom after being frustrated myself by what you're talking about, I recently discovered a fix. Once you post a reply in the thread, when it reloads the advertisement will populate elsewhere. With pictures it just makes them smaller, but with videos loaded to the site it cuts them in half...