Thomas' Stendker - Contest Thread

[thomaswal]

Hi everyone!
First, let me quickly introduce myself. You'll probably learn more about me by the way I'll post for the next months but to get it started:
I'm Thomas and I'm living in Switzerland (let me know if any of you passes by ;). I'm currently doing a PhD and taking care of my rather new discus.

So, how did I get started?
I've always had tanks. My father raised me in a rather aquatic environment. We've only kept fresh water with a particular interest in Tanganyika cichlids. After moving out of my parents' house, I've gone from city to city and room to room. Not really compatible with fish keeping... A few months back, my beloved (she may read my posts ^^) girlfriend suddenly told me that we should have an aquarium. She probably got the idea after she saw how excited I was while reading a book about fish reproduction!
Knowing what it meant, I warned her and let her decide on what we should do. I obviously told her about Tanganyika cichlids, their behaviour etc. I don't really know where she found out about discus but from the start, that's all she had in mind! Discus this, discus that!
It took me a few weeks or months to convince myself that it'd be doable. As many people, I thought that discus keeping was too complicated, that they were too sensitive, that we should start with easier fish... But well... that's what she wanted! ;P
I've read many things on discus, from bad to excellent information. From my point of view, it was rather hard to distinguish the truth from the lies. So I would like to take the opportunity to thank everyone on this forum for sharing their experience and knowledge. Without what you did and wrote, I may have never dared keep discus!

We've measured the different rooms in the apartment, the furniture, every space we may have and decided on the best place for the biggest tank possible. It then went pretty fast. We went to the shop, ordered the tank, picked it up from the shop, moved some furniture around to leave some space for the aquarium, levelled it, filled it and started the cycle. On the 28 of January 2018, the tank was filled and we started waiting some more...

Here's what it looked like on the 13 of February:
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It is a Juwel Rio 350 (https://www.juwel-aquarium.de/en/Products/Aquariums/Rio-Line-LED/Rio-350-LED/) (121x51x66 cm (length x width x height)). It holds almost 350 litres (approx. 92 gallons). The tank came with a built-in internal filter but we also added an external filter (Eheim eXperience 350 (https://www.eheim.com/en_GB/products/technology/external-filters/new-experience350)), the intake of which I inserted in the compartment after the internal filtration.

Now that I've gone through these few months, it I had to do it again, I would probably not put any sand, less decor, fewer plants. I would probably just make it easier to clean :)


After a few weeks, we added 8 Sterbai Corydoras and a few Tetras.



We've visited all the fish stores we could find in the region, saw some rather nice discus, but nothing as nice as we had hoped. I therefore looked for a Stendker reseller. From the first order to the arrival of our fish, we've had to wait for almost 2 months. Every week, we called and were told that they'd be arriving in 2 weeks, that they'd be arriving in 3, in 1, in 2... That the sizes we wanted were not available. To be honest, we could have given up and looked for another shop!


They finally arrived on the 11th of April :D
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We've got:
(denominations according to Stendker's list (http://diskuszucht-stendker.de/en/Diskus-Farbvarianten/Farbschlaege/#))
1 Blue Snake Skin
1 Leopard Snake Skin
1 Blue Diamond
1 Solid Fire Red
1 German Wonder
1 Stendker Téfé
(from left to right on the next picture, taken 5 days after they arrived home)
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The first month was quite stressful. We had never kept discus, so I started getting paranoid. Every time I noticed an unusual behaviour, I feared parasites, illness... I finally forced myself not to worry too much and to just watch and change the water frequently.
So far so good. They've grown and look happy!
Here's a family photo from the 1st of June (only the Leopard Snake Skin missing on the photo):
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And here is the Leopard Snake Skin eating! (8th of June)
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He's the smallest one. We started worrying but he seems to have started catching up with the others in the past 2 weeks. We feed them the Stendker "Good Heart" beef heart frozen food. I'd like to start preparing my own frozen food for them because for now, we have to pay around 30 dollars for 500 grams and it sounds like a lot to me... Anyway, meat is generally expensive here so I'm not even sure I could prepare anything cheaper taking into account the additives etc.
I'm still looking for some ingredients before I start preparing my own food.



