My New Group of Red Batata X Jacarecappa from Hans Discus

[Seanliftsnyc]

Hi Everyone.

Since these are pretty popular fish at the moment, I thought I’d share my journey of keeping this group of 6 Beautiful Discus that I picked up from Discus Hans USA in Delaware last Friday.

So I’m not new to keeping Discus, I’ve kept domestics a few times, as well as Wild
Greens. This will be my 1st time keeping discus from Hans and also with his new supplier Discus X. I will update daily and let everyone know how things are going with these guys and document what I hope will be way more up’s then downs.

1st off I’ll add meeting up with Hans was great, he’s such a gentleman and his new facility is awesome and all the fish look absolutely amazing and healthy.

I picked out 6 Red Batata X Jacarecappa at about 4.5 inches and they will be getting housed in my 90 gallon aquarium that is powered by a Fluval FX6 and a Fluval 407….the tank is set up with 2 filters because a few years ago it was home to my African Cichlid group of peacocks and haps and with those fish over filtering is always better than under filtering….either way I’m sure these guys will get used to the flow of the tank, I’m not worried as I also kept a group of Wild Green Discus in there last year and they didn’t mind the flow. The tank light in case anyone will ask down the line is a Fluval Plant LED which I consider to be one of the best lights on the market. The plants are beautiful, but not real and from a company I miss terribly who is not longer in business, elite cichlids. The substrate is CaribSea super naturals crystal river sand.

I’m going to post some pics of the beginning of the journey after Hans netted them out and I will update daily on their behavior and overall how the experience is going with these guys.

Feel free to ask questions as I will be posting daily and viewing the forums.134575134576

[Seanliftsnyc]

After the 4 hour drive from Delaware back to Long Island City I floated them for about 20 minutes to temp acclimate them which is 85 degrees Fahrenheit, and than slowly added my water to theirs for about another 30 minutes. The only thing that worried me was that Hans PH is in the mid to high 7’s and my PH is in the mid to high 6’s usually sitting at about 6.8
Nether the less they went in pretty smoothly and I left the lights out for about 24 hours and it was time for the game of let’s all hide in the corner for a few days. Slowly but surely they began to explore their new tank and I was able to snag a few pics of them in all their glory. As for feeding it hasn’t been anything to out of the ordinary for new discus. I tried to feed them some Tropical D50 flakes on day 2 and 1 of them sort of went for the food while the others sat back and didn’t show any interest. Day by day since adding them I’ve been using 2 different types of food, both flakes. One is the D50 flakes and the other is from a company Ocean Nutrition and this is their reef flakes which are high in protein and my previous group liked very much. I will also be using Sera granules once they settle in…right now I feel they sink way to quick into the sand and would rather that be a food I’m using once all are really going for the food.134577

We are on day 6 and as of this morning 3 of the the 6 went right at the flakes with no hesitation while the other 3 didn’t seem ready to make a go at them yet. I will try Al’s Freeze Dried black worms this evening and monitor who eats and who doesn’t. From my experience and all the advice I’ve gotten this is some what normal behavior, I mean I remember it taking weeks for one of my Wild Greens to become interested in food, but after we did he never skipped a meal again. Hopefully they get more and comfortable over the next days and really begin to settle in.
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[brewmaster15]

Sean,
Thats a great start to your Tank Journal ! Thanks for taking the time to post it. I'm Glad you took me up on the suggestion to document the Journey here. :) I'm really looking forward to watching these beautiful Discus grow. Pretty sure you got this but anything comes up I'm sure we can get you through the rough Patches.

Enjoy the beauties.. I knew you would be back into Discus again lol.
Al

[jeep]

Those are really nice! Congratulations!!

[AquaticNerd]

Super nice looking fish. Like others have mentioned, I too love the wild look in domestic form.

My previous group loved the ocean nutrition flakes - they just hated having to chase after all the small flakey bits because it usually didn't have a whole lot of large pieces. There was another flake food they really liked as well, I think it was Xtreme Aquatics Krill & Spirulina flakes.

