HONG KONG Trip Report: The discus I smuggled back to USA

[walton321]

Pic 1

[walton321]

pic 2

[walton321]

pic 3 without flash

[walton321]

pic 4 Close up without flash

[walton321]

pic 5 Side view

[EthanCote.com]

Purdy fishes Walton.

What crosses r they? They looked like Snow White x Sans Merah.

Thanks for the pix.


Cheers,

Chi.

[roger]

Those are some pretty fish :)

I wonder if I can convince the company I work for to send me to HK for a business trip.

Peace,
Roger

[DarkDiscus]

Those are some extremely red discus you have there!

I think discus smuggling could become very popular!

;D

John

[rsawest]

Very nice!!

Please tell us about your trip and your impressions about the HK discus scene.

[Wolf]

Ok I'm drooling over here. Nice fish and great report on your trip to Hong Kong. Have any more pictures of the fish shops?

[Discusgeo]

Walton321 very nice Discus. I am also interested in your filter setup. It's very interesting. Can you take a photo of that also on how it's put togethere.
Thanks for sharing
George

[walton321]

Hi: I got too excited about the fishes that I was buying I didn't think of asking the shop keeper of its origins. My impressions and experience is explained in the other thread:

http://forum.simplydiscus.com//index.php?board=1;action=display;threadid=5305;sta rt=0

However I did learn that the key to keeping lots of fishes crammed into a ten gallon tank is to change 90% of the water daily. And he did it while I was there. The fishes didn't mind too much. I guess they are used to it.

I don't have many shop pictures becuase I forgot to bring my digital cam so I bought a cheezy disposable camera. Thus the HK store pictures were too sharp.

As far as the sponge filter setup in my tank. It's easily made of 3/4" PVC pipes and connectors. I don't like the free standing pedestal sponge filter because you have to take it apart to squeeze the sponge. With my setup, I just reach in and pull the sponge right out with the fixture still in place. Then squeeze it. Makes maintenance easy.

If you look at picture #5, it simply consists of:

2 90 degree connectors
1 45 degree connector
1 cap
1 pvc pipe cut to size (drill holes in the section for the sponge intake)
1 rigid tube for the air stone

Great idea on the homemade filter Walton321, very inventive! Those fish are absolutely BEAUTIFUL! If they ever make babies I'd definitely take some off your hands. My girlfriend says those are the nicest red discus she's ever seen, I'm jealous ;)
8)Rob

[daninthesand]

Walton321. Two :thumbsup: :thumbsup: on the filter idea. Very ingenious. My hat is off to you. and great fish too.

Daniel

looks like more of those defective imported asian fish. Junk..surely hormoned and covered in flukes and soon to get plague..Just kidding and being sarcastic of the frequent asian fish bashing of course..They are beautiful and i wish I had 20 of them. Congratulations. I want to go!

walton321,
Like the filter set up. :thumbsup:

Miles

[Kap]

Thanks alot for sharing your great discus pics and story from your Hong Kong trip. I got a real charge out of the fish in plastic bags, too! Best wishes as you grow out your "souvenirs" from the Far East! Keep us posted with photo updates.

Hmmm, next time, are you going to figure out a way to bring your treasures home as "carry-on" baggage? Stow them under the seat in front of you? Put them in the overhead compartment? Just kidding, of course!

--Kap

[aloha_discus]

Aloha Walton, those discus of yours sure are Fine, Phat and so on. Keep us posted of their progress. The filter set is also a great idea Mahalo for sharing.

Aloha Ike & Anne ;D

[Chris-C]

Awesome fish and a cool setup.
One more silly question does the airline tubing just stick down through the top of the 45 angle or is there an inle drilled in between the two right angle joints. :-\ :-\ :-\

Chris

[walton321]

Chris: with the pvc filter assembled just drill at a slight angle so that the rigid tube can go straight down the uptake tube. Even if it's not straight straight down it should be fine. I have some that are slanted. good luck

Walton

Cool smuggling 8)

Great filter invention, thanks for sharing! Have you ever tried to put a power head on top of the up tube instead of the angled PVC w/airline?

We have taken the regular pedestal sponges and used a powerhead on top, it works great, increases the filtration. Of course you can't do this in small tanks or with babies (too much current) but in a 50 with juvies it works great, when used with Discus we deflect the straight flow a little, but with our Sterbai we give it to them full force and they love it!

Good luck with your new imports!

[Discus Don]

Walton,

When you glue the pipe together, do you use PVC cement or something less toxic? Will the toxicity of the solvent/cement dissipate over time? How long do you wait before it is tank-ready?

I've built a automatic tank drain which hangs on the side of the tank, but I was leery of using the cement, so I used silicon to glue it all together. It isn't as permanent, though....

TIA,
-Don

[walton321]

I don't use any pvc cement. Just pushing the connections together is tight enough. Even with the overflows for drainage I do not use cement because once it's glued it's permanent. I tend to move tanks around from time to time so I prefer not to use any glue.

I haven't tried putting in a powerhead because I don't want to use too much electricity. Plus it's will turn it into a mechanical filter and clog too fast. I also use an aquaclear so that takes care of the mechanical.