Nhamunda Blue Moon & Blue Face Heckels from Hudson

[Second Hand Pat]

Here are my wormy threads

http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showth...7556-Worm-Wars

http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showth...gler-Worm-Prep

[illumnae]

Thanks Nandi and Pat, I did think of starting a worm farm some time back...unfortunately, the idea was vetoed by my wife...I'm not allowed to keep worms in the house

Sourcing for the worms is also another problem. Singapore is a very built up city, and most of the population lives in high rise flats = no backyards. Parks are all government property so we're not allowed to go dig around for forms (assuming we can even find the right type! For my discus I want red wrigglers not nightcrawlers). We're not allowed to import such livestock in either without a permit.

[Wildcaught dutchman]

Very nice fish Illumnae.Heckels are not my favorit kind of wild discusfish but in a group they look good.

[NanDiscus]

Illumnae,

You may want to:

-check out this thread here : http://forum.singaporeexpats.com/fto...32f67ca3205d8d
-start making friends to some members of your house maintenance crew in the basement area.



Nandi

[Mep1127]

I love your blue moon! thats my favorite wild.

[illumnae]

Thanks Nandi, I'll see what I can do (no maintenance guys in the basement...in fact, no basement! Singapore is so small that we just call for the maintenance people and no matter where they are, they reach in an hour tops for emergencies, depending on traffic)

[Jiayong]

Nice Group of heckels.

Will try to pop by your place 1 of these days. Didnt get the chance to see them when they arrive.

[illumnae]

It's been about a month since they first touched down. Here are some updates!

FTS



Some group shots

The guy in the middle is imo the nicest blue moon of this batch. The guy at the bottom is a not so good blue moon (definitely not 1/3 body fusing)


The one with the spotted gill plate in the next 2 shots was bought as a blue face, but as you can see he isn't a blue face...yet his lines seem to be fusing more than some of those I bought as blue moons - blue moon in the making?




Huddle!

[illumnae]

Some individual shots in this post.

Blue Moons

This one is the nicest blue moon.


This would be the nicest, if he didn't have a grey cast to him. He usually seems more grey than blue, especially towards the back.


This guy has a very strong 5th bar. He's usually the first to the food despite being one of the smallest!


Blue Face

As you can see, 1 month down, none of the blue faces show a full blue gill plate as they should. They're not so much blue face as just simply Nhamunda blue heckels imo.

[shoveltrash]

they are a beautiful group, and LOVELY tank!......
it took my domestics over a month to fully acclimate & develop full color potential, maybe you will see more blue with time?

[illumnae]

Thanks Hudson promises that they will all colour up to what he promised them to be (blue moons and blue faces instead of just normal heckels) in 6 months, so I guess I just have to wait and see.

[sumit]

Lovely group. I am sure the co our will intensify over time. I myself got 4 mari mari Heckels and 4 Nhamunda blues from hudson's first batch and the difference after 2 months is amazing. I will post some pic shortly.

Do let me know what your water parameter is. Also nice piece of DW in your tank. Where could one get this in Singapore.

Sumit , india

[illumnae]

Hi Sumit, the driftwood is actually an arrangement of 4 separate pieces. I'm trying to emulate a root system which the fish can hide under...hope I did alright

I do see a difference now in the fish as compared to when they first arrived. Hopefully more amazing changes will take place over 6 months as promised by Hudson - I know the Curuai xlg I got in the first shipment have just started to "morph" in terms of colour and personality.

In terms of water parameters, I'm currently in the midst of dropping pH. I do find that their colours and personality start to pop more at lower pH. Currently pH is 4.3 and TDS is under 60.

[sumit]

Driftwood looks nice. So does the tank!

Can you run me through the process of lowering ph to 4.3. I've kept mine at 6.5 through peat filtration as of now.

I am also planning to pick up some Curuai xlg from JZX hopefully later this week. I've seen pic of the fishes as someone else will pick the fishes. One of the fish I'm considering the the Royal which you exchanged earlier. I love the color , but a little concerned about the safe.

I would really appreciate your opinion on that one. Thanks

[illumnae]

Hi Sumit, thanks for the compliments!

I use pure RO water for my water changes, and over time the water naturally lowers in pH. No peat or any other additives needed! I had my water stable at 3.7, and all my blackwater fish (altums, Uaru fernandezyepezi, Satanoperca daemon etc) were thriving. I've bumped up the number of water changes I do though from once a week to 3 times a week, and that may have resulted in the slightly higher pH (4.3 instead of 3.7).

The royal which I exchanged is an exceptional piece. The colour on that piece is the best ever to hit our shores bar none. My only regret was that it lost out on the alpha fight with my other royal, and hence it was constantly displaying black bars. You do not need to worry about the health of that piece. Even being the loser of the alpha fight, it still ate at every feeding session and remained thick. If you search out my Curuai thread, you will find other members on SD (and on other forums too) actually advising me to keep that royal despite the black bars, and that change will be noticed in time. I believe that their experience does not come without basis. I was just too impatient.

Also, dynamics within the group of discus are constantly shifting. After I removed this piece and replaced it with another semi-royal, the original alpha royal lost his alpha position and now is number 2 in the group. The new alpha is one of the original semi-royals (not the new one I exchanged) that was actually one of the more timid ones earlier on. Who knows, when this fish is introduced into a group in your tank, it may end up the alpha or one of the dominant ones in your eventual group. Noone can predict how the fish will eventually re-arrange their pecking order - the only important considerations are health and potential.

Hence, if you get a good price on that piece from JZX, I ultimately think that you should go ahead and get it. There's nothing wrong with it healthwise, and its genes are superb if you intend to use it to breed. This piece was specially selected by Hudson for the Singapore market - I think his discretion and taste can be trusted

P.S. that little blue moon you may have seen is also exceptional - very worth getting. If you get the conditions right, you may even want to consider getting the other blue moons from that batch. As you can see from my photos above, mine are starting to show good colouration - and they're still improving in the week since I last took pictures.