I have many other things to tell you but come to think of it, my post is probably already long enough!
I should get back to work now ;)


Thomas :)

[Second Hand Pat]

Hi Thomas, that is a pretty tank and the discus look great. Glad you started with larger fish vs juvies, it is easier in a new discus keeper to learn with larger fish. You can always remove plants and decorations if it interferes with a clean tank.
Pat

[thomaswal]

At first I wanted to start with 5cm-discus (approx. 2 inches), but after weighing the pros and cons and reading the advice on the forum, I decided to spend some more money for bigger discus that may be healthier on the long run.
So I ordered 8cm-fish. I think that they were ranging from 6.5 to 8.5 cm when I got them... They've been with us for 2 months and they are now measuring between 8.5 and 12 cm.
I will try to take a few photos of the whole tank later today. I've already started removing some things that made the cleaning a bit too cumbersome.

Thanks for your kind words! Being new to discus, I was scared that they did not grow properly or showed any bad symptom... They are certainly not the best-shaped discus but I've fallen in love with them!

[thomaswal]

Here's the tank now :)

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[Gabriel13]

Nice tank and discus!

[Pices]

Very nice set up and I think your fish look great. My husband and I also had a tanganikyan tank and found a lot of unusual varieties. It’s my favorite lake in Africa.
I don’t think I could ever tire of discus though. I can feel your excitement in your post. They are different individually and even that changes. One day a follower becomes leader, a little one may get scrappy and fearless so they are never boring. I think that’s what sets them apart from other fish other than their obvious beauty. Nice job. I bet you don’t miss those Tanganikyans now!
Patty

[thomaswal]

For now I'm happy with my discus situation. We'll have to wait and see how it goes on the long run though. For now cleaning the tank and changing the water is ok. We may have to find a way to do things differently depending on the job I will get, if I get a child, etc.

I've kept several species of Tanganyika and there are still some I would have liked to keep.
One fish I've really enjoyed (Ophthalmotilapia Nasuta Tiger Chimba):
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Now, let me get back to the discus!
When I bought them, they had a size that should have corresponded to an age of 3-4 months.
If we assume that these fish were born in January, they must be 5-6 months.

The thing is that I noticed last week that the Blue Diamond started flashing to other fish and defended his place of dominant with ever-increasing devotion. He seemed to be courting the German Wonder and kept pushing the Blue Snake Skin as far as he could.
Every day, I got more and more convinced that the Blue Diamond was courting the German Wonder.
Now, they are almost always side by side and dancing (shaking their bodies and flashing their fins) for one another.
Oh! I've just noticed that the Blue Snake Skin also tries to display for the German Wonder. (I'm seated in front of the tank:)

While all this is happening, the other discus are calm as always.
From time to time, the Solid Fire Red "argues" with the Blue Snake Skin. They don't chase each other but rather go face to face and do occasional head-butts. I've filmed some of these behaviours. If any one is interested, I may put the time and effort into selecting the clips from different videos etc. Let me know ;)

In the past 2-3 days, the Blue Diamond and the German Wonder have been cleaning one of the pieces of wood and the German Wonder almost always stays close to it while the Blue Diamond chases the others to the other side of the tank.

So... I guess that all this suggests that a pair is forming. (?)
I'm a bit surprised because I thought that these kinds of behaviours only happened once the fish are around 1 year old! So I'm either wrong about their age or about the fact that their sexuality starts when they are 1 year old.

I feel like I have teenagers at home. When all this started, the fish also started eating less aggressively. They tend to wait a little until I drop the food, rush on it, then scatter, and only then spend some time to eat it.