Looking forward to seeing your journey!

[Willie]

...my PH is in the mid to high 6’s usually sitting at about 6.8 ...

D*mn!

[Seanliftsnyc]

Thanks Al

Yes I’m glad to be back housing some discus, as always thank you for all the advice…very much appreciated my friend.

[Seanliftsnyc]

Thank you.

I’ve kept wilds before and while I absolutely loved them, I wasn’t a huge fan of how long it took them to settle in and the med process that it took to get them stable, just goes with the territory I guess. So if I can keep a good looking group like these Batata and not have to go through a 3 month long process to get them stable I’m all for it…we shall see, I’m curious to see how the next few weeks go with these guys….fingers crossed.

One of my groups of domestic discus loved the ocean nutrition flakes so from now on I make it a staple in any discus tanks. They also really loved the Tropical D50 flakes as well. I’m using both of these now with a group of Alenquer I’m keeping and they leave nothing behind.

[Seanliftsnyc]

So gave them a light feeding last night to see who would go for the flakes
and only 3 out of the 6 we’re making the attempt to go after the food. So after the initial
Pinch I decided to give something else a try. Not my go to, and definitely not a fan but I decided to just give some frozen blood worms a go….Needless to say they all went for them, now that I see all will eat and they’re just picky mofos, I’ll give Al’s freeze dried black worms a go tonight. I’m also happy to say they didn’t seem to bothered by the light being on, they huddled for about 5 minutes after we turned the lights on and then all came out and went exploring. I’ll chalk it up as a successful night!

Snapped a pic of a few passing by to say hello.
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[dagray]

Beautiful fish.

I am planning on getting six at 2.5 inches from Hans

[Seanliftsnyc]

Thank you!!!

He’s got em at that size…I saw them all when I visited him at his shop. All looked super healthy and active!

[Second Hand Pat]

These are beautiful Sean and think I like these more then the F2 Batata which seem to be mostly striated throughout the body. I am liking the striation around the rim. Were there any more color solid red in the larger sizes?
Pat

[Seanliftsnyc]

I’f I must be honest….looking at all the tanks there in all the sizes between mine and the other straight Red Batata….they all looked very similar. None struck me as being a lot more solid than others, some had a darker ring around them, some had some more speckles, but none looked as solid as I thought they would. Essentially looked like the same fish just in various sizes. Now it could also be that people snatched up the more solid ones when the shipment arrived? But who knows! I did however see on discus x Facebook what looks to be a very deep red Batata….way deeper than anything I saw at Hans shop.
I’ll post a pic down below. 134607

[jwcarlson]

I'm not saying this to be negative about Discus X at all, because everyone does it... I think. But there's certainly some cherry picking and a little color vibrancy shifting going on, probably. If you look at how differently colored the hands are. Presumably it's the same person's hands. They're all so stinking beautiful, though. I've been thinking about getting rid of my Stendkers and starting another growout with something more "wild" looking. I probably won't do that though.

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[Iminit]

Great looking discus Sean! About a year ago I bought this guy in front locally for $15 the size of a quarter. 134609 it’s 6” now and I’m happy with it :).
Really like those 2 blues. Thing is like any pet store you have to buy as soon as possibly to when they arrive. I’ve bought from Hans before. His Stendker discus. For me their durability just wasn’t there. They just could’nt be mixed with almost any other type of discus. So being he’s moved to Asian discus I’m interested to see how your’s develop. How long of a trip was it for you to get to his shop?

[Seanliftsnyc]

I was there and viewed a lot of the fish at Hans Place. After years of looking at fish in a breeder, supplier, or sellers tank I can honestly say the colors vary and alot of things come into play. Most of the pics we see are taken out of the tank and with a flash, and wether it’s a professional camera, iPhone, or Android phone will vary and has alot to do with the colors of the fish. All the fish I saw there were really beautiful and displayed a lot of colors and looked healthy. When I see a really nice fish I immediately begin to think how much nicer that fish is going to look in my tank because I know my light plays a role and I have a pitch black background on my tanks…plus with the light sand I know they are going to pop once getting settled in.

