On track - FINALLY!!

[jeep]

So I've been remodeling my spare bedroom into a fish room and it's taken much longer than planned, with delay after delay because of an injured shoulder. I started by tearing out the walls, insulating the inside of the walls (my house was built without insulation), replacing/updating the electrical and fresh paint and trim from top to bottom. The old ceiling was pretty nasty looking, so I skimmed it smooth with joint compound and sanded every square inch by hand - 3 times, then sprayed it with knockdown texture!! I built new tank racks for 12 tanks then finally found my RO unit that had been lost for years, and replaced all the filters. My stored membranes were bad so I ordered new ones. Then I had equipment failure (old stuff), then a tank leak, etc... I have a pair of Passions that have been spawning in a hard water community tank for over a year and I finally moved them into their own tank and filled it with RO - 3 days later they spawned!

So far, so good because the eggs all look viable as of day 2. Now I just hope all their practice pays off and they know what to do, lol...

It's a lot nicer in person and there's still a lot of clutter, but hopefully it will be discus dedicated soon :o

Quad rack for 2-55's and 2- 40l's (I know the tank looks dirty. Algae is out of control because of the cheap LED lights that came with the tank and i scrub it every day. They will be history soon!)
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Double rack for 1-55 and 1-40l
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5 rack for 3-20g and 2-29g
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1st pair of Passions
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Should hatch tomorrow
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Happy dad!
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[danotaylor]

Looking fantastic Jeep. Gonna be a great place to hang out. Love the vibrancy of the Passion's color, wow!

[BrendanJ23]

My god, those reds! *picks jaw up off the floor* Looking great Brian and good luck with it all.

[jeep]

Thanks!! As I've said before in other threads, these were my first discus I got since my return to the hobby. Due to my travel schedule early on, they did not receive great care, but they still turned out very nice! This makes me feel their genetics are top notch and I'm lucky to be able to hopefully see the potential of their offspring. :o

[Second Hand Pat]

The room and fish look great Brian and those passions are jaw drop dead gorgeous. Hope you get wigglers soon.
Pat

[coralbandit]

Outstanding !
Love the red .Passion seems appropriate ..
Good luck with the eggs they do look good .
If you have room for any human furniture save a seat for me !
I love fish rooms ..

[Sturiosoma]

Got a question for you Brian and I hope I bring it about properly, is the the Passion a breeders name or a strain as it looks similar to a super red

Jeanne

[jeep]

It's hard to define exactly which strain a PB is because they aren't all that consistent like non-PB's can be. Melons, Marlboro's, Super Red, Fire Red are all very similar and the breeder calls them what they choose. Years ago, one of the most refined version was called the Mandarin Passion and it had more of a burnt orangeish/red color with little clear dots in the tail and a hint of a halo. The guy I got these from received them by mistake and he didn't know the technical name for them, so when I was asking what they should be called, the names Melon, Orange and even Tangerine Dream were thrown out there. They also reminded me of some old MP's I once had and Al agreed, so I call them MP's, lol.. The truth is, they are red/orange PB's that are a little cleaner than earlier generations.

This was a true MP from years ago...
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[jeep]

Thanks Tom :o

[jeep]

After a year of failure, they don't exactly know what to do with all these stickyheads bouncing around the cone, lol...

Sorry for the poor photo but I don't want to get too close to them. I'll start changing them over to straight tap water today...


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[Mando]

So what was the water now? 100% ro or a mix ro/tap?

Changing them to tap now wont affect them? You do 100% conversion or like 20% across a few hours/days until 100% on tap?

[jeep]

The water being used to reduce the TDS was pure RO. TDS was lowered from 400 to 30. I'm going to add straight tap at about 10-20% daily for the next few days and when they go free swimming I'll be changing 100% or more daily straight tap. I feel the tap water is important at this stage of development because of the minerals. Depending on how they develop, I sometimes add some calcium chloride if I ever see fin or gill plate defects.

[pastry]

Brian, those MPs are bad@$$ but I would love to see pics of that brown-based red in pic 2! (that's my weakness!). Even the different Turks you have look awesome! MORE PICS BROTHER! :bounce:

[jeep]

Elliot, actually the MP's are very well refined PB's. Those are some old photos but I have more tucked away. I'll post some later ;) I would love to have a brown based red of that quality!

On a happy note, this is the pair's first viable spawn and they acting like pro's. The fry are starting to go free swimming at this moment :o:o

[snxtif]

So I've been remodeling my spare bedroom into a fish room

Just checking if there is still a word "spare" in that sentence :D

[Second Hand Pat]

Elliot, actually the MP's are very well refined PB's. Those are some old photos but I have more tucked away. I'll post some later ;) I would love to have a brown based red of that quality!