And finally for today (it's midnight where I live), from the moment we bought the tank, I started wondering how important the lighting is in an aquarium. I guess that it is somehow important for the plants, for the well-being of the fish and for our own pleasure.
I've tried to find if someone did a comparison of different lightings on a discus tank. Maybe you guys would know where to find such info.
The problem is also that colour fidelity is quite hard to control in the photos or videos we create.
I'm slightly too tired to dive further in this topic. Maybe I should start another thread...
I've therefore tried to photograph the same fish (Blue Snake Skin). One of the photos was taken with the flash and processed to look more natural (without processing, the fish looked green), the other two are with the tank lights only, at different places in the tank.

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I feel like I'm on therapy and discussing openly what's going through my mind :P
Maybe I should make my posts shorter though :/

[Pices]

I’m enjoying your thread. Mine did the same courting behavior with the male chasing others away. I think you will be seeing some eggs soon. Once my females started laying eggs they stopped growing, but I’ve seen many pairs that are the same size so I’m not sure if they were more mature when they mated or if they caught up. Some more experienced people here would know more. I think the general consensus is that they grow slower.

[brewmaster15]

Thomas,

Great looking tank and very nice stock! That group of discus looks in excellent health! I'm going to enjoy watching your thread. I'm glad you decided to participate!
Good Luck,
Al

[thomaswal]

Hey!
Today, I'll make it shorter.
I tried to film the tank yesterday for 1h. I've uploaded the footage on Youtube!
No worries, I've sped the whole thing up to have a 8min video. You can also add the 2x speed of Youtube if you're in a hurry.
Maybe I'll try to do the same in higher quality or in different ways.


http://youtu.be/lZCsfMlwKkE

And here's a small photo of the group after today's clean!

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;)

[LizStreithorst]

I love the look of your tank. Very artistic. The Discus look very pretty in it. I especially like your SS types, but I admit to having an attraction to SS's. I'm afraid that I can't help you with the lighting thing. I bet someone in Germany could. The Germans keep Discus in planted tanks all the time.

[thomaswal]

Hey!
Thanks for your replies :)
My questions about the lighting was more about the fish colouration than about the plants. It is somehow important for the plants as well, but for now I'm mainly wondering about the discus.
I've seen/heard that certain people use different background colours depending on the colours of their fish and that some people also play with the colour of their lights. I have fluorescent tubes on my tank so changing the colour is not as easy as with LEDs :P

I wanted to keep it short today so here I go!

Yesterday, I filmed my tank... just to try it out.
I'll do it differently next time, but I'm not too sad about the result. It's 1h worth of footage, sped up in order to obtain an 8min video. If you're in a hurry, you can also add Youtube's 2x speed ;)


http://youtu.be/lZCsfMlwKkE


And here is a small picture of the fish from an hour or so ago:

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;)

[Swedgin]

As others have said, very nice scape, very stylish.

[thomaswal]

Thanks! I'm happy that you share my taste in terms of scape. I also like the biotope kind of scapes but I'm not there yet ^^

Today the fish were doing good! They start becoming more and more active in their relationship, which is exciting for me too!

Here's a photo of the German Wonder:
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And one of the Téfé:
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In the future, I'll probably find a way of also adding links to higher-resolution photos ;)
Let me know if there anything you'd like me to try to photograph!

[Pices]

I’ve watched the sped up video about 3 times now. A nice substitute while I wait for the next season of Game of Thrones.
Patty

[thomaswal]

Haha! Hopefully it won't get that cold in the tank ;)

I haven't had too much time to watch the fish yesterday but this morning they all look relaxed. I don't usually have much time to watch them in the morning but apparently they also need some time to properly wake up :P

I wish I could find a way to photograph them with the natural light that shines in the room before the lights are turned on. Our brains are much better at filtering out the reflections than our cameras/editing software!

For now, here are a few close-ups of some of the discus:
The Blue Diamond
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The Blue Snake Skin
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The Téfé
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:)

[thomaswal]

Hey!
I have some news!!!
Now it is certain... The German Wonder is a female! :D
She laid some eggs last night. From the moment she started going from bottom to top, it approximately took her 30 minutes to lay an egg.
After each pass, she visually checked if anything was deposited on the wood.
And eventually, when the first egg came out, it only saw the light for a few seconds before she ate it.
A few minutes later, the second egg was out and as quickly eaten.
She then laid 4 eggs that were eaten a bit later.