[Seanliftsnyc]

Wow Tom….that fish is Beautiful!!! Where in Long did you pick that beauty up from?

As for the resilience of Hans new Asian Bred fish compared to the German ones, I can’t even begin to comment because I didn’t keep his German fish ever, I have kept Asian Domestic and Wild, and both had their up’s and downs. I do know a few people who kept fish from Hans previous supplier and have heard some bad and some good. Some had said they were great with no issues, others have said they broke down in a short period of time and went dark and nothing they did could turn them around! And of course the mixing part of fish. I am not one to mix fish…I kept my wilds and domestics separated, but there’s others out there that mix and do the necessary work with QT’ing and introducing fish from different lands and breeders and have no issues? But getting back to what you said and it not working out for you, I’ve heard that from a few people and I guess a few things come into play, but I never had the chance to give his German discus a try.

As for his new Asian discus from Discus X, I’m a week into keeping them and can’t really give an honest assessment yet. I have been monitoring very closely and watching things unfold. They have begun to venture out more, still mostly as a group, they did the pecking order thing with a lil scuffling back and fourth the 1st few days and that looks to be sorted out. What I can do now is just observe.

So from Long Island City Queens on a Friday afternoon leaving at 12noon it took me roughly 4 hours there and then 4 hours back….lol long ride.

However it was a nice ride, only traffic was though NYC and then into NJ…but overall was a nice ride and I will probably do it again when I get some more fish from him.

[Seanliftsnyc]

So Today marks a week I have been keeping these fish and it’s been a pretty good and quite ride so far.

I have been doing water changes every 2 days at about 25-30% and they have begun to come out of their shell with less hiding and seen to be getting more comfortable. The temp is at 85 as of this morning, PH at 6.8, and last evening I fed them Spirulina Flakes from Tropical and all 6 fish ate and seemed to enjoy them. The last few days I have also regularly had their over head light on very low and they seem to have gotten used to that as well.

The one thing I’m going back and fourth with is doing my usual med treatment that I do with all my fish. Geos, Discus, literally anything I put in my tanks. This marks the 1st time I have not done my usual trio of meds that I have done for years which is a mix of Ich X, Paracleanse, and maracyn. I do this for 7 days with water changes at 20-30% every other day and just put back the amount of meds I took out. I than let them rest a week and monitor and if I feel the need will re dose for another week. I will usually than let them relax for 10 days while monitoring and if all is good I dose expel P which is levamisole and requires a water change after 24hours and I than re dose the expel P a week later.

That is usually my med process that has for the most part never failed me and also helps me sleep better at night. After I’m done with my usual process If I see any fish scratching more than a few times but I don’t see any visible white spots my go to has become paraguard and that to has helped me in the past. Most recently I did that entire treatment with my Wild Green Discus and at the end of the road all were healthy, eating, and enjoying tank life.

What’s everyone else’s feelings on how they introduce new fish into their tanks? Also a note these fish are alone in my 90 gallon so I’m not worried about them getting other fish sick as the tank is theirs and theirs alone.

Here’s some pics I snapped
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[Iminit]

I’m not one to use medication. Water changes have always worked for me. That and salt. I qt all new fish for at least 6weeks but usually more.

That discus was bought at pets warehouse with another. Sold as super reds.134615 these are about tne size of a quarter here. This is the other now134616

[Second Hand Pat]

Hey Sean, the fish are looking great. :D Did your tank go thru a mini-cycle? Are you going to follow your med treatment you outlined above. When I get new fish (wild discus) I want they to be comfortable and eating very well in the QT. I will do 50% water changes daily the first week and then see if they are ready to start a med treatment. I follow Al's treatment protocol which goes over six weeks. I then allow the fish to rest with daily WCs to help the fish flush any meds out of their system. Once the fish are ready I will introduce a fish from the DT to the QT and observe for another six weeks for any signs of CC etc. So generally the fish are in the QT for about three months or so. I am in no rush.
Pat

[Seanliftsnyc]

I’m not one to use medication. Water changes have always worked for me. That and salt. I qt all new fish for at least 6weeks but usually more.

