Good luck Ed
This will be my last update for a while. When I started this tank journal, I promised to detail the good and bad. At the time, I expected the bad to be about mistakes I made with the fish, or illness, or tank problems. Unfortunately, the bad in this case is much more serious.
If you recall from my first post, I talked about my experiences with being diagnosed with COVID-19 pneumonia. Unfortunately, that diagnosis was incorrect. Instead, I have lung cancer. With the treatments that are coming, I will not have time to maintain a discus tank, so I will be shutting down this tank for a while, until I am recovered enough to contemplate keeping discus again. I have really enjoyed reading this forum, and interacting with some folks here, and I hope one day to be back on this forum, talking about the need to be patient while cycling the fishtank to start keeping discus. Until then, I may pop by to check on other's tank journals. Thank you all for the help you gave me as I was setting this up initially.
Good luck Ed
Go kick cancers *** my man. We will always be here
Amateur discuskeeper, Professional doofus
Well, after talking with doctors and my wife and kids, and carefully considering whether or not getting discus at this particular time in my life is stupid or not, I went ahead and ordered 8 juvenile discus today anyway. My tank is fully cycled, I built the stand myself, it's just sitting there waiting, and my wife & kids have agreed to help with the tank chores if I am not always able to do the cleaning. However, the treatments that the drs believe will be likely for my case are pill based and well tolerated, unlike traditional chemotherapy and radiation therapy. So in the grand spirit of optimism and of having something pretty to look at during this journey, I ordered the following from Discus Hans:
2 Alenquer
2 Brilliant Turquoise
2 German Wonder
2 Red Scribbelt
All 2.5 inch size. I am excited! and maybe a little nervous!
It's gonna be a lot of fun watching them grow!
At my age, everything is irritating.
Good news across the board! Hey it’s always best to be busy!! Good luck and waiting for pics!
Willie grows great fish.
Real quick update, since technically I'm at work.
My order from Hans arrived this morning. They seem to be doing OK so far. All 8 are schooling together and exploring the tank. I've got the lights out right now, just to give them time to acclimate. I'll attempt a feeding a little later.
IMG_0988.jpg
Looks like were both at pretty much the same point in journey Daniel as I today loaded my first 8 Marlboro Reds into my 3ft grow out. Will be following along to see how you fare. I'm following stendker advice regarding water changes and feeding there own food, goodheart.
Well the fish have been in the tank for 5 days now. All are eating, they school together well. The water changes and tank cleaning so far have gone smoothly. One of the Turquoise fish is starting to show a bit of color.
My original plan was to have 14 fish, but the cancer diagnosis changed that plan a bit so I only bought eight from Hans. But then we got some good news, in that the cancer shows a particular genetic mutation that allows them to treat it with a daily pill (sometimes called "oral chemo") that has few side effects, so I am back to my original plan of fourteen. I've ordered 6 more from Hans, they will be here Wednesday.
The additions are:
2 Checkerboard
2 Pigeon Snakeskin
2 Tefe
Here's a couple pics:
IMG_1001.jpg
IMG_1003.jpg
Keep up the water changes and they'll grow into big discus in no time, Willie
At my age, everything is irritating.
I'm glad you were able to start. Looks very promising and god bless your family and kids for helping.
Keep up the good work and enjoy the fishies.
Amateur discuskeeper, Professional doofus
Thanks Willie & Shan. Today they ate the beefheart out of my fingers. They get excited when they see me come towards the tank, so I know they recognize me as a food source now.
Discus look great! Now the fun begins! Hans discus do grow big nice choices. I too have some of those .