Everyone's Stats so far:
Rod's Set-up:
30 fish, in the spirit of the contest, I will not cull any of them intentionally so we can see how they all turn out. Size varies from almost 3 inches to 2 ¼ inches; average is around 2.5 inches.
Water: NJ Tap juice! 7.5 pH and 300µS/cm out of the tap.
90gal bare bottom tank, filtration handled by 2 moving bed bottle filters (Thanks Josie), 90% daily water changes straight from tap using SAFE. Temperature at 84 degrees maintained by 2 Sera heaters. Tank is located in the living room, a high traffic area.
Feeding: Up to 6 times a day using Beefheart Flakes with Pro Grow, and Freeze Dried Blackworms. I feed them directly and with an Enheim auto-feeder. Once a week they get some frozen bloodworms since I have them laying around here.
Peter (PAR23):
8 juvies 2.5-3" (guesstamation) in 40G breeder BB tank.
1 Jager heater
1 AC 70 filter
1 Airstone
Straight Long Island tap water aged and heated to 82F. Treated with Safe. TDS 90-100. pH 8.0 (after aging)--mainly kH which is 5-6.
2 90% WCs a day
Wipe down 2X a week
Mainly 3 feedings a day with BH/Seafood mix (compliments of Al)--Occassional flake/FDBW in between.
Rich T:
I used a 50 gal tank for this spawn
Free swimming 11/21/12.
BBS started 11/26/12. Their main food was BBS for 4 weeks. They literally swam with BBS 24/7 for that period. During this time I introduced them to my seafood mix, Discus Bio-gold and Hi-Pro Growth flake from Angelplus. Currently the get seafood mix 2x daily and the flakes to wash down the seafood.
All this time I did twice daily 80% water with 12hr aged tap water. No declor. I use a matrix carbon filter.
Temp 82 F
PH 7.2
TDS~ 100
The rest ain't got a clue.
I picked 10 and tossed them in a 29 before they all went bye-bye.
Conditions and feed hasn't changed still 2x daily water changes I can't get out of the habit.
Most are pushing 3in +
JimG:
I have 8 of them now in a 29 bb, ac 50, sera 125w, airstone.
water is tap/ro mix with 1/16tsp safe. 400us, ph 7.5, kh 5, gh 4. temp 84. my water changes as I am in the middle of the reservoir and catskill aqueduct so sometimes 70us sometimes 450+us hence why I use ro/tap, at least I can keep changes close.
wc 95% 1X a day aged water. My tap is run through carbon,1 micron and uv.
feed, sera discus granules in am. bh/pro growth flake in auto feeder 3x a day, fdblkw or super veggie kelp flakes 1x after auto feeding, rich's sea food mix at end of day before wc.
I had 9 all are about 1.75". I culled one it was dark and darting, scoped found 0 parasites,worms or protists but overstuffed intestines with sea food mix. I believe a larger piece of spinach blocked intestines and it was a matter of days before bacteria set in and bloating. I will be taking all spinach out of any feeds from now on. These fish eat like pigs. I just think one over did it but spinach does not seem to digest well in them anyway.
Al:
6 fish
I initially had placed them in a 29 Gal tank, but then opted to move them to a 55gal. Currently they are in a bare bottom 55 gal tank. I am running 2 cycled sponge filters...no power filters at this time. temp 84-85F. 50-75% water changes per day. Foods.. Beefheart seafood mix, Freeze dried Australian Blackworms (feedings 3-4 times a day).
My water is well water, aged, pH 7.6-7.8
Ashay:
6 fish
It's great in a first place to acquire fish home bred by a dear friend, meet up with another great buddy and then be part of this fun exercise that allow us to compare notes and enjoy.
In the spirit of theme, I acquired 6 fish about 2" in size. Unlike my plans earlier, they are in a 29g tank.
Water parameters :
PH from the tap : around 5
Ppm : around 85
Food: FDBW with Pro Growth
Sea food mix (salmon +cod + shrimp ). I remember old friend Sriangel said Wayne Ng calls this seafood burger mix
Water changes : I have done a good job past week of doing 35-40% water change all week since I acquired them.
Challenges :
Irregular feeding intervals on weekdays
On weekdays - I feed the fish the seafood mix before I leave home around 7:30am. At times wife feeds them in between but when my older son comes I have a deal with him to feed every 2 hrs on the clock after he enters the home. What he wants in return is a camera for himself (BTW he is 10 yrs old) and now I have a new entry in a list he tagged with his younger brother (5 yrs) and they both want a hamster
When I get home, I do a water change and feed them one more time to make sure they all are eating
This brings to challenge #2
Aging Water
As u saw water from tap is great but very high on chlorine and dissolved gases. I found our water department changes water reservoirs mid winter to spring and that this new reservoir after shift has some treatment early part. Point in time, I don't age water.
I have noticed these smaller fish get impacted negatively for first 2 hrs after the water change. Second day when I did a water change, they all turned dark. I was shocked. I am not sure what you guys do Rod, Jim, Pete and especially Rich, but it looks like for the spirit of these fish I will be forced to invest in 20g water storage to age water.
Any of your observations friends on these?
Now here is my second hypothesis. I have also got 5 blue knights from dear friends The Jersey Boyz - Rod 'n Bob. My goal is all remain the same, see how great these 2 fish from 2 great breeders grow. Again, point to mention here is these fish after a water change ( they are in a 55g - because feeding is on 2 tanks, kids have bumped their deal to 2 things I guess) on blue knights tank - they are whistling and giggling. No impact what so ever. Again, water change, aging of water is directly related to age of the fish and its so true.