The Canadian Connection

[ronrca]

Ok, ok! Its time for the Canadian Connection! Well actually, Im a little jealous that the aussies are having so much fun so I thought why not start a corner of our own (Smokey actually put a buzz in my ear! Thanks). This way new folks can quickly find 'friends' in the same country. ;D

What do you guys think?

Btw, Jack Frost visited my place this morning! Pretty cold! Soon I will be battling the winter miseries. >

For those that dont know me, Im Ron! I live in Wetaskiwin, Alberta (which is an hour south of Edmonton). I work in Edmonton therefore commute everyday which is kind of a drag but Ive gotten use to it after doing it for 8 years now! Housing is much cheaper in Wetaskiwin and at the time when we bought our house, we could not afford moving to Edmonton anyways. I grew up in Wetaskiwin anyways and have gotten use to small communites. Even though I would love to live in Edmonton, I just can not see myself spending another 30-40 grand for a similar house in Edmonton (plus interest yet). We have a nice house that we are fixing up so if we were to move now, we'd probably lose more than we gain.

Well, nuff of me! Lets hear from fellow Canadians that are preparing for winter.

[Smokey]

Ahhhhh, Thanks Ron. There are enough fellow canadains to keep this busy.

So, how are the tanks doing ron? How many are running and full of discus.

My tanks - 4 / 85 liter units on a system .. are full, too. Actually , starting to get crowed. the babies have grown too big for thier tank. So I will have to set up a 160 Liter for them.

Since I am in the middle of a move , this is a bit of a situation.

Moving to different water , also. So , I have to be a bit careful.
The plus side ... A DEDICATED DISCUS ROOM ...YAHOOOOO!!!!

Been three years since I had a dedicated fish room , .,
This one will be bigger and better. # 8, it will be.
Lots of hot water heating; access to water lines; access to drain lines; solid concrete floor; what more could a discus fanatic need. ??

Smokey

[jules]

Hi, I am in Ontario and no frost yet...unfortunately that means the grass is still growing so I have to cut 3/4 acre of it. I decided to start up the 55 gallon tank as a cure for Jack Frost who spends quite a while here in Ottawa...I am a Perennial Gardener and Swimmer so winter is a rather quiet time; however I do cross country ski.

I am keeping 6 Discus and a few others in a Planted Community Tank and do enjoy it very much.
I don't know much about my underwater gardening yet...but I know someone here does

[Smokey]

Howdy Jules; good to hear from you.

Ahhh, great idea -- a 55 for the winter blues. Only in Canada, eh!

Heck, I have had 4 inches of snow already. Damm stuff, now I cannot cut the lawns. hehehehehehehee.lol.....

Mind you, I have a bunch of 50 square foot sheets of 6 mil glass, sittting under the snow; the cutting table is snowed in.

If all goes well, I think, I would like to build at least 6 - 160 liter tanks.

I need more tanks/more / more!! I just purchased 8 discus from glassart.

Jules, what type of discus do you have?
Jules, what part of "Ontario" are you in??

Also; this site is for keeping up with with one anothers discus population. A chance to trade and receive fresh stock. RIGHT RON !!

Smokey

[jules]

I am in the Capital.
I have 1 Cobalt, 2 Turquoise, 2 Pigeon and a Blue Diamond. Out of curiousity what exactly are the characteristics of a Diamond besides its' shape of course?

[Smokey]

Good question, jules. My first thought : is their intenst blue color!

However, I have a feeling the their maybe two different types of blue diamond strains. [??] NOT SURE.

Hmmm, you know what; I am going to post the question and see what shows up.

Smokey

[ping]

Hi guys,

The world is small. I am in Canada now. ;D ;D
Just visiting and saying hi.

Ron, great idea.
Smokey, i have received your message. Thanks. I will use email next time.

Regards,
Ronny

[ronrca]

Whoa! Talk about an explosion of activity since a couple of hours ago! Cool! ;D

Well, my mini rack is working very well. I did have a leak on one of my top shelve tanks but just a small one. Fortunately, no discus in that yet so I could shut off the water supply, drain it, dry it and silicone it. I filled it up this morning. At the moment, I have 5 tanks on the rack with 1 empty and 11 discus (10 red turqs and 1 golden dragons) in the other 4 and 1 30G tank with 3 golden dragon discus. The oldest is probably reaching year and a half so breeding may start happening soon especailly once I get the RO setup. I also managed to buy some adults from Ken in Calgary which I will be picking up sometime in October (thanks a million Ken).

Future plans? Well, in April/May I will have a dedicated fishroom in the basement (right now my fishroom is in the spare bedroom upstairs because we are renting the basement). Therefore the tank space will at least double. We are changing windows this weekend and my living room window is huge (119"x58&quot so I can hopefully get enough tanks out of it. Im actually kind of excited and cant wait to start. Once I get the systems up and running, Im planning on setting up more or less an automatic wc system (solenoid valves, float valves, switchs, timers, etc, etc) controlled by a PLC.

My dream is to eventually acquire excellant solid colored discus, breed them and distribute them. Why solid colored? My wife likes them the best so why not tempt her into the discus world somehow! ;D Well, I also like solid colored discus.

A chance to trade and receive fresh stock

Exactly! One of my goals is to offer excellant quality discus to the locals instead of having to import them. Potential discus hobbyists may not want to venture down the path when confronted with customs, shipping costs, etc, etc and I dont blame them either.

[ottawadiscus]

Hi guys,

As my id says I'm from nation capital. It's good a idea to meet the other discus breeders in town.

Loyed

[Smokey]

See, Us Canuks were just waiting for our own little corner.

One day , Ron, I will be up your way, I will have to drop in and see how your handwork went. The teacher checking out his student. I am glad every thing has worked out so well.
Hmm, only one leaker, great. I remeber some of my first tirals - always a pinhole some where. !!
Any idea what may have caused the leak ??

Jules has brought up an interesting question; What is the difference in blue diamonds. IS there - two different "types"??

Smokey

[Smokey]

Loyed: do you mean Edmonton??

Smokey lol.

A true Blue diamond has no bars and no yellow at the tip of the dorsal fin. They breed true 100% BD. Some people sell a solid blue which has bars when they were juveniles as Blue Diamond. They has been crossed with other fish. The majority of the fry has bars and red eyes. A true BD do not have red eyes. It suppose to be clear or blue???. Only at breeding time when they turn orange.
There is an Angel Diamond which has a finner scales with a powder blue appearance which has been crossed with other fish. They do not get 100% BD fry. Some has PB fry.
Jimmy.

[jules]

My Blue Diamond definitely has red eyes and it is not breeding time...oh well. Thanks for the info JimmyL.

Ron - can you post a pic of the Golden Dragon? thx

[ronrca]

Smokey,
Not exactly sure about the leak why it started leaking. Just a small little hole that was very hard to find. The hole was actually around the plexi/glass joint so Im wondering that perhaps I forced the fits a tad too much thus start a small leak. ??? No big deal though. Come on over anytime. Just let us know a couple days in advance so I can clean the spare bedroom. LOL!

Jules,
I dont have any pics yet but hope to take some soon!
The parents look like this though:

J: Most BD has red eyes between 1"- 3" and slowly fade away into clear 0r yellow eyes. Only turn red during spawning and slowly fade away when carrying fry on their back. How big is your BD?
R: Your picture is taking up a whole page. Re-size it so taht my 12" monitor can read the whole thing. Let me post a picture too. See how many discus can be kept in a 35 gal. tank.
Jimmy.