Captive Breed Heckels???

[Second Hand Pat]

Hi Van, try this http://www.amazon.com/Davidsons-Tea-...s=Rooibos.+Tea.
Pat

[tolga]

that sound interesting. I suppose the water would get more acidic during the dry season but would it rise that much with the rains? I suppose that would depend on the mineral composition of the soil around the river or the lake and whether the rain water is seeping through dry and decaying vegetation. The water would be diluted to a great extent I'm sure and there might even be a slight increase in ph along with the lowering of the temperature and abundance of live food etc. It might be a good idea to find out if there are any published water readings regarding the various lakes and tributaries of the amazon during the wet season and the dry season. Approximately a year ago, two of my heckels started displaying, shaking and cleaning a section of the driftwood. Another heckel also tried to get in on the act. I was getting very exited but things did not go any further and this behaviour has not repeated itself since. As far as I remember, my ph was again around the 5.5 mark and my conductivity might have been lower than it is now also white worm has made a huge difference. So I don't know. I'm not determined when it comes to breeding heckels, partly because I'm not that experienced and the various difficulties I've encountered along the way has lowered my horizons. I'm just enjoying these remarkable fish, watching them swim in harmony when the sun is not shining on them and even engaging in what I can only assume is some kind of a grooming behaviour where one of the smaller ones cleans the largest of the bunch. Having said that, I haven't had any major problems for quite a while now and my fish are well and settled so who knows what may happen. A miracle perhaps...
Tolga

[DiscusOnly]

Perfect.. Thanks Pat

[tolga]

Also, on you tube there appears to be a number of videos of this guy spawning paununi heckels from Hudson. In one video, you can watch two sets of pairs spawning under two different drift wood tents inside the same tank. I can't remember the details but it is fairly recent. He has also included some videos of his black worm breeding tanks which might also have contributed to his success. Apart from that I'm sure we have all seen the Polish guy and his detailed heckel breeding set up reviewed in Heiko Blehers Discus book 2 (sorry his name I can't remember but he runs the Super Discus website and attends some of the discus shows in Europe).
Tolga

[jawfish]

Thanks Pat for the link... I have to admit I would not have taught to visit a 9 year old tread, but I guess the search button is there for a reason

Tolga: Andrzej Nowicki... His videos are responsible for getting this crazy project in my head.
Now theres serveral more not helping... Damned Internet

Interesting, if I understand Bleher correctly not all Heckels are created equal
He mention's in the tread that the Heckels from the Rio Abacaxis is from an area where the PH is 5.7...
The other thing that caught my eye was the spawning season... He mention's that this spawn take place at the right time and its short...
This got me to do a youtube search on most Heckels spawn video... the one I saw were from late March to early May.

Its interesting about the sand... Bleher also quickly mention's it in Volume 2 also did a quick read last night
Now the question is how fine should it be, can it be too fine... I need to go to the Hardware store and check what they have in the 1mm range I guess.

PH may remain the same during rain season, Bleher insist on it, but its the hardness i.e. conductivity that changes, It drops.
Also the feeding changes less detritus more insects, more fruits... The habitat changes also, not sure I'm going to bother with this one.
I need to jive down all of this, plus my other notes into a single page and post it... Several heads are better than one.

Hey Al this forum is great !!! You guys and gal are motivating me in this one... Plus Pat Homesteader section has really convince to jump over the fence to concentrate on Wild discus only, yes I'm joining the darkside

Cheers,

Fred

[jawfish]

So whats everybody up to ?

In my case I'm starting to build a 140 gallons plywood tank for the Heckel, this weekend, it will be 50 inchs long, 23 high and 30 wide. I'm actually building two as i want another one for some Browns or Xingus... This is a practice run as I want to build something much bigger in a few years and I figure might as well do a smaller version first. I'll set-up a new tread when I actually have some things built ;-)

Cheers,

Fred

[Altum Nut]

Can't wait for the start and completion of that build thread Fred.

...Ralph

[CliffsDiscus]

I'm no expert in breeding wild Heckels, but I was able to artifically raise one spawn. This was also publish by Tropical Fish Hobbyist by Dr.Iggy Tavares.

Cliff

[jawfish]

Hi Cliff, I went to see in the TFH archive,,, Too bad you lost the male soon after,

Hey Ralf here's a teaser for you. The shell is built, now it's time to sand and waterproof. One thing I will admit I love the 30 inches of width...
11145144_10205905065960483_8381619088561639687_n.jpg

Cheers,

Fred

[rickztahone]

Very nice. Are you using pond liner black?

[jawfish]

Thanks Ricardo,

I'm using Pond Shield by Pond Liner, its a two part non toxic epoxy. I decided on Tan as background color.

[rickztahone]

Thanks Ricardo,

I'm using Pond Shield by Pond Liner, its a two part non toxic epoxy. I decided on Tan as background color.

Very nice. Did you see Joey's latest YT project for a 300g (If I remember correctly) tank made out of plywood?

[jawfish]

Very nice. Did you see Joey's latest YT project for a 300g (If I remember correctly) tank made out of plywood?

Yes I did, I'm building in a similar fashion, just smaller... I want to try for a couple of years. Eventually I'd like to step up to the same size he built.

[rickztahone]

Yes I did, I'm building in a similar fashion, just smaller... I want to try for a couple of years. Eventually I'd like to step up to the same size he built.

yeah that was a pretty cool build. I hate how easy he makes it look, lol. Great guy though.

[Second Hand Pat]

Cool Fred, definitely will follow your Heckel project. Also there is another thread where a guy successfully spawned heckels and had wigglers. He posted his water parameters and that was a bit of a surprise.
Pat