Thanks, trying to do my best for them. I attempted to reduce the quantity of mussels and swap cod for the wild salmon but the little blighters have aquired expensive tastes...good job they have not tried caviar!
Great progression Paul . For 7 months of age their shape and size looks more than optimal, at least in half of them IMO .
Maybe I'm wrong here but I as Heidi , also think that their small sized head and tiny eyes in some of them refers to a Maximal growth rather than some genetic trait.
Keep up the good work Paul. I Cant wait to see them colouring up in this next few months.
Thanks, trying to do my best for them. I attempted to reduce the quantity of mussels and swap cod for the wild salmon but the little blighters have aquired expensive tastes...good job they have not tried caviar!
They are very hard headed fish when it comes to excepting new food IME. It can take months for some to do that .The older they are the more stubborn they seemed to be regarding this matter .
Introduce the new feed when they are most hungry , but feed them with already accepted food during the rest of the day . Eventually they should obey .
Thanks for the advice
Remembered to take a picture while they are all bunched up during the daily water change. The different rate of growth amongst them is evident, they are now 7 and 1/2 mobths old. As I have been told some of the smaller ones have had a growth spurt and are now of avarage size, two at the moment are lahging a bit behind the others but they are eating ok and although smaller they look round and chubby so hopefully they will catch up eventually.
Now 10 months old, lately they were breathing a bit faster, a bit paler and less appetite, as parameters all ok I guessed they had outgrown the oxygenating capacity of the system, added a head pump (300 gph) and they soon went back to normal. Ordered a bigger canister filter (usual Jebao 304 from Wiltec in Germany), arrived today so I'll se if the increased flowrate / sulerficial agitation is sufficient. Anyway I am going to order a batch of Sunsun wavemakers, one for the discus (maybe to use on a timer) and some for the aging tanks and mbuna ones.
https://youtu.be/Um7XqAKzLpg
Im glad you've overcome the problem Paul .
Your fish looks great in shape and in colours .
Have you considered an increased bioload and water quality as potential culprit for this discus behavour ? . Same feeding and WC regime VS a lot bigger discus size than before may be something to consider here too.
One other thought about your light source . Is it only a white light ? If so , try changing it in a warm white / yellow light (3000-4000 Kelvins) along with a some red LED or a plant grow bulb in it.
It will make the warm colours of your discus much more vibrant and alive .
Hi, when I first noticed the fish seemed less happy I immediately checked water quality with my Sera liquid tests, fearing as you said some kind of mini-cycle causing formation of meta-haemoglobin and consequently decreased tissue oxygenation. All the tests were 0, even NO3 is practically undetectable so the massive daily wc are still doing the trick. As mentioned I have swapped the old small Fluval canister with a big Jebao 304, tranferred the cycled media and added 3 times as much again, but more for the increased flow. Even with that the fish, although happier, still did not seem as good as when I had the additional 1200 l/h pump, so I put it back in while I wait for the Sunsun jvp 110 wavemaker (2000 l/h) to arrive (hopefully tuesday). I am as puzzled as anyone about these fish requiring so much water agitation but it appears that this is the thing that makes the difference for them and not the filtration or the water changes, on top of that they seem to be having more fun feeding as they chase the shreds of salmon that drift and wriggle in the current, go figure! I may put the wavemaker on a timer and have it on only during daytime and see how that works or e en consider a more fancy one with speed controll and other bells and whistles
Last edited by Paul Sabucchi; 04-14-2018 at 05:55 AM.
Also yes the lighting on the video is only cold white but I also have rgb bars all controlled by a tc420. At the moment I use them mostly for dawn/dusk and moonlight effects but I could definitely boost the warmer end of the light spectrum. I still have a free channel on the tc420 so I could add warm white bars (advice about decent quality waterproof LED bars welcome)
Had the small wavemaker (Sunsun jvp110) in the tank for 2 days and the fish seem pretty happy. Bigger canister filter (Jebao 304 as per my usual) been on for a week so that also adds to the surface agiation. Current in the tank is visible but not turbulent and chasing the food about seems to keep the fish entertained!
https://youtu.be/k7pJLbK4-0g
The current on the video seems slow enough not to disturb them Paul .
The colours are better too than from your last photo .
You already have some beasts among them .
Great job done .
Thanks, Sony travel camera better than crappy spare smartphone at taking videos. The fish definitely seem to thrive with he increased surface agitation, wavemakers for discus...who would have thunk it!