Stendker Grow Out - First Time Discus Keeper

[Aquaman6410]

So here is more of the Fire Red. I took this video to show everyone eating worms like crazy except the Fire Red. You can also see the Scribbelt down near the bottom too. He used to be more aggressive with food but seems to have a decreasing appetite. I'm hoping the Fire Red doesn't have something that is spreading. I've had Angels with hex before and this is starting to remind me of that which is not a comforting thought. I also have two pictures of the Fire Red where you can see the feces being passed. Let me know what you all think.

Be sure to view it in the highest quality on youtube to see the video best. You can watch the fire red take a worm, chew it for a bit and eventually spit it back out.
https://youtu.be/j8yukU4QLts

Here is the picture as mentioned:

[Rapture]

Sorry you're having some issues. I had a similar problem when I added the last discus to my tank. Mine are Stendkers sold by a local discus store, and the owner gave me some advice that helped after a few days, although it's not consistent advice that would be given on this forum. IMO, you should ask Hans for his recommendation, since I'm sure that the price of the fish includes support from the seller.

[Rapture]

I saw that you are thinking about treating with metro. Metro did not help mine that was acting this way. What helped mine was temp increase, small (30%) daily water changes, salt, and offering bloodworms. I don't think it goes along with most of the info here, though. I think it took a couple of days before the affected fish started trying the blood worms and spitting them out, then a couple days later started eating them, and eventually began to eat the beef heart mix. I also had luck feeding after a water change instead of before, because of the lack of bullying after the water change.

[sayid]

I am by no means expert but i think too much spirulina makes the BH mix a bit bitter for them also i put some gelatin in the mix ,just follow the instruction on the packet it just give the mix a bit of body so it does not go every where with the first bit . I put a multivitamin tablet powdered to the mix .
HTH

[farebox]

I used beefheart, all fat/veins trimmed away, fresh shrimp, fresh Alaskan salmon. Can of green peas with skin removed, chopped some blanched spinach, garlic gloves, and a half banana, also added some crushed multi vitamins to mix, Han's discus flakes, and paprika. Into food chopper until well mixed, frozen in an zip lock bag. Mix did not broke apart too much in tank and all my fish ate this stuff.

[Aquaman6410]

It has been two weeks this past Saturday. I took some pictures that day that I will share at the end of this post. I also took a video today during beefheart feeding, well towards the end of it, and mainly focused on the Fire Red to see if anyone else would be concerned on his behavior. He has improved a bit it seems but still no where near the personalities of the others. The others bite my hand just trying to stick a cube of worms on the glass. The video can be watched in 1080p and shows the Fire Red passing feces which look questionable to me but maybe it is normal for a fish who doesn't eat near as much as the others. The fish mainly grazes but tends to spit out a lot but seems to keep in the tiniest pieces it finds. I never see this fish with his belly visibly full.

Anyway, every one seems to be fine. Water changes seem to not be a favorite for them. They have gotten better but tend to be very calm after a water change. Don't know if my chloramines are causing any issue since they are 3.5ppm and show as 1 ppm of ammonia on a test. I still age my water 24 hours and then condition with prime/safe as it is going in the tank. I dose in the tank for the entire tank volume. I'll keep up the daily water changes since everything seems to be okay. I change 50% minimum to about 80%. Depends on how messy the tank appears to be, food load that day, etc but never any less than 50% (honestly more like 60% since I pump back in at least one 44 gallon brute can of water every night)

Good news is the discus appear to eat my highly green beefheart mix I made by accident. They rip it apart and eat a ton since there isn't much left on the bottom of the tank after about 5 minutes. It has a lot of spirulina, peas, and spinach that give it the green color (didn't mean to add so much ) so it should be pretty healthy I would think. It was still made with 2lbs of beefheart, 1lb shrimp, and a 1lb of tilapia so it should balance out I guess. But the good news is they readily eat it and seem to really like it. Of course they also love to eat Al's FDBW and also the biopigment FDBWs. They like the Hans Cobalt flake but not as much as the other food options like blackworms and beefheart mix. I guess you can't blame them.

Side note is that my one checkerboard as been bloated and swam off balance twice about a week apart. It happened after beefheart feeding and noticed it once the water was changed. The temp has been higher to about 87 per Han's recommendation to get the Fire Red to eat. Don't know if that played into it but some epsom salt fixed him both times and the fish was fine in the morning. Temperature is on its way back down to 85 since I didn't notice a huge difference in the Fire Red to keep the temp that high.

Well, my last point is growth. It has only been two weeks. I don't know if I can see growth yet but it has only been two weeks and I stare at them every chance I get so I'm a bad judge. They eat twice a day on average. Usually FDBW cube before work and then beefheart mix before water change after work. Weekends they get flake in the morning, FDBW a little later, more FDBW or flake in afternoon, and beefheart mix at night before water change. Is twice a day during the work week enough with daily water changes? Hopefully so. I really want to grow them out right but I do understand this is my first attempt at growing out discus so I may not be perfect at this yet.

Please don't mind the ton of pictures I'm going to dump Also feel free to watch the video and let me know what you think of the Fire Red's behavior and feces seen in the video. Would you be concerned?Until the next big journal update, thanks all.

Video Link: https://youtu.be/mQq07kMBck8























Fish was directly under bright light which made him look really turquoise

[Rapture]

I am feeding beef heart twice daily and mine are growing per the Stendker chart.

[Aquaman6410]

Soooo.... I've been busy but here is an update for 11 months of owning these guys. I did end up losing one turq many months back, just stopped eating and never really grew. I didn't let it discourage me since the others were eating and living just fine. So here I am, 11 months in. The Cobalt is a male and the blue snakeskin is a female...I know this as they have laid eggs once last month! Exciting! Made me feel like I am doing something right. I wanted to post some pictures (rough quick cell phone pictures) to share and see if everyone thinks they look like they are progressing well. It was hard to snap quick pictures as I can't get close to the tank without them moving to the top and getting excited thinking more food is coming. Let me know what you all think!



The smallest of the group but still a tough guy who loves food.

[Davidzil]

Nice job. what size are they?

[Aquaman6410]

The largest is at least 5", maybe a little over that

[CliffsDiscus]

Good job, but slightly under size. I noticed the heads
are skinny and starting to developing the saddle nose, more feeding will help.
Good Luck,
Cliff

[Ryan925]

Good job, but slightly under size. I noticed the heads
are skinny and starting to developing the saddle nose, more feeding will help.
Good Luck,
Cliff

+1

Keep up the feeding. Let them put on that thickness and they will have a much better look. At one point mine just suddenly started really putting on that head and body thickness and that really changes the overall look. Good job so far just keep at it.