From My Mouth To Your Ears!! - Crazy/Fun/Wild Stories...

[Phillydubs]

So, I hate to jinx myself or cause an un-needed hex, but I wanted to say something and maybe start a fun post...

I have been wanting to once again re-hash the power of water changes and clean water to all the newbies on here or maybe even the old heads who are still trying to find ways to skate around them or outsmart them! IT DOESN'T WORK!!!

I am by no means an expert, I do not breed fish, I don't claim to know it all and the things I do know are because of this forum and the amazing, helpful and great people that are here... I have been keeping discus for over 4 years now and I made the same mistakes as everyone else... You name it I prob did it, or worse... I have purchased from the LFS (before I even knew what this site was), tinkered with PH, didn't do daily WC, added bad tank mates, etc... The list goes on and on and on... As I sit here and write this, my tank behind me in my office, over crowded for sure, yet clean, healthy and thriving... Why? Because I break my back to change the water at least 4-5 times a week if not more!!

I can't stress enough to all of you out there how much this will alleviate most of your stress and issues, this one simple, mundane, yet quite easy task once you have it down pat.

Now, that being said... I read a post earlier where someone simply said, when raising fry you can't go on vacation... I chuckled to myself at first, but then I realized the seriousness of it and truth behind it. It got me to thinking, what have you done that might come off or seem so crazy, weird, silly or odd to others yet you know all of us Discus Fanatics here would agree and say I get it or I did that too! For instances, skipping out on a trip or something for water changes, monitoring a hospital tank for hours on end with a sick one, we have seen the "nanny cam" set ups before to watch them when we are away...

I might be doubling up here and if there is a thread already like this then I am sorry... Just thought it would be cool, funny and entertaining to shed some of your comical or compassionate, " I did this for my discus tales" right here...

Thanks in advance to all who chime in,

Philldubs

[John_Nicholson]

since most on here know my opinions on the how to raise discus stuff how about a couple of stories to show just how insane I am?

First many, many years ago my good friend Jack Taylor was having a really good deal on young adults. I talked to a friend of mine named D'Wyatt and we decided to make a little road trip that weekend to pick up a few. The night before we left it snowed 5+ inches but we left anyway. Does not sound to bad yet but did I mention that I live in Caddo Mills, TX and Jack live in Kansas City? All in all not a bad trip and I really like to hand pick my fish so it all worked out.

Second story My friend Jim and I decided to do a little road trip to pickup some fish. We left at 7:00 on a Thursday night leaving for...........Baltimore, MD....and yes I still live in Caddo Mills, TX. We drove up there non-stop. Spent one night and drove straight back. We were back in my driveway at 7:00 on Sunday morning....but like I said I like to hand pick my fish......LOL. Beside driving twice that far would be worth it to spent some time with my old buddy Hans.

-john

[DJW]

I am running alternating BBS hatches and changing water 4 times a day in a small tank... all for one lone surviving fry. That's a little crazy but I figure its a good kind of crazy. You think this fish will be neurotic when it grows up? Oh, its a Ram by the way.

[Phillydubs]

Wait John... So you like to choose your own fish....?? Hahaha jk!!! Those are some awesome travel stories!!! Thanks for sharing...

Reminds me I am in NYC no excuse not to have visited Hans...

[John_Nicholson]

I am running alternating BBS hatches and changing water 4 times a day in a small tank... all for one lone surviving fry. That's a little crazy but I figure its a good kind of crazy. You think this fish will be neurotic when it grows up? Oh, its a Ram by the way.


Your a better person than me...LOL.


Philly you really do need to make that trip.

-john

[strawberryblonde]

I have to be the most boring discus keeper on the forums. No fun or wild stories at all...<sigh>

The only thing I ever did that might be considered crazy was to sit up ALL Christmas Eve last year babysitting my tanks because the power went out at 9pm thanks to a big snow storm. I had battery air pumps running air stones in all the tanks and wrapped my biggest, warmest blankets around them, leaving me with just one thin blanket and several layers of clothing. The house quickly dipped well below 50 degrees!

Every hour I'd check the temps and heat water on my gas stove. Thank goodness for gas stoves and matches!!!

So after pulling out 3 gallons of water at a time from the cooling tank, I'd drag a pot of hot water over and slowly start adding it to try to get the temps back up towards 82F. So how do you get the colder water to mix with the hot water so that you can test it to be sure you're not over heating or under heating?

If you're me, you go find your biggest whisk, the one for making cheese curds in my huge cheese pot, and you "whisk" the tank!

I did that till 4:30 in the morning when the power came back on. Then I turned off my trusty coleman lanterns and climbed into my freezing cold bed. We had a late Christmas morning but my fish all survived. They still suffer from PTSD from the whisking though.

[Phillydubs]

Hahahaha Toni!!! Great story. You sell yourself short by claiming you disn't have a crazy story. Unless that was just a teaser to pull in interested readers such as myself.

I am sure your fish would prefer to suffer from whisk fear rather than popsicle disease as they were destined for!!!

[Phillydubs]

John , I have no excuses for not making the trip... I have some close family friends near by as well. Once I can get another tank up I plan to make that trip see some good friends and head home with some beauties from
Hans. One day I hope to make that happen!!

[Keith Perkins]

Before Phil posted, I nearly did, now I have to. Toni's story to me doesn't seem to fit the thread at all, neither crazy nor wild. Her behavior sounds like normal discus ownership to me. :)