Kiwi, Kiwi, Kiwi!!!

[Chris.L]

Hey all you NZ discus lovers! Please don't be shy, post here where in NZ you are located, if you breed and where you get your quality discus from!

My names Chris, I live in Auckland New Zealand. I don't currently breed, but may look into it into the future, at the moment my main goal is to keep them alive! I have a 3ft tank (yeh I know :, going to "upgrade" into either a 4ft or 5ft tank) with 2 Golden Pigeon Bloods, 1 Red Alenquer and 1 Red Turqoise. I know a local mini/hobbyist breeder around my way where I got the Red Alenquer and the Red Turqoise from, the other two I got from a LFS (before I even knew that we had breeders here).

That's me!

[FischAutoTechGarten]

Hey Chris,
What is the average price of a 3" Discus at the LFSs in the greater Auckland area?
Peter

[Chris.L]

Anywhere between $80 - $180 depending on the colour.

Come up to NZ after October

[Luca]

Hey Chris great to hear from you,
you are just the second person i've met in New Zealand who love discus!

Ok well i live in Hamilton at the moment and i am a student so funding is pretty low making the discus hobby just out of reach at the moment. My long term plan is to have a 3' quarantine/grow-out tank and a 4' planted display tank.

I recently bought a 4' aquarium second hand and i have it filled with various tetras at the moment. I'm glad i decided to hold off on the discus and do the reading because my tetras have developed a very strange (and seemingly rare) disease that shows up as black spots on their body and tail fins. I've lost the first lemon tetra after it being infected for about 3 weeks, i've tried plenty of medicines and my last hope is a medicine named "maracide" which i have been told will work, but ofcourse i can't find it in hamilton. have you heard of it in auckland chris?

anyway, once the disease is gone and my water parameters have stabilised (the ph is crashing and swinging), and my fish stay healthy for at least a couple of months, THEN i'll get discus!

What price did you pay for your red alenquer and the red turquoise? Were they juvenile or adult or in between?

I've been looking for ages to find a local breeder but they are somewhat limited!

Talk soon buddy,
Luca.

[Chris.L]

Hey Luca,

I payed $30 for the Red Turqoise and $35 for the Red Alenquer. The Red Alenquer is developing green dots on him/her, can't wait to see what he/she looks like when he/she gets older!

They are all between 3"-3.5".

I'll have a look around for "Maracide" and ring around and see what I can do Good to see i'm not the only New Zealander on here .

C'ya,
Chris

[Luca]

Cool, thanks for your help Chris,

yeah i'm originally from tauranga and there was a guy who advertised some discus there for $40 each, they were of similar size, probably smaller. However the male jumped out of the tank and the female died of a broken heart so that was the end of the breeding pair ;(

i saw some juveniles in auckland two weeks ago when i was there selling for $25 so i think you got a good deal on those 3" ones. Does that guy/girl breeder have more for sale?

[Chris.L]

[quote author=Luca link=board=18;threadid=11244;start=0#119167 date=1059088790]
Cool, thanks for your help Chris,

yeah i'm originally from tauranga and there was a guy who advertised some discus there for $40 each, they were of similar size, probably smaller. However the male jumped out of the tank and the female died of a broken heart so that was the end of the breeding pair ;(

i saw some juveniles in auckland two weeks ago when i was there selling for $25 so i think you got a good deal on those 3" ones. Does that guy/girl breeder have more for sale?
[/quote]

As far as im aware he does. Ill ring around today for the medicine thing

[Luca]

hey chris, i'm curious did this guy have heaps of discus and several breeding pairs? what size tanks did he have? were they barebottom or planted? did he give you any advice when you bought them?

[Chris.L]

[quote author=Luca link=board=18;threadid=11244;start=0#119704 date=1059352459]
hey chris, i'm curious did this guy have heaps of discus and several breeding pairs? what size tanks did he have? were they barebottom or planted? did he give you any advice when you bought them?
[/quote]

He had quite a few red turquise (3"+) and 2 Red Alenquers (3"+). He has about 6-7 breeding pairs. He does have smaller ones for sale. He keeps them all in barebottom tanks outside in a shed, except for a 5ft tank inside that he uses to get pairs, and he has various sizes of tanks in the shed.

Yes, he did give us tips etc.

[BlueTurquoise]

Hi there all NZ discus nuts!

Just wanted to say hello and see what's going on in the discus scene over there. I love your country (despite giving you kiwis a hard time after a drink or two) and i plan to retire there with 300+ discus ;D (wishful thinking, i hope not!)

Where are the major discus suppliers in NZ? when I was over there I was hoping to see at least one aqaurium but did not get a chance...

Cheers!

[Luca]

Sounds like he is well setup, do you have his email address?

Hi Chong_Ly, sorry about the wallabies (huge) loss by the all blacks last weekend (lol sorry had to say it)

so the aussie aussie aussie post looks very popular, there must be tonnes of breeders over there? what are your water conditions like (when they come out of the tap) or what do you keep them at?

a pet shop in auckland called "jansens" has an impressive array of discus as does "hollywood fish farm" so they are worth checking out when you are next over Our smaller cities have some but they're more the standard runty type LFS ones as you would expect.

i've only been in sydney for 2 hours but it seems nice and sunny over there. in the city i am in at the moment (hamilton) we have a pub called the "outback" which is based on the australian outback, bit of a laugh.

well ciao till next time,
Luca.

[BlueTurquoise]

Hi Luca,

We have one of the best water conditions out of the tap here in Sydney. PH7, 2-3 degrees of hardness, kh is 1 to 2 degrees. The best part is that it never fluctuates. Many people I know do straight tap water changes and do very well. How about over there?

There are lots of breeders and specialists here. Next time your over I'll show you around.

As for the Wallabies, EVERYONE knew they were going to lose, by George... ( ;D )

Cheers!

[Luca]

That sounds pretty much perfect, especially the ph nice and neutral, constant.

NZ parameters (at least where i am) = ph7.8, dh0, kh 2

so our kh is the same, ph almost, hardness almost, do you find your ph crashes, it is on the soft side. Mine is very very soft and so i've got a big of a problem with it, I need to add some limestone or something.

Chris - any luck with finding that med(maracide) in auckland? Would that breeder sell his discus younger, for less do you know?

[BlueTurquoise]

Hi,

It's because most of your water is from melted ice! It is very soft water. You can buy water hardenner products from the aquarium and yes we do get PH crashes.

it is not always ph7 out of the tap for us, after airation it is 7. After a day in the tank or after large feedings it does start to call to PH6.5 ish. But i's ok since I do 40% change everyday.

Cheers!

[Luca]

Why do you think it is that it does this after being in the tank? Wouldn't it reduce in a storage container with airation? Is this just a natural occurence with soft waters?