Discus Fatality!

Hey Everybody -

A bit of bad news this morning. When I got up and around this morning, I turned on my tank lights and went through what I call the "morning count."

Unfortunately, my 55 Gallon tank holding my challenge fish came up one short. After spending a couple of minutes looking for a body (and recounting!) I came to the conclusion that somehow one of my guys had made a break for it. A quick search of the area confirmed it. It must have been one hell of a jump, the poor guy deserved to live with moves like that.

As near as I can figure, he jumped out the back of the tank going out the 1.5" gap at the back of my hood.... He then must have bounced off the back wall and ricocheted into my waste water bucket. Unfortunately, the bucket was bone dry, so he never stood a chance.

I'm ordering a glass canopy to replace the plastic hood cover I have on that tank. That will elimate the rear gap.

Anyway here's some pictures of the survivors. (As an aside, I'm having a terrible time gettting good photos. Any tips?) You'll notice the really nice turqoise markings along the anal fins....

That really sucks on the loss! :( Glad you're getting a new top for it to eliminate that problem. How are the rest of the guys acting for ya?

In regards to the pics, if your camera has a macro function, make sure it's turned on. I end up taking any where from 60-100 shots to get good ones. I have a sony 5.1 MP cybershot and what I do is once I have focused on the fish I may have to move the camera with him to get a clear shot as he's moving. If they're standing still then no biggy; take several shots at a time 'cause the one you thought was a good one may be a bit out of focus. Good luck and glad to finally see a pic or two of yours.

You know the crazy thing?? We have the same Sony camera! Now how on earth on your pictures so good and mine so darn bad?!?!?!

How do I do that macro thingy you mentioned?

That's real bad luck, hope that's your bad luck done with now.

Sorry to hear about the fish that jumped out. I've had Siamese Algae Eaters, Farlowellas, and even a Gold Nugget Pl*co jump out on various occasions.

I posted some tips for taking photos here:
http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?t=59339

Hope that helps,


Walter

Sorry about the loss,they look like they are doing well and have grown,nice colouring too.

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Originally Posted by Seastep

You know the crazy thing?? We have the same Sony camera! Now how on earth on your pictures so good and mine so darn bad?!?!?!

How do I do that macro thingy you mentioned?

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I don't have the camera in front of me, so from recollection, there's a button near the LCD with a picture of a flower. push it until you see the flower on the bottom left of the LCD. You'll be in the macro mode then. You just got to hold the camera very still and be still and take lots of pics. Like I said I sometimes follow the fish with the button half pushed down (already focused) and take the shot while they're swimming.

Oh, and don't zoom all the way in; once you get into the digital zoom part of the zoom bar the picture goes to crap; just try getting close to the tank. I sometimes have the camera right against it or just off the glass.

Hi Scott, sorry to hear about the loss. I can relate:o I am curious to hear about your program. How much you feed, how many water changes you do/how often you vacuum, what kinds of foods do you feed, etc... They look like they are doing well.

Adrian

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Condor

Hi Scott, sorry to hear about the loss. I can relate:o I am curious to hear about your program. How much you feed, how many water changes you do/how often you vacuum, what kinds of foods do you feed, etc... They look like they are doing well.

Adrian

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Yea, spill the beans, they are looking good! How big are they on average? :)

Sorry to hear about the jumper!

Looks like your fish are doin quite well though! Keep up the good work. :)

tc
Mark

That's a real bummer !
Sorry to hear it. I had one try to commit suicide too, luckily I was there to catch it, and changed the hood immediately. They can definitely be jumpers.
The remaining are looking really good though.
B

You could put some suran wrap to cover most of the gap ~ I used to do that for my Goby jumpers.:)

Sorry to hear about your bad luck. There looking great btw I cant want to see them after a few more weeks have gone by. Keep up the good work.

It's a bird, it's a plane, it's Superman! no it's a Discus!!! All joking aside, sorry for the lost. Ductape the gap!