My New Fishes....Meteor X Ruby Red ( Thanks Jeep!)

[brewmaster15]

Hi all,
I haven't gotten in new fish here in years .. past few years I have had a world of other obligations getting in the way. I have been easing myself back into the hobby, and have started breeding fish again and enjoying the Hobby. Fellow admin and good friend Brian had a really sweet pair form from his spotted from Chicago Discus ..Meteor X Ruby Red. I could not resist!

Forgot what the rush was like when you get new Fish...Christmas all over. My Fish came in perfect from Brian. Boxed well, no leaks, and all in great shape. I got them 2 days ago and they settled in the first day and chowed on my Freeze Dried Blackworms. Transitioning them now to my Discus Chow for growout. Ultimately these will be incorporated into my wild Green Crosses lines.


From Brians thread... (http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?139699-More-from-Chicago)

http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?139699-More-from-Chicago

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This am..

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Better Pics to come shortly.


I have 12 in a 55 gal at this point. The plan is grow in the 55 gal and move to 75 gal in a few more weeks....then to a 125g Thats subject to change. I use no substrate in my tanks, just fish and water.:) I will update as I go on here but I definitely want to give a shout out to Brian. If any of you are looking for good healthy home bred Discus and he has some available.. Don't hesitate.

Thanks again Brian!
al

[jeep]

It's been any years since I shipped discus so I was pretty nervous about it. I'm glad they arrived safe and sound!!

The pair caught me off guard and spawned again in regular tap water. There are only about 30 wigglers but the future supply seems good, lol...

[fljones3]

Nice. Looking forward to the grow-out!

[LizStreithorst]

I'm still holding my breath and waiting for some blues. If I were into red, I'd have it made with Brian. You're doing great work with great fish.

[brewmaster15]

I'm still holding my breath and waiting for some blues. If I were into red, I'd have it made with Brian. You're doing great work with great fish.
Hopefully soon Liz.:) Just totally stirred up all the pairs here..Im hoping a little competition jump starts some good breeding

[Vanman]

Looking good. I can't wait for more pictures.

[Iminit]

Nice looking group! How long till they show color? %

[Second Hand Pat]

That's some nice looking fry Al :D I would say Brian did a great job with them.
Pat

[brewmaster15]

Nice looking group! How long till they show color? %

Tom I wouldnt expect color for a really long time... im not familiar with these strains so I will learning as they grow.

[solasis]

Awesome!! Those parents are stunning.

[MichiganDiscusEnthusiast]

Absolutely gorgeous and congratulations Al! Looks very promising based on the parents! Best of luck.

[jeep]

Nice looking group! How long till they show color? %

These are from the first spawn of these parents so I'm not sure how long, but LSS's I've bred in the past usually start showing pattern at around 3.5 to 4" and fully color up after a year. This is without color feeding. I bagged about 50 on the day I shipped these and I did see some color starting to show on a very few of the 9 bar and the pattern was quite nice.

This one is about 3"

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[brewmaster15]

Absolutely gorgeous and congratulations Al! Looks very promising based on the parents! Best of luck.

Thank you Kyle! Im looking forward to raising these out.

Al

[brewmaster15]

Awesome!! Those parents are stunning.

Yes they are Carter! Hows things with your pair and fry?

Al

[solasis]

Yes they are Carter! Hows things with your pair and fry?

Al

They are doing good!! My pair still spawns every 1-2 weeks, I keep them in a 40 breeder. They are in tap though and the eggs never hatch, I only have space to raise one group of fry right now. Good to know I can get another batch going pretty fast, though!! The fry are in a odd sized 50ish gallon tank and have grown well, most around 2.5 inch now (maybe bigger?). Not sure when I want to start selling them but it's going to be hard to say bye to the little guys :cry:

[brewmaster15]

So its update time.. After Brian's terrible losses I feel its even more important I do right by these fry. They are doing very well ... 10 minutes ago I moved them to their new home.. 125 gallon tank. Big upgrade from their 55 gal . They look a little lost in there but I think it will really help them grow nicely to have more water and more space.

