New heckels

[bavaria36]

Hello Aaron,

They are really active arent they. Im very impressed, what size are they?

Dan

Around 4" I would guess.

Aaron

[plecocicho]

They look really nice. What is you wc regime?

[bavaria36]

They look really nice. What is you wc regime?

Thks,

I do minimum 50% WC daily on all my tanks .... sometimes more. I just did the first WC with the heckels. They didn't like it much so they are hiding now but I guess they will get used to it eventually.

Aaron

[bavaria36]

Quick update on Day 3.

Today I turned on the the tank lights in the morning. They were a little shy at first but by the evening they seemed fine. I have noticed that they actually browse for a shorter period now than they did on day 1. They tend to circulate the tank following each other and while they are browsing there is always one of them that just sets off to the back of the tank and the others follow. one minute later they are back. I am guessing that as I am feeding them well they are less hungry than they were on day 1 so they are a little shyer.

Still feeding well though. They even take BH and my BH mix now. Their favourite food remains BW though. Here they are attacking a cube in the evening. The colours are a little washed out as I had to use the flash. In actual fact their colours have improved since they arrived.

Aaron

[ShinShin]

Very nice, Aaron.

Mat

[clairel]

holy cow! those are some nice heckles. How can i get my jealous little hands on some? Thx.

[Eddie]

The tank looks awesome Aaron and the Heckels are looking better everyday!

Take care

Eddie

[bavaria36]

holy cow! those are some nice heckles. How can i get my jealous little hands on some? Thx.

You could check with Dan at Gulf Coast discus. He had quite a few more available when I left and they were all of the same quality.

Aaron

[blue acara]

Aaron your Heckels are looking very very good, particually as you have only had them for a short time. Give them 6 months-a year and you will have some show quality discus. They look very much like mine did 6 months ago. I see one there that may turn out to be a very blue head/shoulder type fish

They seem quite bold already even with quite a lot of light in the tank, this is great. Its something my Heckels have never gotten used to. They dislike light so much that I now keep mine under blue cold cathode light only, which is basically a moon light. That is the only way they feel comfortable in the tank. Try feeding them some frozen brineshrimp and white worm this is my guys favs. Best of luck with them and keep us updated with lots of pics!

Dave

[bavaria36]

Dave,

yes I guess I am really lucky that they have settled in quite well. Keep in mind though that they had been at Dan for around 3 weeks before I picked them up. In his fishroom they were in a bright environment with plenty of movement so this probably helped them settle in.

As I live 30 minutes away from Dan the fish did not go through the stress of shipping either so when they arrived in my tank they did not have to start the acclimation process all over again. That's my theory anyway ......

Today they were coming up to the surface for food when I put my hand in the water. I am really enjoying watching them as they behave very naturally in the tank. I got my hands on some peat today too so over the next few days I will start using water that has been aged with peat.

I have also noticed that most of them have lost the dark heckel bar which they were showing when they arrived. Maybe this is due to the lights being on. The fish turn darker when the light intensity is lowered.

Here are some more pictures.

Aaron

[bavaria36]

Update after 10 days......

They seem to be doing fine. All the fish are eating well and have lost much of their shyness. They don't hide at the back of the tank and are browsing most of the time. They love BH mix and seem to be eating the bits of spinach from it too so next batch will have more veggies and maybe some fruit. Of course they go crazy for FBW but I only feed that once a day before the lights go out.

I had a close call over the weekend. Power went out at 4:30 am Saturday and did not come back till about 9:00 am. As it was pretty cold outside and my tanks are in the garage, the temperature dropped to 80 degf. They really did not like this and it took them until today to perk up again. I'm observing them closely to make sure that they are still OK. Seems like they are happiest at 84-86 degf.

Here are a few points I've noticed about their behaviour

- They are starting to display to each other asserting dominance at feeding time although they are still juveniles/sub-adults
- They get really aggressive when I feed BH mix. The top fish patrol the sand bottom and stop the smaller fish from getting down to feed. When I feed dried food they do not do this and just browse slowly.
- At least three of them have already staked out their preferred area of the tank.
- Their eyes change colour as quickly as their bodies. My other discus also change their eye colour from day to day but the heckels do this in a matter of seconds as they pass from a light background to a dark one in the tank.

I'm really enjoying these fish. Their behaviour is more natural than my other wilds ( maybe cos they are younger and there are 11 of them ) and each one seems to be developing their own character.

My RO is up and running again and I have a pillow case full of peat in the holding tank. I am switching them over the a 60/40 mix which will take my hardness to around 120 ppm and PH to 7.5 Still too high in TDS I know but here in Houston the water is just liquid rock.

Maybe I'm biased but I think they have grown a little already !!!

Aaron

[plecocicho]

They look nice. More wilds of the same species you have more natural their behaviour is,that observation is known for many fish species that school, so it is natural that discus will express same behaviour. Keep us updated, its interesting reading.

[bavaria36]

It's been two week since the heckels arrived. I think that they are well settled in now. Always at the front of the tank and eating almost everything. Since last week they have coloured up a little and even the water changes don't stress them out as badly as the week before. I have been slowly adding RO water mix filtered over peat to bring the TDS to around 120 ppm although I am still at around 190 ppm.

The hierarchy is developing now and I can see which fish are dominant and which are not. However the aggression is limited, mostly to feeding times. When I feed Bh mix I am dropping small bits along the front of the tank to make sure that all the fish get a chance to feed properly.

Right now they get 5 feedings a day - 2 tetra bits and flake ( automatic feeder ), 1 BH mix, 1 Hikari FBS or mysis and then a final feeding of FBW in the evening. I feed FBW very sparingly . Over the next week months my plan is to try and get them to eat some fruits or greens . Failing that, I will prepare the the next BH mix with far less BH, more shrimp and spinach.

I have also noticed that the fish get very skittish as soon as the temperature goes below 82 degf. 84 seem to be the best for these guys.

Here are some photos from today.

Aaron

[bavaria36]

Here's an update. The heckels have settled in nicely and they seem to be happy. They eat really well and although I have not yet got them feeding from my hand they come up to the top of the tank waiting for food whenever I approach.

They have lost much of their shyness but will still dash wildly across the tank from time to time when they get startled. I have noticed that they hate changes in the lighting of the fishroom. The tank lights do not bother them but if I turn off the lights in the fish room and then move around the room they will hide at the back of the tank. I think that it is to do with the shadows rather than the lighting itself.

Water is now a 50/50 RO mix which turn out to have a TDS around 100 ppm. I change around 40% a day.

I had a little bother with gill flukes and I treated with Prazi for 3 weeks with no success. I then tried Fluke tabs and that seemed to do the trick. It's hard on the fish though.... The heckels and the cories went ghostly white and huddled up at the back. The two bristlnoses did not last the night !! Both were dead in the morning. The heckels and cories got back to normal pretty fast once the treatment was over.

The thing I am most pleased about is that all 11 fish have found their place in the pack. I was worried that the bottom ranked fish would get harassed and would get sick but although there is now a clear hierarchy developing, the fighting is restricted to feeding time and all the fish get more than enough to eat.

Here are some photos.

[bavaria36]

a few more