Back in the discus hobby

[Jandiscus]

The new fish are doing well and are fun to watch. A pair of tiger turquoise has formed and here is the result:


3 days later:

http://youtube.com/shorts/7Rwnu5KANa4

This is a very young pair. Barely 5 inches, if that. They are doing a pretty good job though with taking turns watching the eggs/fry. The other fish are not disrupting them and they don't have to chase others away. I am not planning on raising any fry but it is cool to watch.

[brewmaster15]

The new fish are doing well and are fun to watch. A pair of tiger turquoise has formed and here is the result:


3 days later:

http://youtube.com/shorts/7Rwnu5KANa4

This is a very young pair. Barely 5 inches, if that. They are doing a pretty good job though with taking turns watching the eggs/fry. The other fish are not disrupting them and they don't have to chase others away. I am not planning on raising any fry but it is cool to watch.

It is cool Jan . Its a shame you aren't breeding but with your schedule I am not surprised.

al

[Jandiscus]

I know. Maybe in the future. They are now on their second round. The amount of wigglers doubled. They are getting better and they are a good couple. Both watching the fry.

http://youtube.com/shorts/W1-JrJHpoA8?feature=share

[Jandiscus]

I was gone for 5 days. I had my blink camera trained on my tank to keep an eye on things, since these are new fish. All good. When I got home, I discovered that the INKBIRD was beeping, signaling that something was wrong. It turned out that the temperature had dropped to 75F (23.9C).



It was not heating the tank. Not sure why. I guess it is very cold. The setting on the app was to alert if the heating unit had been constantly on for 24+ hours. My room thermostat was set to 72F. Not sure if the unit stops heating when an alarm is being triggered.

At the same time, I am having a couple guarding their fry. I turned off/on the INKBIRD and it started heating again. I immediately did a water change with fresh 85F degree water but could only do about 30% to not expose the fry. I boiled fish tank water and added that over a period of 2 hours to get the temp back to 82 degrees. I added another heater to help bringing the temp back to my normal 84F. Much to my surprise the fish fry is alive and doing well as you can see in my previous post.

Here are some insights/thoughts:

The INKBIRD app would usually alert you when something is off. It did not. It turns out that the app somehow no longer had my INKBIRD recognized. I don't check this app a lot, so maybe it went through an update and erased the controller that was connected. Otherwise, it would have alerted me that something is off.

Learning:

I currently have two heaters attached to this one INKBIRD. The INKBIRD was my safeguard, but it failed. I will add another INKBIRD to have two separate systems with two separate heaters to prevent this from happening again.

The other learning is to check that the app is working the way it is supposed to before going on a trip.

[Vanman]

Couldn't you put the Inkbird in view of the camera to monitor the temperature? I count on the Inkbird to prevent overheating due to a stuck heater thermostat. Failing off is much better than failing on.

[Jandiscus]

Couldn't you put the Inkbird in view of the camera to monitor the temperature? I count on the Inkbird to prevent overheating due to a stuck heater thermostat. Failing off is much better than failing on.

That is what the app is supposed to do. It will alert you when something is off. I was just like you, trying to monitor/prevent overheating, since I had lost fish to that a decade ago. I use the camera to determine if the fish are ok in general.

[brewmaster15]

Jan the two heaters you have, are they set to their max temperature or your desired temperature? I max my heaters out and let the inkbird do the controlling.
Also Be sure the temp probes are not near the heaters.
I havent had issues with the app before except when my phone put the app to sleep. Some phone do that when you dont use the app in awhile. Im wondering if that happened here. You should contact inkbird.

On the temp... 75 short term is usually ok...I recently had a tank hit 65 for at least two days and that was borderline dead discus.

[Jandiscus]

Good to know. Thank you Al. Fish seem to be doing ok.

[Jandiscus]

Another couple has formed - although they look both female to me.



Both are guarding the eggs unless there is food which they will go for but quickly swim back.



This was 3 days ago, and all of the eggs have turned white by now. One of the fish continues to guard them. I guess first-time parent syndrome.

The other couple took their fry to the free-swimming stage. They are surrounded by the black filter inlet with a black sponge, and two black heaters. No way any of the fry would be swimming towards the parents who were desperately trying to catch the fry and put them back in place. Here is a video showing the free swimming fry:

http://youtube.com/shorts/6u5gd_SWD2U?feature=share

[Jandiscus]

[QUOTE=Jandiscus;n2765197]Another couple has formed - although they look both female to me.]

I take that back...there are 5 wigglers :-)

[Jandiscus]

I know it has been a while since my last post. Reason being that there is not much going on with my tank, except that the couple is having fry every week. They are perfect parents all the way. Once the fry is free swimming it takes about 24 hours and they are gone. The other fish are not touching them. I know that results would be different if I were to put them into a separate tank. Unfortunately, I don't have that option right now. Maybe someday.

I went through another traveling streak, being gone for 9 days, home for 2 and again gone for 4. Fish were fine, eggs and fry from the couple. I did a very light feeding during the 9-day period and a 3 x/day the remaining 4.

[Jandiscus]

The pics to prove the point:

[AquaticNerd]

Looks like you're doing everything right, and I love seeing how absolutely massive they are. I'm really happy you've found a way to make travelling work for you while also keeping up your hobby. Just goes to show that with a lot of planning and preparation that you can still keep discus even if you're going to be away for 7+ days.

[Jandiscus]

Looks like you're doing everything right, and I love seeing how absolutely massive they are. I'm really happy you've found a way to make travelling work for you while also keeping up your hobby. Just goes to show that with a lot of planning and preparation that you can still keep discus even if you're going to be away for 7+ days.

Thank you Jake - I appreciate your kind words.

[Second Hand Pat]

Hi JC, the discus look awesome and they prove you are doing very well with them. Please keep it going. the fish are worth it
Pat