That discus was bought at pets warehouse with another. Sold as super reds.134615 these are about tne size of a quarter here. This is the other now134616

They look beautiful!!!

[Seanliftsnyc]

Hey Sean, the fish are looking great. :D Did your tank go thru a mini-cycle? Are you going to follow your med treatment you outlined above. When I get new fish (wild discus) I want they to be comfortable and eating very well in the QT. I will do 50% water changes daily the first week and then see if they are ready to start a med treatment. I follow Al's treatment protocol which goes over six weeks. I then allow the fish to rest with daily WCs to help the fish flush any meds out of their system. Once the fish are ready I will introduce a fish from the DT to the QT and observe for another six weeks for any signs of CC etc. So generally the fish are in the QT for about three months or so. I am in no rush.
Pat


So the tank they are in now is a 90 gallon that I have had running for a few years now. The tank is way over filtered and has housed some of my favorite fish that I’ve ever kept. Most recently to a group of 12 Congo Tetras and 6 Beautiful Wild Red Head Topajos that just wouldn’t stop breeding there…lol. They’ve since been re homed and I did a complete 100% water change and PP treatment before adding the new discus in there. The readings and parameters on this tank have always been great for Wild fish with a PH of about 6.6-6.8

After conversing with both Al and Hans I’m going to let things ride for now and not do my normal medication dose that I do with all my new fish and just keep up with routine water changes and monitoring them daily.

Last night and this morning they all eat very well and enjoyed Tropical Spirulina flakes and soft granules and day by day continue to keep better and better, hoping for more of the same over the next few weeks. The attached pic was taken this morning right before I fed them. 134638

[Second Hand Pat]

They look great Sean :D Well done!
Pat

[Iminit]

Yes they are a great looking group!!

[jwcarlson]

Those are some beauties, Sean!

[Seanliftsnyc]

So some updates.

Fish are doing fairly well. They are eating everything I throw in there and getting more comfortable each day.

I have noticed some markings on them as of this morning. I’m not sure if it’s from bickering which I haven’t seen, or from maybe brushing up against the piece of driftwood I have in there, which actually isn’t sharp at all….so who knows. I guess it’s something to watch.

Here some pics, over all Group is looking good.

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And here’s the one with the mark on his side.
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[LizStreithorst]

Looks like a scrape. They sure are a pretty bunch.

[AquaticNerd]

I agree with Liz. It doesn't look like any pecking order marks that I've seen before.

[Seanliftsnyc]

So a little update on these guys…

We got eggs!!!! So one of the discus has laid eggs on the piece of driftwood and initially I had left it alone. 1 discus guarding the eggs but not a pair….the other 5 were kind of pushed into the corner while she aggressively guarded her eggs. After 2 days of relentless guarding it looked like she had given up and began to eat the eggs and began swimming away from her spot….And thats when I went in and did a water change and vacuumed whatever was left on the piece of wood and did some deeper looking into the rest of the fish….looks like one may have taken a few hits from her. Looks like black dots on one of the fish’s sides…I’ll post a pic so you guys can see…

Either way 3 weeks peacefulness came to a screeching halt but seems to be back for now. I’ll post some pics of her guarding her eggs and the side of one of my guys….let me know what you guys think. 134798134799

[Second Hand Pat]

Hi Sean, that should clear up with a few WCs. Females mature before the guys :)
Pat

[Seanliftsnyc]

Hi Sean, that should clear up with a few WCs. Females mature before the guys :)
Pat

Hey Pat….A few water changes later…134811they heard you and said touché : )