While all this happened, the Blue Diamond was looking curiously. He hasn't tried to pass over the eggs or to eat the eggs.
I guess that he is too young :)

Here are a few photos to illustrate this exciting night:

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A close up of the second egg:
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The non-cropped version:
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Checking the egg:
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Eating the egg:
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And finally the 4 last eggs:
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:)

[prittbotha]

I love the Color of your fish!

[Pices]

Great pictures Thomas. It’s a girl-congratulations :gorgeous:

[thomaswal]

Hey all!
The discus are still doing great here!
A few days back, the Blue Diamond got scared of something and probably bumped into something. He now has a small scar on the side but nothing to get scared about. It's healing well and he (it) doesn't look bother at all about it.
He still behaves as he used to, courting the German Wonder, showing off to the others, putting the Blue Snake Skin back in place.
The "couple" is still active. They are actually currently dancing for each other next to their favourite piece of wood!

Since the last time I posted, I removed a few plants that did not seem to be growing to try out a few new plants (Cryptocoryne usteriana and Vallisneria Natans (not so sure about the exact name)). I used hydrogen peroxide to clean them before inserting them in the tank. It's the first time I do this so I hope that neither the fish nor the plants will have any problem!

And here are a few photos of the tank...:)
(I think that you'll figure out which are taken with my phone and which are taken with my camera;)

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ps: you'll probably see that the colour of the Solid Fire Red is not the same for my camera and my phone. The reds saturate very quickly on my phone...
In the real life, its colours is closer the the portrait I took of it though when we look at the whole fish in the tank, it looks closer to red than orange.
I try to be as close to their actual colour on my camera photos but don't do it with my phone. It may also change depending on the device you're using to view the images. Any way... I'm drifting off subject ^^

:)

[thomaswal]

Hey!
I haven't had much time to observe the fish in the past few days. I have only had a few minutes now and then to check on them and to feed them apart from the time I spend doing water changes.
In the past week, I noticed that the other fish (the Blue Snake Skin, the Téfé and the Solid Fire Red) start to show courting behaviour. The Leopard Snake Skin is still the smallest and probably also the youngest and hasn't started "dancing" for the others.
It's quite nice to see them behaving this way. Even with the few minutes I have every day, I can see that their behaviour changes constantly. The Blue Diamond and the German Wonder look like they are still "together". They keep eating the algae from their piece of wood and to dance for each other.
I've also noticed that the Téfé seems to be cleaning the other piece of wood. I have absolutely no experience in this, but I feel like the Téfé is a female (based on her/its behaviour). The Solid Fire Red also seems to be a female. And the Blue Snake Skin seems to be a male (because of the way the Blue Diamond chases him compared to the way he behaves with the other fish).
Obviously, I could be totally wrong, but I thought that it'd be interesting to write it down somewhere. This way, in a few months, I'll be able to look back at what happened rather than rely on my memories ^^

Also in order to keep track of what happens in the tank... the genital papilla (I'm not sure it's the correct term) of the German Wonder was out last night. My guess is that by the time I checked on the fish, she had already laid some eggs and had also eaten them. I could also see some kind of small pointy protrusion under the Blue Diamond's belly, but it may also just be something I imagined :P
I took some photos and will try to have a look at them tonight.

On the other side of the tank, I saw the same kind of courting between the Blue Snake Skin and the Téfé. The come next to each other, spread their fins and stay parallel to each other while slightly moving their bodies. The Téfé also shakes her/its head from time to time.
We'll see in the future if anything happens there ;)

I wish I had more time to watch their behaviour though...

I had hoped that this thread would lead to discussions or other exchanges but at least I can use it as a notebook for myself and for others to see how things go in different tanks, in different countries, with different owners over time!