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Better pics latter

[LizStreithorst]

I like giving my babies elbow room, too. Yes, they always look lost at first, but they soon start loving all their new freedom. I know that it's not the way the breeders in Asia do it, but not everyone can do 2 100% WCs every day.

[brewmaster15]

Exactly Liz.. theres alot of ways to raise good discus..we just have to find the one that works best for us.

[Charlyc11]

Nice looking bunch Al they sure are going to love the space.

[jeep]

I can't wait until they color up and see if they're what I'm hoping for. The parents are gorgeous!!

[jeep]

These are the survivors. I think they're are a bit smaller than yours, but considering what they've been through they were lucky to survive at all. The shapes are good, as is the eye to body ratio so I'll give them a chance.

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[brewmaster15]

Brian, Im glad they are doing better. I think they will snap back for you.

Al

[Zeus Discus]

Those look great! I hope more of these are available soon. I would love some!

[CliffsDiscus]

The Discus look healthy, and the 8 and 9 stress bar Discus are already coloring up.

[brewmaster15]

Water change time. This 125 gal is in my basement near enough my water storage So I can do large water changes. My other 125 g is in my living room. MAx I can do there is 30 % unaged tap water. This basement tank I can do 50% daily. I know with my stocking and feeding that 30% would be fine for me here .. But the tank has less seeded filtration than my living room tank.. so taking no chances.I will have to go back to 30% tap as soon as I have a batch if fry.. the aged water is for them.

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I really don't get why water changes are such a sore point with some hobbyists... even in an archaic old school method like mine it really takes no effort. Hose to drain ..Hose to Fill . Of course there are many considerations as to how to accomplish this but theres also multiple ways to do it.

Clean stable water is just something Discus need .Its the fishes main connection to their environment.Keep it clean and it will go along way to keeping them happy and healthy.

[Charlyc11]

I try to make it easy on myself and the only buckets I lift is when I clean the bottom of the tanks. I piped a drain form my basement fish room to my back yard. In the summer I use a sprinkler but in the winter since it would freeze just a pipe coming out of my work shop. I rigged it all up using hose quick connects to make it easier on myself. My pumps and hoses have quick connects and the larger tanks have pipes with valves to fill directly from my aging tanks. Plus an utility quick connect to fill smaller tanks when they are needed.

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[brewmaster15]

Looks great Chuck. I have a waste water barrel outside that I pump to and use in the yard. It also goes to an outdoor 125 gal frog pond. In the winter theres a drain that ties in with my washing machine drain...I can gravity drain several breeders to it.. but I pump up abunch also.

Unfortunately my "fishroom" Is now a collection of tanks in various locations.not ideal but better than nothing.

Some tanks gravity drain to a curtain drain in my driveway. The upstairs tank waters the lawn and planting..its gravity drained.

[brewmaster15]

Update time..
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These are Murphy's (http://http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?140173-Murphy-s-journey) siblings of anyone is following that thread (http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?140173-Murphy-s-journey).

[Second Hand Pat]

These guys are looking awesome Al and already developing a lot of color. Nice job :D
Pat

[brewmaster15]

Thanks Pat,
Theres a few in there that I think are going to be very nice fish.

Al

[jeep]

They're definitely growing better than mine. Whatever was in my water seems to have had a long term affect. But I must admit, considering the color and quality of the parents, I'm a bit surprised and disappointed in the coloring and patterns of the offspring. I know there are always throwbacks when it comes to breeding LSS's, but the percentage seems pretty high with these. Past LSS's I've bred have had a much higher percentage of fry that look like the parents, but unlike these, those parents were siblings.

Aside from that, you're doing a great job!!

[brewmaster15]

Thanks Brian. Im a bit surprised myself. I think there will probably be a few red snakeskins in the mix.. the non snakes look more like turqs at this point than leopards... but Im hoping for some fine spotting on the ones that havent colored up. Either way I think they will be good stock to cross to my wild crosses. Still young... lots to grow.

