Gabriel's Contest Thread

[Gabriel13]

This is my first time down this discus highway. My thread will focus on my 65 wide aquarium. I have picked out 7 of what I think are the best discus that I have to grow out in this tank. This is a used tank that I resealed and cleaned up best I could. I have another one just like it. I hope to learn alot as I try to get through this. Many lessons have been learned already.115832
This biggest of these fish is barely the size if a quarter and the smallest is about the size of a nickel.
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[Pices]

Hi Gabriel,
Where did you get these fish and what kind are they? You did a nice job on the tank. Looks new. Now tell me the story around these fish. They are so cute-and hungry too.

[Gabriel13]

Thank you Patty I appreciate the compliment. I got these fish from somefinsfishy.com. They were sold to me as Red Dragons. I wanted to get some small ones so that I could watch their transformation and growth. My dream is to become a breeder. I would love to have my own strain one day but that's a ways down the road. I have to get through raising these babies to adults first lol.

[Second Hand Pat]

Hi Gariel, nice job on your tank cleanup. How long is it? The babies look good. How large are they now?
Pat

[Gabriel13]

Hi Gariel, nice job on your tank cleanup. How long is it? The babies look good. How large are they now?
Pat

The tank is 48.5 inches long, 19.5 inches deep and 16 inches tall. The biggest is as big as a quarter and the smallest is a little bigger than a nickel. The biggest was much larger when I got them but the rest are growing very fast to catch up. My smallest was very very young but his personality is the best so far. It was almost completely transparent upon arrival. Its fearless though!
I got the tanks on craigslist. They are from Ocean View Aquariums but they are very old. They were old saltwater tanks from a pet store. For $40 I couldn't pass them up. Both are drilled already and identical. My idea was to get as many tanks as possibly and put work into them to save money. I needed to get as much equipment as I could for my future breeding plans. They are not the prettiest tanks but they are functional. Im not running sumps at the moment only sponge filters. I have HOB filters but so far I just used them to "season" tanks before stocking them. The tank that the babies are in sits in my dinning area. I have a spare room that is, will be my "fishroom" if you will. That room holds my QT tank and storage for other tanks that are currently occupying my floor lol.

[Gabriel13]

Pics for day #2
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[Gabriel13]

This is day #2 of the fish being in this tank. They are slowly starting to explore their new home. They did eat last night which was a good thing to me. This morning they all greeted me a usual. I went ahead and got their water change over with this morning and it was 75%. They do love their water changes!

[Swedgin]

Nice, good luck with those

[Gabriel13]

Nice, good luck with those

Thank you Tobi

[Gabriel13]

I snapped this pic after work. They were just schooling and hanging out.

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[sanjay21]

Good luck growing them Gabriel ! Healthy looking stock there.

Its a lot of work growing them from this age, but hey its called 'work' if you see it that way. I enjoyed growing them from this small, I'm getting a growout stock myself this Wednesday :) will be growing 12 Cobalts.

[Pices]

I read nickel to quarter sized but it didn’t really hit me till I saw them in the tank shot. So cute and quite a challenge too.
Patty

[Gabriel13]

Good luck growing them Gabriel ! Healthy looking stock there.

Its a lot of work growing them from this age, but hey its called 'work' if you see it that way. I enjoyed growing them from this small, I'm getting a growout stock myself this Wednesday :) will be growing 12 Cobalts.

Wow 12 Cobalts! That's gonna be a sight.:D I really enjoy seeing them grow up. Can't wait to see your new babies!

[Gabriel13]

I read nickel to quarter sized but it didn’t really hit me till I saw them in the tank shot. So cute and quite a challenge too.
Patty

Yeah Party they're small lol. I wanna see as much of the growth and pattern development as I can see. I can't wait to see them big one day. Fingers crossed!

[Gabriel13]

Night night time but no we need to snack again..116027

[brewmaster15]

Gabriel,
Thats the start of a great thread. These fish will be very challenging to grow out. Lots of food, lots of clean water. Hoping they do well for you. It will be an interesting read here!

good Luck!

al

[Gabriel13]

Thanks Al. I hope it turns out well. On another note I might as well post the good with the bad. So, I made a rookie move and ran my aged water container down to low and burned up the heaters in there. :crazy: Note to self: unplug the heaters! I was in luck as my local Pet Land has heaters 50% off right now, whew!

[Gabriel13]

Just a few shots before bedtime. Its amazing how calm and chilled they are when theres a storm going on. These shots where much later but I did notice it today and a few times before. I have noticed that peppering comes and goes with mood swings. Its kinda like misplaced aggression bars. Aggression freckles lol.
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[Adam S]

Just a few shots before bedtime. Its amazing how calm and chilled they are when theres a storm going on.
Storms do magic stuff for some fish. Most cories I've kept get especially giddy in stormy weather. Only happens a few times a year though in Phoenix.

[Pices]

I’m jealous of your discus. I can relax and watch a storm but feel guilty about those snacks and the “thickness” ha ha
Patty

[sanjay21]

Will be so fun to watch these guys get bigger. I noticed you kept a white background that is a good move when growing pigeon strain :)
Painting the bottom white(along with the background) also made a ton of difference for me.

[Gabriel13]

I’m jealous of your discus. I can relax and watch a storm but feel guilty about those snacks and the “thickness” ha ha
Patty

Lol Patty.:D Yeah I tend to snack a lot during storms myself. It can get a little rough lol!

