Jack Wattley Hi-Fin Coerulea X German Colbalt

[mee]

@ joanstone

I-pads/phones tend to not play nicely with vimeo, plus my videos tend to be very high bit rate so can stutter on "smart" phones/pads..

If you can click on the vimeo icon and try watching it directly there. You may need to turn off the HD by clicking on the HD icon.


Thanks to everyone again! I have put allot of work into keeping up on the water changes and keeping them well fed on some very clean bloodworms and beefheart mix. Water changes have been a PITA lately because we have construction going on which forced me to move them upstairs. I have to run two pumps inline to get enough pressure to get the water upstairs for a 20 minute fill time ! Sometimes it is daily, but more often lately every other day. However, I do 80% changes and have pretty decent filtration. When they were downstairs I was doing daily and even bi-daily changes, which no doubt helped them through the more delicate stage and contributed to their quick growth. It should be going back to daily soon as I get a beastly pump, or move them back downstairs in a couple of weeks.


P.S.

I took video of my three Flora Heckels this same day and intended to post them, but I killed my computer right after getting this video up. I stole this laptop from one of those mcdonalds with internet. It took a truck and a chain to get it out, but was a very satisfying experience. The Hamburgler and Ronald went down in a blazing grease fire with the help of my good friend Grimmace. He whispered one word to me as we peeled out of there.... "payback".

My daily adventure aside, PC parts will be here soon, and the heckle videos are a coming.. just like me and Grimace are a coming for you next Mickey M. !

[mee]

I have been very very busy with work this last year, and I realize it has been a long time since I have posted, and I am longer overdue for posting vids and pics. I will do my best to get some vids up this month, or early next month, but figured words are better than nothing.

The Watley high fin Colbalts are doing great. 2 of 6 have spawned several times over the last month, but no broods yet. The other 2 seem to be a pair as well, so the ratio gods seem to be smiling on me. The males have almost caught up with my Flora Heckels, and actually are as tall if not taller, just not as long or as massive yet. The females have all stayed a good bit smaller, at 4 1/2 to 5 inches perhaps. The males are in the 6 plus ballpark. In all honesty I am sure these could have been much bigger by now, but with 9 hour work days and 2 hour commutes both ways it was hard to change the water as often as I liked. My commute has recently been cut in half though, and I am on top of it again now and they are definitely having a growth spurt in accordance. Their color is put simply stunning with the largest male almost solid blue now and beaming even in the dark. The floral heckles are doing great but I have not yet seen eggs fyi. Lots of cleaning, lots of spawny behaviour, but also allot of bickering. They are with two of the Watley pairs in a 70 gallon tank with dividers, and the hormone release from the watleys during spawning does seem to get the heckles very close to doing the deed... so as always there is hope.

Stay Tuned.... pics and videos to come....

[Second Hand Pat]

Are you sure the heckels crosses are a true pair? I recently had two wild fish act like pair even making runs up a cone and they were both male.

[mee]

The short answer is no. But when they seem their closest to spawning the one that I believe to be the female gets her tube about half way down and the one I believe to be the male has the typical pointy male vent. I have swapped the males in the past but the other suspected male is too aggressive. When I have all three together the two males go at it and the females tube did come pretty much all the way down the first time I did this. They were all together with the watleys for a couple of months too in an atempt to get one of the heckle crosses to breed with anything, and at this point the suspected heckle pair isolated themselves to a far corner and chased the others away. Now they are in the big tank with two of the watley pairs using dividers, and each time the pair next to the heckles spawn the heckles get very friendly and yes even some vertical behavior. The female incidentally looks the closest to wild. Maybe a bit too much of the wild in her to be an easy lay (er).

[skie]

Simply amazing. Congratulations.

[sgchick]

Gorgeous blue!!

[April]

Very nice. Did you get them from Sadaki ? Love his fish. Now that's a nice shaped discus! I've
Been drooling over a couple of Japanese breeders for awhile
But one quotes me 4 k for shipping!

[weilei12321]

great shape!

[mee]

Very nice. Did you get them from Sadaki ? Love his fish. Now that's a nice shaped discus! I've
Been drooling over a couple of Japanese breeders for awhile
But one quotes me 4 k for shipping!

Yes, they came from Sadaki. He has a few lines of Coerulea Watley's X. He says these are between 75% and 80% watley. He has a 50% line that is beautiful in it's own right, but these are the cream of the crop, unless he is hiding some pure Watley's somewhere.

BTW, had wigglers finally, Only about 25, but the day after I saw one attach to mom, they were all gone. The progression has always been forward though. Ie, spawn, eat eggs in 12 hours.. then 24, then 36, then 48, then just before going to wigglers, then just after... so hopefully the next step is the big one. The pair next to them has eggs now too, though they actually started spawning earlier, they have not progressed yet. the third Watley pair is in another tank with no spawns yet. Maybe not a real pair, or maybe just need more time. 6 fish, 2 pairs is fine with me though =)

[Discusdude7]

Yes, they came from Sadaki. He has a few lines of Coerulea Watley's X. He says these are between 75% and 80% watley. He has a 50% line that is beautiful in it's own right, but these are the cream of the crop, unless he is hiding some pure Watley's somewhere.

BTW, had wigglers finally, Only about 25, but the day after I saw one attach to mom, they were all gone. The progression has always been forward though. Ie, spawn, eat eggs in 12 hours.. then 24, then 36, then 48, then just before going to wigglers, then just after... so hopefully the next step is the big one. The pair next to them has eggs now too, though they actually started spawning earlier, they have not progressed yet. the third Watley pair is in another tank with no spawns yet. Maybe not a real pair, or maybe just need more time. 6 fish, 2 pairs is fine with me though =)

Is sadaki a seller in the US?

[mee]

Is sadaki a seller in the US?

Sadaki is a Japanese seller. I am very fortunate that he is just 20 minutes from my home. I do plan on bringing at least some fry with me when I return to the US, and may be working with an exporter to send the adults.

Now with out further adieu, Videos.

[mee]

[mee]

[mee]

[mee]

Finally got another breeding tank (20ish gallons), and a stand for a 40 gallon grow out or whatever.. Expecting to be up to my arse in fry soon since 2 pairs have had had wigglers in the sudo community tank (dividers) and the flora heckels have now started to spawn. I knew sooner or later my living room would be lined with tanks