:)

[Pices]

Thomas, I’ve read that males have slightly longer pointed dorsal fins at the end and females don’t have the point. My BD has that point as does yours, but most people say you have to see them laying eggs or see wigglers to be sure. With all the courting behavior you’re seeing, you should know soon enough.
I know the females (egg layers) in my group do have a pointy end on the back of their dorsal fins so it’s true with my three egg layers. Looking forward to your pics.
Patty

[Pices]

Thomas, I’ve read that males have slightly longer pointed dorsal fins at the end and females don’t have the point. My BD has that point as does yours, but most people say you have to see them laying eggs or see wigglers to be sure. With all the courting behavior you’re seeing, you should know soon enough.
I know the females (egg layers) in my group do have a pointy end on the back of their dorsal fins so it’s true with my three egg layers. Looking forward to your pics.
Patty

I meant to say females in my group do not have pointy dorsal fins

[thomaswal]

Thanks for your comments Patty!
I've also read that males tend to have pointy fins. However, I've also read that this is not a reliable way of sexing.
So instead of looking at their physical attributes only, I'm trying to look at their behaviour. I do not meant that the behaviour alone is enough to differentiate between males and females. I just have some kind of feeling that I'd like to verify in the future :)

The tank has slightly changed in the past two days.
The Blue Diamond now spends more and more time on the left part of the aquarium, bullying the Blue Snake Skin or hitting on (not literally) the Téfé.
As a result, the German Wonder often looks lonely, next to the piece of wood on the right...
The Blue Snake Skin is the only fish with some damaged fins (only pectoral) and some loose scales. He parades for the Téfé mainly, and he tries to hold his grounds (his waters) when the Blue Diamond comes near him.

In the meantime, the Solid Fire Red and the Leopard Snake Skin don't seem to want to get involved in all these relationships. They may be younger or not just into any of the others.

I haven't had time to check at the photos on my camera, so I snapped a few with my phone:

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:)

[Pices]

Your tank is so picturesque. The background color really enhances the colors in your fish. The water is so clean, your fish are so healthy. It’s very relaxing to look at.
I know what you mean about behavior. I have some fickle ones too. I guess that’s part of why we are so fascinated with them. You never know what (or who) they are going to do next. They sure know how to keep our attention don’t they?
Patty

[thomaswal]

Thanks for all your posts Patty! They keep me going ;)

I'm out of town, but my girlfriend took a photo for me ^^

So here it is:
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I hope she won't resent me too much for relying on her to take care of everything while I'm away!

[Pices]

Thomas, I am in love with your fish! Every single one is a stand out beauty. The shapes, the colors, the mix are all exquisite. Your girlfriend looks to be doing an excellent job taking care of them and she takes great pictures to boot!
Patty

[thomaswal]

Hey!

I haven't had any time lately!
Couldn't even take my camera out... So I've only taken a few photos with my phone (and have not even had time to upload them yet!).

The Blue Diamond and the German Wonder are still swimming along. I haven't seen any egg-laying, but I also have not had too much time to spend in front of the tank :/

On the other side, some interesting things happened. The Blue Snake Skin keeps courting the Téfé. 2 days ago, I noticed that they had completely cleaned one leaf. I'm in awe of their cleaning abilities!
So on the 11th, I noticed that the sexual organs of the Téfé and of the Blue Snake Skin were apparent. I did not spend the whole night in front of the aquarium to see what would happen, but the Téfé had the typical egg-laying behaviour (kind of gently hovering over the leaf and rubbing her belly against it). So I don't know if eggs were laid, but I know that they are getting excited!
While the Téfé was doing her things, the Leopard Snake Skin was trying to get in-between the Téfé and the Blue Snake Skin, which was pretty funny. He (we'll see if he's a he later maybe...?) must be jealous...? :P


To summarise, things are moving along and nothing very special happened in the past few days. It's only gradually getting more and more heated/exciting :D

