A little different.

[dprais1]

so....

I ordered some jager heaters so I can properly age my water again, at least in the winter months.

I tried to measure my fish but only partially succeeded in measuring the runt. 1.5" if I'm even close to accurate which I feel I have about a 50% chance of. It flipped all over and then stayed dark and had clamped fins for a good 24hrs.
-I'll wait another month before I try that again.
--visually, for whatever it is worth(probably nothing), I would estimate the average size at 2", with one or two being considerably bigger, maybe 2.25". visually--based on the runts size being 1.5"

also ordered the HOT magnum.

updates to come...............

[dprais1]

nothing new here,

HOT magnum should be here this week. I figure to run it for 15 minutes after each water change just using the polishing filter. Might be longer depending on how clear the water is after 15 minutes.

Still doing a big WC every morning, I keep draining until the fish lie flat on the bottom.
Still doing another big WC most evenings.
When I don't/can't do the second WC, 2-3x a week, I still vacuum all the waste out of the tank i the evening.

Still just feeding microsticks and live whiteworms.

[Chicago Discus]

Although I think the hot magnum is a great polishing filter I believe that you run the risk of contamination using after water changes. there is no way to keep the magnum free from nasties growing while not in use. The most important thing growing out fry (IMO) is getting your water right. Aging water where we live is very important because as you know the PH jumps after aging. the most important factor that I have found when aging water is to have adequate airflow in the aging barrel while aging. get the temp ( one or two degrees higher is better) close to the temperature of the tank and do your water changes. As far as your water changes go your going up to the heater which leaves a great deal of stuff on the bottom that cant be seen. What I do to solve this problem is I perform a flush when changing the water. what this means is start the filling the tank when your almost done syphoning and let that act as a "flush" at the end. this method works very well keeping the nasties at bay. One last suggestion is to keep the grow out tank very simple. A sponge filter is more than enough filtration for grow-out and get rid of everything else your changing enough water that you don't need all that filtration in the tank and it will just make your job that much harder trying to keep it all clean. You are a great hobbyist and Im sure that you will do fine................Josie

[dprais1]

You are a great hobbyist and Im sure that you will do fine................Josie

....not sure I'm deserving of that, but I'm trying.

I took out that silly rock and stopped using the HOB.
I just have two of the dual sponge filters that suction on the side of the tank and a heater.

Most times when I do the morning water change I unplug the heater and after I siphoned the bottom I then wipe down the bottom and the sides of the tank while I continue draining. I move the hose around the bottom collecting everything that settles on the bottom. I keep draining until the fish lay flat.

I've tried adding another 5 gallons or so of clean water at the end of the WC and the siphon that out to but I still seem to have a lot of floaties in the water. You can't see them from 5 feet away but when I sit down right in front to check my fish I still see them and it just annoys me.

I'll try the magnum and just keep an eye out. maybe add a prefilter to that as well. If I decide to use it will clean it at least 1x a week. I have to at least give it a try after spending 50 bucks, but I'm not married to the concept so if it starts to look like a breeding ground for nasties I will nix it.

thanks for the advice it isn't going unheard.

dan

[Chicago Discus]

I have to at least give it a try after spending 50 bucks

Thats very true....LOL...Just be careful with it. It tends to get nasty after a few uses. You might want to use it in another tank maybe a bigger one that you can just leave it running..................Josie

[dprais1]

weekly update

tried to get that blasted magnum filter to work all day tuesday, never did succeed. on Josie's advice decided not to use it on a regular basis anyhow, but sure did want to see if it would work. oh well.

ordered some blackworm microsticks and more beefheart microsticks. so they get about 50% beefheart, 25%brineshrimp and 25%blackworm microsticks at each meal, plus the whiteworms 2x a day.

replaced the 200watt jager heater with a 125watt jager heater and put the 200watt in my aging barrel. all is good now with aging.

found a little colony of snails in the aging barrel of all places so hopefully tonight or sunday night the aging barrel will get treated with bleach, wiped down the inside really well, rinse a few times then refill with a 4x dose of safe.

forgot to plug the heater back in after a water change, by the time I noticed the temp was in the low 70's, quick 50% WC with water from the aging barrel waited an hour then did another 100% WC. No issues, fish didn't seem to care about a fast increase in temp. not that I suggest making this a routine event.

I've had these guys six weeks and am very happy with their growth, really want to try to put them to the ruler at the 8 week mark and see what I've actually accomplished.


securedownload.jpg

[dprais1]

Well...

After cleaning the aging barrel I found my water clarity to be much better, guess it was the source of most of the floaties.

Had to put the 200watt back in the tank, the 125watt just wouldn't keep the temp any higher than about 79 degrees. the 125 went in the aging barrel and I put the ol tetra heater in there too, combined they keep it at 83-85 for my water changes as long as I fill it up with water pretty close to that temp or a bit higher.

I aslo am changing my feeding regime around, I think even with 2 a day wc My water quality was not where it should be.

So it looks like this.
8am 3-4 sticks
9am 100% wc
9:00am white worms
11:30am or 3:30pm (depends on if I'm awake) 4-5 microsticks
7pm 3-4 sticks
8pm 100%wc
8pm whiteworms
10pm 4-5 sticks


2-3 days a week I work a 12hr shift on those days

8am 3-4 sticks
9am 100% wc
9:00am white worms
11:30am or 3:30pm (depends on if I'm awake) 4-5 microsticks
5pm a good siphon of waste up to a 50%wc
5pm whiteworms and 3 sticks

[dprais1]

nothing new here. waterchanges and feeding.

going to pick up some insulation for my water barrel and to place under the tank and to cover the three non-viewing sides.

