Thanks Phil!!
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Thanks Phil!!
This past week has been stressful, both for me and the contest discus. First, their tank sprung a leak. It's the fist time I've ever had a tank go bad, but it is 15 years old :confused: I have hardwood floors, so it's not good and I'm not sure I trust myself to reseal it so thought I may pitch it and get another. Anyway, I had only 3 adult Curiperas in another tank, so I relocated them into a temporary but smaller 40g, sanitized their tank and moved the contest fish into their tank.
Yesterday, I walked into their new room and the lights on their new tank were flashing like strobe lights and they were freaking out, so I looked up replacement bulbs at Petsmart and found the 18" Colormax fluorescent bulbs were only $4 so I bought them all! Unfortunately, my house is not large so I've bult all my racks into a spare bedroom and use only 55g and smaller, but Petsmart also had a 55g tank with LED lights, filter and heater for only $100, so at the end of the day, things worked out pretty nicely and fairly inexpensive. And, my hardwoods were not damaged...
Al the fish came through happy and hungry :thumbsup:
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Wow Brian !!
They look amazing !! great job :)
+1 mate, stellar job. Nice plump and round!!
The new lighting makes them look redder than most of the other entrants'.
Thanks all!! One thing I've noticed is that although it has great shape and size, this guy has a slightly flared gill plate. I think it's genetic because I've seen it on other contestants fish as well. It will make a nice addition to a display tank, but not be allowed to breed in the future...
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Hi Brian,
Thats not genetic. That curved gill plate is from an imbalance in the diet. It commonly happens when the ratio of protein to minerals in the diet is not optimal at a point where the fish is in a growth spurt. It happens at a young age and doesnt become really noticeable until the fish has grown abit.
Its common when fry are pushed to grow under certain conditions. Ive had it happen here in the past.
That trait you see is just a physical issue from growth.. definitely not genetic.
hth,
Al
Wow that new light really makes their striations pop and the shape is phenomenal. I have to admit I wouldn’t have noticed the gill plate if you hadn’t pointed it out with the light hitting it just right. Now I’ll be ambling over to inspect the gill plates on my guys...
Patty
That's good to know. I will admit I was pushing them early on, as was everyone else. I looked at mine and compared them to others and assumed.
That's what's fantastic about this competition. No matter what we've done in the past, there's always room to learn!!!
Very interesting Al. This has happened now twice to grow outs I have had from a small size. My last group got to be fairly big but they almost all had gill issues. I do mix a vitamin in w the BH mix but it just might not be enough. That or I’m missing something from my water? I’m thinking on my next grow out I’ll try to skip the BH mix and see if I can get a slower, yet more uniform result.
Eric, have a look here..
http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showth...kins-and-Turqs
"brothers and sisters"of your contest fish.. just a latter spawn. Look at their gill plates for reference.
al
Sunday breakfast time...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5yuHkB8J-g
They look stunning Brian, great job mate. Ravenous boogers, lol
Thanks Danny! They are always aggressive eaters but Al's FDBW's raise the level of enthusiasm to a different level :bounce:
Why is not possible to breed with this defect?