The first couple:
(is it me or is there a small heart shape below the dorsal fin of the German Wonder?!)
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Here we can see who are the bosses in the tank! (and we can see that the vallisneria that I introduced in the tank after H2O2 treatment died back but are shooting new leaves. You can see them between the wood and the rocks in the background)
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Even though they are crammed in a corner of the tank, they managed to get things going here! The leaf they chose is the one we see (blurry) in the foreground.
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I took this one to show her sexual organ showing:
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What I would call the two couples. One side each ;)
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The Leopard Snake Skin who tries to get involved as well!
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And a few photos I took this morning with the lights off. The tank was only lit by the sunlight through the window. In person, the colours of the fish are really interesting with this illumination. However, taking photos become a bit more difficult :P
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;)

[prittbotha]

Your fish are stunning!

[Pices]

Thomas, I just saw the heart shape in the first pic. It’s a perfect heart! :heart2: makes him even more special.
Patty

[thomaswal]

Hey!
I had nothing special to report until today. The fish are all doing good.
It looks more and more like we have 2 females (the German Wonder and the Téfé) and that the others are male.

I'm sure about the females because both have laid eggs!
The German Wonder laid eggs for the first time one month ago, and the Téfé just laid eggs a few hours ago!
I'm not home now, but my girlfriend was there and sent me this photo:
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Apparently the Blue Snake Skin and the Téfé are our second couple. This time, there were more eggs than for the other couple, and the Leopard Snake skin (mainly) tried to overthrow the Blue Snake Skin! For now, the Téfé looks interested in the Blue Snake Skin and whatever the Leopard Snake Skin does, she always returns to the Blue Snake Skin. The poor guy has to face all the other fish who try to either show dominance or try to gain the Téfé's heart!

During this first egg laying of the Téfé x Blue Snake Skin couple, the Téfé laid the eggs and the Blue Snake Skin ate them all. Apparently, he hasn't even made one pass over the eggs.
I know that I should wait for them to mature, so that's what I'll do.

I feel bad for the Téfé. She lost so much energy to produce these eggs. If one fish should have eaten them, it was her! ^^

When I started this thread, I wouldn't have believed that so many things may have happened in such a short time! I've only had the discus for a few months and they grew and changed so much! :D

[Pices]

These fish are never boring are they? That’s what I love about these fish. I think we get them because they are so beautiful, but we aren’t expecting them to be so entertaining. That combination is what makes them worth the extra trouble. They are special. Yours look so happy and healthy. I’ve really enjoyed reading your thread.
Patty

[thomaswal]

They indeed don't stop surprising me!

I have many photos to edit and upload. For now, here's the Blue Diamond playing with his mouth...

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I'll try to upload some of the other photos as soon as I manage to find some time to do it ;)

[Second Hand Pat]

Super nice detail Thomas in your images. What are you using to take the photos?
Pat

[Pices]

Looks like he’s blowing us a kiss. Ha ha.
Patty

[thomaswal]

When I have enough time, I use my Canon 6D (dslr). I shoot the fish mainly with a canon 100mm macro lens, and for broader shots, I usually use a canon 24-70mm f2.8 L II USM lens.
I recently bought a cobra flash with an emitter to trigger it when it's not connected to the body of the camera. I'm still experimenting with the flash.
Otherwise, I use my Huawei P10.

I recently saw that someone who works for "Diskuszucht Stendker" posted a photo on instagram with the following caption (part of it):
"Please do not take pictures with a flash, because this can make our dicus fish blind!".
I guess that we could say the same about humans...? Has anyone ever heard of fish turning blind because of flashes?

Anyway... Using flash or the artificial light mounted on our tanks or natural light gives different results. I'm far from an expert so I'm still experimenting with this all ;)

Here's a photo of the two main males (?) in the tank:

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[Swedgin]

When I have enough time, I use my Canon 6D (dslr). I shoot the fish mainly with a canon 100mm macro lens, and for broader shots, I usually use a canon 24-70mm f2.8 L II USM lens.
I recently bought a cobra flash with an emitter to trigger it when it's not connected to the body of the camera. I'm still experimenting with the flash.
Otherwise, I use my Huawei P10.