[dprais1]

It has been 8 weeks since I picked up eight approx. 1" fish.

One was sort of deformed so it went with my angels and then re-homed to a coworker in trade for a Jimmy Jons 6" turkey sub.

So I pulled out the measuring tape today.

5 come in at 2.5" (one might be closer to 2.75")
2 come in at 2.0"

I was really hoping that most would be at 3.0", this would put me on track with the 1" per month growth rate that I have read you can expect.

any and all thought welcome here...

I may try to get some decent pics to post here so the quality of the fish may also be considered.

[dprais1]

Update.

Not being 100% happy with the growth (but not unhappy either) I decided to go ahead and make some mix.

1lb extra lean ground beef (96% lean)
1/3 ripe banana
1 grated clove garlic
1/2 women's vitamin
10 sticks ken's color sticks
maybe 1/3 cup, +/-, of the microstick mix I was feeding before

dry ingredients went into the nutribullet and became powder
everything mixed well and frozen in bags

Discus now fed this 3 times a day with at 50%-100% WC every evening and every morning (at least 1 100% a day)
lights out at night.
1-3 times a week they get whiteworms instead of the beef mix for the 2nd meal. if it is the beef mix for the second meal then it is a small portion.

This week I plan to get a shower head and attempt water changes directly from the tap.

[dprais1]

Well...

I'm now feeding a beefheart mix from the breeder and I'm really happy with how they respond to that food. A white worm meal will also be in the mix every few days.

I ordered 2 65 gallon tanks and glass lids, one for these guys and another for some fish from Hans I think.

Changed the light from a T5 to an aquatic life 8watt led, I think 20". all the red and blue chips are a bit annoying but for 10.00 it's a great little energy saver. Also put the light on a timer, on at 7am off at 10pm. I'll be using the same timer and light on the 65's. They will be side by side.

The fish are now a few days past 10 weeks in my care and will get a measure on 03/07 when they hit 12 weeks in my care, but maybe about 4 months total age. My hope is they will be at 4", but I expect 3.5" and, according to stendker website, 3" will be fine.

[dprais1]

12 weeks...

1" when I first got them

now

1 @ 2.75
4 @ 3.0
2 @ 3.25

Just got done moving them to the 65 gal [I]and[I] setting up the other 65 gal for new fish coming from Hans on Tuesday.

[dprais1]

My original group of seven now measure

5.25"
5"
5"
4.75"
4.5"
4"
3.5"

which is about 4.5" avg.

According to Stendker....

8 cm – 4 months – 3”
10 cm – 6 months – 4”
12 cm – 9 months – 4.5”
14 cm – 12 months – 5.5”
15 cm – 18 months – 6”
17 cm – 24 months – 6.5”

I figure I'm right on track!!!




I added a second 65 gallon tank and filled it with fish from Hans. In doing so I had a hard time doing waterchanges.


Here is my current routine

--My Two a day routine is....
-----Morning
Siphon out 5 gallons of water, getting all the poop from the bottom
Turn off filter
Feed fish
Wait 30 min
Siphon out 5 gallons of water, getting all the poop and extra food from the bottom
Restart Filter
Refill Tank

----Evening
Siphon out 5 gallons of water, getting all the poop from the bottom
Turn off filter
Feed fish
Wait 30 min
Siphon out 5 gallons of water, getting all the poop and extra food from the bottom
Restart Filter
Refill Tank

--My Three a day routine
-----Morning
Siphon out 5 gallons of water, getting all the poop from the bottom
Turn off filter
Feed fish
Wait 30 min
Siphon out 5 gallons of water, getting all the poop and extra food from the bottom
Restart Filter
Do NOT refill Tank

-----Lunchtime
Siphon out 5 gallons of water, getting all the poop from the bottom
Turn off filter
Feed fish
Wait 30 min
Siphon out 5 gallons of water, getting all the poop and extra food from the bottom
Restart Filter
Refill Tank

----Evening
Siphon out 5 gallons of water, getting all the poop from the bottom
Turn off filter
Feed fish
Wait 30 min
Siphon out 5 gallons of water, getting all the poop and extra food from the bottom
Restart Filter
Refill Tank


Other than that, I scrub the walls 2-3x a week, and clean my AC 70 on each tank at least weekly.

[dprais1]

Some interesting notes...

1. I was really surprised the smallest is 3.5". I expected it to be about 2.5-2.75 eyeballing it.

2. For the first few months the largest was a Snakeskin, then one of the Blue Diamonds exploded and overtook him/her. Another month goes by and then one of the turks(I thought was a snakeskin) exploded and overtook them both. Another month and the second turk explodes and overtakes the original snakeskin and catches up with the Blue Diamond.

3. If you look at my maintenance schedule I basically do two 16% waterchanges each day on my Two a Day routine. On my Three a day routine I do one 33% waterchange and one 16%. But, that 33% is comprised of two 'sessions' of siphoning out waste.

4. I've recently started experimenting with Potassium Permanganate. I have been dosing the tank to about 1-1.5 ppm once or twice a week. I can't say it has made a whole lot of difference but I know after each of the first couple times I witnessed about 1,000 little hair thin worms floating lifeless in the water.

[alron2]

I witnessed about 1,000 little hair thin worms floating lifeless in the water.

Have you seen any worms in the feces or hanging out the rear of the discus (I have in my tank)? Do you know what the worms are? Do they do any harm?

Thanks

Ron