[jeep]

These were from a really large spawn and after the ones I shipped out to you and Cary, as well as the ones that died, I have about 14 left. 3 of those 14 are Ring Leopards with very bold rings, so we have that going for us, lol...

[jeep]

BTW, in case they don't color up the way we would like, my new Super Panthera's are beginning to do the dance :)

[seanyuki]

Brian pictures please.

[brewmaster15]

BTW, in case they don't color up the way we would like, my new Super Panthera's are beginning to do the dance :)

Awesome!:)

[Willie]

Update time.. ...
These are Murphy's (http://http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?140173-Murphy-s-journey) siblings of anyone is following that thread (http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?140173-Murphy-s-journey).

Beauties. You can just tell when discus have been raised right - lots of water changes.

[brewmaster15]

Thank you Willie!
Al

[brewmaster15]

So I made some changes to the tank. I wanted pothos growin it but this is a basement... theres no window here .. so if the lights are off in the room its dark. Too dark even for pothos. So I lifted the tank light up off the tank about 14 inches and suspended it. Still gets a good amount of light in the tank but now I can root pothos.

Headed over to my local Lowes to buy some pothos and wouldn't you know it.. they had none on the rack.. on a whim I checked out the death deal rack.. its where Lowes puts all the plants that have gone by or are on deaths door... score! Got a sad looking root bound Pothos for $2.99 . Hosed off all the dirt broke it apart and added it to tank. Looks pretty sorry right now but wont take long for new growth .

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Room lights off..
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Discus are like... "What the heck is this? "

Al

[AquaticNerd]

I have a strong belief that, even with the faintest of light, pothos will thirive in any aquarium. I used to have them in mine as well and even the little stemmy ones without any roots would grow new roots in about 1-2 weeks and just take off. They're surprisingly hardy.

[Iminit]

Ok well Im that guy! Pothos grow but not great! I got plastic trellises off Amazon to try and grow them up. Also added some led lights to the ceiling to grow all top plants. These lights really made the plants grow!!136679136680136681136682. As you can see other house plants grow great! Peace lily the best.

[brewmaster15]

Ok well Im that guy! Pothos grow but not great! I got plastic trellises off Amazon to try and grow them up. Also added some led lights to the ceiling to grow all top plants. These lights really made the plants grow!!136679136680136681136682. As you can see other house plants grow great! Peace lily the best.


Ive always had great luck with mine Tom..



I wonder if its just because you have other plants that are competing for nutrients or are allelopathic to pothos.


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Ive usually only used Pothos no other plants in the tank.

Al

[jeep]

They all look nice. As I'm doing my kitchen expansion/remodel, I'm always thinking "more tank space', lol... But, I also have to remember that it's a living space first, hopefully with fish space incorporated. Including plants may be my way out!!

[brewmaster15]

Small update here. The half dead pothos I added to my tank has already started sending out new roots. Its only been 6 days and Many of the old roots have new roots growing 1/4 " to 3/4 ". Just shows how fast pothos can grow.

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[brewmaster15]

Update pics... all are doing well here. A few have really colored up alot.. others not yet.. pothos is se ding out lots of roots and has new growth for leaves.

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[jeep]

Looking good! And really nice shapes on those!!

Between you and Cary, you two have everything from the first spawn that survived. I'm hoping that since my water appears to be settling down I can now grow out later spawns as they should be...

[Discus Fever]

Things are looking really good Al, keep up the great work!!

[brewmaster15]

Thanks guys. Im really happy with these guys. I really think theres going to be some stellar fish here.

Brian this pair is a definite keeper.
Al

[Discus Fever]

Nice looking Discus fella's, can't wait to see more updates!!

[brewmaster15]

More updates soon.. I promise:)

[Second Hand Pat]

These guys look so good Al :D I am super excited to watch them mature :D
Pat