I recently saw that someone who works for "Diskuszucht Stendker" posted a photo on instagram with the following caption (part of it):
"Please do not take pictures with a flash, because this can make our dicus fish blind!".
I guess that we could say the same about humans...? Has anyone ever heard of fish turning blind because of flashes?

Anyway... Using flash or the artificial light mounted on our tanks or natural light gives different results. I'm far from an expert so I'm still experimenting with this all ;)

Here's a photo of the two main males (?) in the tank:

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Stunning, Thomas. I really have to learn to take some pictures half as good as yours. Luckyly there is a photography section on here. Need a camera first though....

[thomaswal]

On the photography side, I guess that once you know the basics, it's only a question of practice and experience. Feel free to ask once you take your first photos with your future camera. There are some technical aspects to consider, but once we have these in mind, it's more a question of composition, knowing your fish, their behaviour etc.

The problem that comes with "camera photography" is that it's not enough to take the photos. The edit is a big part of it too!
Here are a few photos from the 22nd. I did another photo session since then, but I haven't had time to edit them yet...

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(I haven't found the way to photography this Solid Fire Red yet... The photos always look dull or depth-less... In fact, the red/orange colours are outside the sRGB gamut. But if I upload the photos with the ProPhoto RGB profile, they may not show properly for everyone.)

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;)

[two utes]

On the photography side, I guess that once you know the basics, it's only a question of practice and experience. Feel free to ask once you take your first photos with your future camera. There are some technical aspects to consider, but once we have these in mind, it's more a question of composition, knowing your fish, their behaviour etc.

The problem that comes with "camera photography" is that it's not enough to take the photos. The edit is a big part of it too!
Here are a few photos from the 22nd. I did another photo session since then, but I haven't had time to edit them yet...

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(I haven't found the way to photography this Solid Fire Red yet... The photos always look dull or depth-less... In fact, the red/orange colours are outside the sRGB gamut. But if I upload the photos with the ProPhoto RGB profile, they may not show properly for everyone.)


;)

Your photos are great...maybe a different color back ground may hep you achieve what you're looking for. If the glass isn't painted, maybe slip a board with a darker color behind just for a photo shoot

[thomaswal]

Thanks for the suggestion! It was already on my list of things to do. I wanted to either have a darker background or a lighter background (blown out). It's a bit difficult in my tank because of the wall behind it and because of all the things that are in the tank, but maybe I'll manage to try it out ;)

[brewmaster15]

They indeed don't stop surprising me!

I have many photos to edit and upload. For now, here's the Blue Diamond playing with his mouth...

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I'll try to upload some of the other photos as soon as I manage to find some time to do it ;)

Thomas I really like this image.I like it so much I nominated it for our new "Photo of the Month (http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?133211-So-we-have-a-New-Project-Here-at-SimplyDiscus) "project. :) Its a great capture and a striking image. Good luck!
Al

[thomaswal]

Thomas I really like this image.I like it so much I nominated it for our new "Photo of the Month (http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?133211-So-we-have-a-New-Project-Here-at-SimplyDiscus) "project. :) Its a great capture and a striking image. Good luck!
Al

Thanks!
I'm sure that you agree that photography and fish-keeping are two hobbies that go well together ;)

[thomaswal]

And here I am again with a few photos ;)


All the fish seem to be doing great! They are still growing and are active.

I can't keep up with everything at the same time so the photos are slightly more than one week old...

This time, everything happened in the middle of the day! I was lucky enough to still be home at that time. Had I not been home, I would have probably not even known that they had laid eggs!

The Téfé laying some eggs:
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The Blue Snake Skin eating her eggs:
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Yes, she noticed...
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But she kept laying her eggs:
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At the same time, on the other side of the tank...
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The Blue Diamond looked more interested than the first time I saw the German Wonder lay her eggs. This time, more eggs were laid and the Blue Diamond came slightly closer and went kind of vertical. However, he has not made a single pass over the eggs.


