Breeeding heckel x heckel in Poland

[ockyra215]

Man i missed the website pics.I recant my statement! Way cool to see a heckle pair doing thier thing very cool!

[Apistomaster]

The pair and juveniles certainly look to me like a real pair of Heckels and the fry look like they could only be those of two real S. discus.

I think so few who have tried or hoped for their Heckels to spawn, myself included, never provided them a pH of about 3.5 and no measurable hardness. If Heckels are not kept in that type of water then breeding them stand virtually no chance. I believe the same applies to Pterophyllum altum. These fish have evolved to thrive in water conditions which scare the hell out of most Discus keepers and that almost automatically precludes successful breeding.

I have only kept some small species in water that extreme with Cattapa leaf litter.
My 20 long has about 20 Poeciliocharax weitzmani in RO water not passed through a mixed bed deionization filter so the TDS is >15 ppm from water taken from their tank and the pH is always between 3.5 and 4.0. These little ambush hunting, oddball Tetras eat only living food for me. Keeping Discus sized aquarium water with these chemical attributes is difficult and demanding work few dare to try. The fellow who bought my 10 Heckels is providing them these water conditions and although he has not gotten any further with breeding the pairs he kept they sure are a lot prettier than when I was keeping them in tap water. It helps when you have a 300 gpd RO unit because water changes are more important than ever when working with such extremely soft acid water.
he uses Muriactic acid to lower the ph and some Cattapa leaf litter. These leaves are good for contributing the weak organic acids and tannins which give black water it's name.
I have no way of proving this but I suspect Heckels begin breeding later in life than either S. aequifasciata and S. haraldi.

[Gajowa]

In Andrew's hatchery next pair of heckel discus has formed and on 15,11,2010 at 2 pm laid eggs. Female heckel is in front

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0iqgMPg7t0s

and on 17. 11. 2010 at 3 pm larva's hatched

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DKdFXF3pVc

This time he recorded everything

[prolude006]

Looks great, thanks for the videos Barb!





DAvid

[William Palumbo]

Thanks Barb for the videos. Andrew obviously is doing something right! Look like two "true" Heckels to me. Can we agree that they are indeed the real deal? Would like to know any and all info/tips on his methods. Look like they can and will spawn in captivity after all Very impressed!...Bill

[William Palumbo]

Thanks Barb for the videos. Andrew obviously is doing something right! Look like two "true" Heckels to me. Can we agree that they are indeed the real deal? Would like to know any and all info/tips on his methods. Look like they can and will spawn in captivity after all. Very impressed!...Bill

[AirCapital]

now thats how you silence a crowd...lol great job!!!!

[DiscusKev]

Thanks for sharing, I don't recall the juvenile pic of the heckel, they look awesome with their heckel bar! Stand out real great

[Gajowa]

Thanks for sharing, I don't recall the juvenile pic of the heckel, they look awesome with their heckel bar! Stand out real great

The photos are in the link on page 2 of that thread. But I will give you that link again.

http://www.superdiscus.pl/heckel.html

There are 20 youngsters left from 1-st spawn

[mikeos]

Fantastic Barbara, please convey my congratulations to Andrew & Renata

[kaceyo]

That's great! Alot of people will be interested in the details of producing that spawn.
Congrats!!!

[hekdiscus]

Congratulation ..... very good.......

[aequifasciatus]

Well, well, well. Excellent stuff. If they aren't true Heckels then it's outstanding Photoshop work
I haven't seen that since Don Handley bred Heckels many years ago.
Congratulations

Aequifasciatus

[Heiko Bleher]

Hi,

well these are for sure true Symphysodon discus - Heckel discus - from the Rio negro basin. And barabara please also convey my sincere congratulations to Andrew & Renata.
I believe the trigger number one was the pH 3.5 and a recent water change. (And probably a low conductivity.)

Again best regards from a collector

Heiko Bleher

[greekmystique]

I have actually been studying the water parameters of the Rio Negro over the last week thinking about a solution for another thread. I found that even though the main tributaries are around ph5.5 with very dilute nutrients, the side streams and submerged forest areas are often as low as ph3.5 with an even higher dilution of nutrients. So this makes alot of sense lol. It looks like it will be a long road towards acclimatizing these wild genetics and it's exciting to know that it starts now! Excellent work!