On a happy note, this is the pair's first viable spawn and they acting like pro's. The fry are starting to go free swimming at this moment :o:o

Very cool Brian, hopefully all are attached this morning.
Pat

[coralbandit]

Fingers crossed for the fry !
Kind of new so pardon the intrusion Brian but I note in the second picture some poor lads feet ? They look like he is a little thin ?
Then I note a couple pelvis and hands in closet ?? I hope you are not in trouble or hiding things ..
I originally thought the closet looked to be waiting for a tank infill and then saw ,well I just wasn't sure ..
They seemed clearer to see then the reflection game but still hard top figure ?:eek:

[jeep]

Very observant... My secret is out! Actually, they are my helpers and they take care of my discus when I'm away. The don't take up much space and keep very quiet except for the Halloween season when they get a little playful :evilgrin:

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[Mando]

Fingers crossed for the fry !
Kind of new so pardon the intrusion Brian but I note in the second picture some poor lads feet ? They look like he is a little thin ?
Then I note a couple pelvis and hands in closet ?? I hope you are not in trouble or hiding things ..
I originally thought the closet looked to be waiting for a tank infill and then saw ,well I just wasn't sure ..
They seemed clearer to see then the reflection game but still hard top figure ?:eek:

I laughed so hard. haha. Great observation to detail. I just focused on the beautiful fish.

[coralbandit]

Very observant... My secret is out! Actually, they are my helpers and they take care of my discus when I'm away. The don't take up much space and keep very quiet except for the Halloween season when they get a little playful :evilgrin:

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That's FANTASTIC Brian !
I am glad my attempt at humor is appreciated !
Just wow on the disc in the pumpkin !

[jeep]

Well, I guess we'll have to get ready for round 2. They got hungry and ate the fry :mad:

[LizStreithorst]

aw rats.

[jeep]

I knew it was wishful thinking for them to be perfect the first time. I suspect the female so I'll have to remove her if it continues...

[danotaylor]

:noway::(:sorry:

[Mando]

That's unfortunate. Better luck next time.

[coralbandit]

Without failure success would never taste so sweet .
I hope you get to try again ..

[Tshethar]

Sorry to hear it... awesome pumpkin and fish room... and here's hoping they'll do better soon. Hope she'll let you know next time she wants food!

[Sturiosoma]

Brian can I ask about your complete feeding regimen

Jeanne

[jeep]

Brian can I ask about your complete feeding regimen

Jeanne

Do you mean in the breeding tank? I feed the parents very minimally with granules and flakes. When they have a spawn they aren't too interested in food anyway. The fry got nothing because they didn't make it long enough to eat anything, but I usually supplement the fry with BBS about 5 days after free swimming..

[jeep]

The camer keeps focusing in on the tank and not the fry, but here's the lone survivor of the "Mandarin Massacre"... I'm sure he'll be gone tomorrow, then we'll start again... :p

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[Mando]

Save it :angel:

[snxtif]

Well, I guess we'll have to get ready for round 2. They got hungry and ate the fry :mad:

Sorry to hear that.

Seriously though, what is with this cannibalism???

[jeep]

Preparing a Sunday dinner :mad::mad:

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[coralbandit]

Nice ! Slow roasting over the weekend ?:sorry:
For what it is worth my reading on filial cannabalism says the spawn that follows often is larger and stronger !
It's like pre natal vitamins for the parent that eats them ?
My experience with rams says you should get a good bunch of eggs …
Now why do they eat the eggs or fry ??? They're silly fish I have , no clue !:argue:

Good luck Brian .

[Mando]

I can't get enough of how red these fish are! Truly a collectors strain.

[jeep]

Nice ! Slow roasting over the weekend ?:sorry:
For what it is worth my reading on filial cannabalism says the spawn that follows often is larger and stronger !
It's like pre natal vitamins for the parent that eats them ?
My experience with rams says you should get a good bunch of eggs …
Now why do they eat the eggs or fry ??? They're silly fish I have , no clue !:argue:

Good luck Brian .

Even though they have been spawning for over a year, they've been in community with hard water with no hatches. I'm hoping they are still new at this and 3rd time is a charm. I don't like difficult pairs... I'll let them try for a 3rd time and if the same behavior continues I will apply corrective measures :angel: If that doesn't work I'll try screening them and if that doesn't work I'll try removing the female as she seems to be the offender. If that doesn't work I'll try raising them artificially because I don't have surrogates at this time although I really don't want to go that far... dam fish need to learn, lol...

[jeep]

Resurrecting an old thread... Mom was finally introduced to a dad that has taught her what it's all about. Unfortunately, she developed a severe internal infection after a series of heater failures and I almost lost her. I was able to treat her in time with kanamycin and SALT and after almost 2 weeks, the infection was expelled. Three weeks later she's acting normal and just laid a small clutch last night. Only 2 survived before dad convinced her to stop eating the kids from the last spawn, but they made it to 5 and weeks and 1 3/4" so far. Hopefully there's more to come soon so I can work more with this line...

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[danotaylor]

Thats great mate!! They look to have great shape as well. Can't wait to see them grow and turn color!

[LizStreithorst]

Brian, it seems that the more important to you the fish are, the more kicks in the head they through out way. It isn't just that way with breeding fish. Judging by the 2 kids you pictured the quality for the size is excellent. Best of luck from here on.

[jeep]

The picture quality sucks! It's a phone camera and they swim at full speed when they see me. It's crazy to get excited about 2 fry, but after the repeated disappointments I've had with these awesome discus, I'm elated to have finally turned a corner with the mother. 1 female out of 15 discus, lol... I've always wanted to have pairs that need no assistance from screens or fostering and I'm willing to work with them as long as it takes. These have just taken a little longer than I would like...

[jeep]

8 week birthday!! So far they're exactly what I had hoped for. Great shapes and not a speck of pepper on them. They should start coloring up in a few more weeks. Dad is tending another batch now because mom just can't get her stuff together...

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[LizStreithorst]

Beautiful fish, Brian.