So basically, on the right side of the tank, the German Wonder laid her eggs, the Blue Diamond did not know what to do so he observed and finally the German Wonder ate her eggs.
And on the left side of the tank, the Téfé laid her eggs, the Blue Snake Skin got very excited (hungry?) and ate them all!

At first I was excited that they were laying eggs. Then I felt a bit sad for the Téfé because all her hard work producing the eggs went into the Blue Snake Skin's belly!

;)

[thomaswal]

Latest update...:
The two couples were at it again yesterday evening. They started laying eggs while we were thinking about doing a water change.
The German Wonder laid her eggs first. It was surprising to see that she did not eat the eggs right after laying them.
The Téfé also started laying her eggs. She approximately started 2 hours after the German Wonder was done. On her side of the tank, the Blue Snake Skin did not even wait until the Téfé had finished laying eggs. He literally pushed the Téfé away from her eggs to eat them!

In the end, the eggs were gone from both sides. None of the males tried to fertilize the eggs...
One day maybe...? :)

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I'm surprised to see how often they lay eggs. A few weeks ago, I wouldn't have believed that they could do it several times per month!

:)

[thomaswal]

Hey every one!

It's been a while!

This contest sure was a great challenge. I could more or less keep up for the first two months, but August was too busy for me to post anything...
Thanks to this contest, I think that we all noticed how much things can change in a few months!
I also really like being able to go back to the first posts and easily see where I started from ;)

I am still surprised by how much things can evolve within such a limited space.
The Blue Diamond (now called Henrisson) used to be the boss. Now it looks like the Téfé (the only discus without a name yet) is ruling the tank.
Two days ago, the Téfé and the Blue Snake Skin (Nour) took hold of 2/3 of the tank and push away any intruder. In fact, it's mainly the Téfé who does the bullying! From the start she was my favourite and it's not about to change!
The others are doing good... apart from the Blue Diamond who started showing signs of not-so-well-being yesterday evening. I did a 80% WC this morning and he looked much better... Now I just dread going back home to see how he's doing. For me, taking care of discus is really stressful. I'm trying to stay calm and not to stress over all the small things that I notice but it's hard! Since I don't have any experience with diseases, I don't really know when to switch from "There might be a problem..." to "I have to do something!"... Maybe it will come one day :)

Along the way, I've noticed a ton of little things that I may have not noticed if I were not looking for things to share with you! Their behaviour is incredible and they are so full of details that there's always something new to discover! Recently, I notice that the Blue Snake Skin and the Téfé are the only two discus who have pectoral fins that divide in two "strands" (?) at the end.

There are still a few things I'd like to optimize regarding the filtration in this tank. I'll try to find a solution and if I don't, I'll star a thread ;)


I've also really loved seeing the progress of the others in the contest! I have learnt a lot in the past months and I am really grateful to all those who devoted their time for this. Thanks to the admins and to those who brought life to the contest by posting!
Seeing what the other great members of this forum are doing was inspirational and the wealth of information shared was impressive!


I'll try to soon figure out how to best continue this journey and share a few thoughts or photos with you all!


A small photo of the Téfé from 2 days ago:
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[dagray]

Very nice photos of some lovely fish.

What focal lengths are you using? Cropping or not cropping? Full frame camera or crop sensor?

Again some very nice photos.

[thomaswal]

Thanks!

I use a Canon 6D (full frame) with a 100mm macro lens. In the thread, there are also a few photo taken with a 24-70 f/2.8L.
Given the resizing and the compression needed to post the photos on the forum, you can't enjoy them as much as I can, but you get the gist of it!

Concerning cropping, I don't do much. I just rotate the image slightly if needed and do minimal cropping.
I haven't taken photos in a while now. I hope that I'll get some time to do it soon ;)

[dagray]

thank you so much for the technical specs. I shoot a Pentax K-1 full frame :)