[Gabriel13]

Will be so fun to watch these guys get bigger. I noticed you kept a white background that is a good move when growing pigeon strain :)
Painting the bottom white(along with the background) also made a ton of difference for me.

Thanks for the advice on painting the bottom white. I wish I had. The tank does have white Styrofoam under it but I don't think it helps much lol.

[Gabriel13]

I lost a baby on friday:( It just zoned out and started to isolate itself and stopped eating. Later the rest of the group started the same type behavior. So.... I had noticed earlier when I separated the group that they were more skittish and just not like they were in a big group. That being said I reunited the group and now have 11 in the tank. They are back to normal now and loving the larger school. I think they got depressed. I will thin the group down again once they put on some real size later on. For now they will all be together.

[Pices]

Oh that’s too bad Gabriel. It sounds like you figured it out pretty quick though. I didn’t realize what a challenge these grow outs could be. This is a great teaching tool for us.
Patty

[sanjay21]

I lost a baby on friday:( It just zoned out and started to isolate itself and stopped eating. Later the rest of the group started the same type behavior. So.... I had noticed earlier when I separated the group that they were more skittish and just not like they were in a big group. That being said I reunited the group and now have 11 in the tank. They are back to normal now and loving the larger school. I think they got depressed. I will thin the group down again once they put on some real size later on. For now they will all be together.

Sorry to hear that Gabe!
Unless you see external parasite related disease I would not separate babies at this age. It gives them more stress. Glad you moved them back together, they would like to school at this age. Don't bother separating them anytime soon. Just good water changes will do it, clean water is all they need :)

[Gabriel13]

Oh that’s too bad Gabriel. It sounds like you figured it out pretty quick though. I didn’t realize what a challenge these grow outs could be. This is a great teaching tool for us.
Patty

Thank you Patty. I really got bummed out about but lesson learned.

[Gabriel13]

Sorry to hear that Gabe!
Unless you see external parasite related disease I would not separate babies at this age. It gives them more stress. Glad you moved them back together, they would like to school at this age. Don't bother separating them anytime soon. Just good water changes will do it, clean water is all they need :)

Thanks Sanjay. This is something that I will always remember. Thanks for the words of wisdom.

[danotaylor]

Gabriel,
Thats the start of a great thread. These fish will be very challenging to grow out. Lots of food, lots of clean water. Hoping they do well for you. It will be an interesting read here!

good Luck!

al

Al as yuo know I will soon be a discus newbie, so why do you say they will be difficult to grow out? What do you "see"? Cheers mate

[Second Hand Pat]

Al as yuo know I will soon be a discus newbie, so why do you say they will be difficult to grow out? What do you "see"? Cheers mate

I think Al was referring that it is difficult to grow out discus this young well. Lots of food and water changes. I do not think Al was suggesting this group is harder compared to another group of young discus of the same age.
Pat

[danotaylor]

I think Al was referring that it is difficult to grow out discus this young well. Lots of food and water changes. I do not think Al was suggesting this group is harder compared to another group of young discus of the same age.
Pat

Ok Pat, thanks. I was wondering if there was something specific he saw in this particular group. Cool beans! Daniel

[Gabriel13]

Okay... so here's my babies next new home. Its a 125 gallon tank. Its currently in my shop for "restoration". Max has given his approval so the project is a go, lol.;) I have to design a suitable sump thats easy to clean and user friendly but thats the fun part. I plan to DIY a 3 sided back ground and have only a front viewing panel. We will see how it goes. Plans, plans,plans. I picked up a Jebao DCP-6500 for return flow when I first bought all my tanks. I think this should be okay. At 1690 gals per hour it should turn my tank over somewhere around 13 times per hour.

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[sanjay21]

Will be a fun journey with the 125 :) keep us posted.

[Pices]

Did you paint the bottom that nice sand color? Looks good. Max looks excited too.
Patty

[Gabriel13]

Will be a fun journey with the 125 :) keep us posted.

Thanks Sanjay. I really hope that it will be fun.

[Gabriel13]

Did you paint the bottom that nice sand color? Looks good. Max looks excited too.
Patty

That is actually the finish on the top of the stand that you're seeing. The whole stand excluding the doors is made of 3/4 PlY and that's a complete board that the tank rests on. I want to do a contoured faux substrate that is made of sand but is smooth instead of coarse. It will be siliconed to the tank bottom. I haven't worked it all out yet as work is taking all my energy at the moment. It must be done though lol. I can see it in my head.

[sanjay21]

Gabe, are you using a 3D background ?

[Pices]

That is actually the finish on the top of the stand that you're seeing. The whole stand excluding the doors is made of 3/4 PlY and that's a complete board that the tank rests on. I want to do a contoured faux substrate that is made of sand but is smooth instead of coarse. It will be siliconed to the tank bottom. I haven't worked it all out yet as work is taking all my energy at the moment. It must be done though lol. I can see it in my head.

I read threads on sand/silicone substrates and regret not taking the extra time to do it. Your patience will pay off. Looking forward to seeing this as it progresses.
Patty

[Gabriel13]

Gabe, are you using a 3D background ?

The plan is to actually build my own. Aquadecor has an awesome one that I just love but it's just not in the budget for it.

[Gabriel13]

I read threads on sand/silicone substrates and regret not taking the extra time to do it. Your patience will pay off. Looking forward to seeing this as it progresses.
Patty

I hope it all turns out well. I love how clean I can keep the water with a bare bottom but I love scapes as well.