Withdrawn: Drew's Dark Angel Contest Fry, Batch 1

[Second Hand Pat]

Actually Drew the wording was a little sloppy but glad you caught what I meant, and yes, I am in many ways enjoying the breeding aspect especially with the wilds and I share the same wishes at yourself regarding the hobby and moving people in that direction. I have literally cried over my fish twice, first time when I watched my first pair spawn and the second when I came home from work and my first wild spawn had attached. Amazing hobby.

[DiscusDrew]

lol I cant say Ive shed a tear but they sure have turned around a piss poor day on more than one occassion Gotta love these little guys, but then I look back at where this all started.... a little 55 gallon tank and a few discus and a whole lot of lessons.... now two years later a ROOM full of fish popping out babies like its going out of style, and I couldnt be happier, even with the work load. The lessons still keep on rolling in but aint nobody dieing under my roof and now the lessons come in how big the fish turn out and how bright and beautiful their shape/colors are. Ill take these lessons all day long

[DiscusDrew]

Small update on batch 2 that was pictured in the beginning of my last video update.... Its gone.... I came home today to two huge dark angels beating the living crap out of each other. Dad was incredibly defensive of the eggs (mom had to be removed on the first go around but not until later) and mom was not giving up anytime soon. Thus is the life of a breeder but I scratched the whole batch. They are still in QT technically so I wasn't willing to pull mom and put her in one of my community tanks, so my only other option was to remove the eggs. I guarantee they would have broken through a divider so it want worth it. I was damn near crying as I wiped about 150 viable eggs down the drain. Sad day in the fish room but batch one is starting to show a beautiful pink color so I'm pretty excited to get next Weeks update up. I still have two Weeks to enter more fry so hopefully they lay again in a week and I'll be ready to move mom right away.

[Second Hand Pat]

That sucks Drew I would check with Al about entering two batches of fry from the same parents. One of the draft rules disallowed that and hence why I cannot enter another batch from my Batch B parents unless I scratch the first submitted batch.

[DiscusDrew]

Ahhhh ok well maybe if I get one from these guys again I'll just track it in my homestead. That makes sense I guess. I've got carnation x velvet and white butterflies pecking and shaking after their water change tonight so hopefully fingers crossed I'll be able to enter some of their fry. Thanks for letting me know. I'm not sure if I'd be willing to scratch the first batch of dark angels when I've already tracked them for this long, but I guess it depends.

[DiscusDrew]

Ok everybody!! Happy One Month Birthday to the Dark Angel Batch #1 fry!!! This months update is short and sweet, little has changed but what has will be documented here. Sad to say but for those that didnt see mom of this batch jumped out of her tank last night, tiny hole I thought would never happen and she proved me stupid. SO, Dad is with one batch right now and this is their first batch, so hopefully I get a good blue female out of this group because mom was incredibly unique, my only salvation is that i got two batches of fry before she jumped. I plan to line breed and try to create a truly "blue" pigeon. So things have changed but hoping the best for these guys.

CHANGES...
Water Change and Maintenance: I have moved them to a once daily almost 100% water change, I will never not do a daily change with fish this young but they are reasonably large now so I'm done with the twice daily water changes, we shall see the results. Cleaning done every 3 days or twice a week. They have been moved to their new 37 gallon tank for growout.

Feeding: Baby brine shrimp cut to only one batch per day, most feeding are done with Bill's BH flakes, and FDBW.

Size: Pictured against a quarter in this weeks video, most are at least that big now, with some a little smaller and some a little bigger. Right on track by my standards and doing great!

Age: One Month Today!!! Happy Birthday!!!

ENJOY THE VIDEO GUYS!!! I look forward to any recommendations or commentary!!

[Trier20]

They are looking good! Good luck with your blue pigeon idea!

[dpete9]

You are very thorough with your videos. looks great

[Second Hand Pat]

They look good Drew, even see hints of purple and pink.

[DiscusDrew]

Just barely starting to show color, so cool though because I can tell there are some darker ones (those are mama number two's hopefully lol). Thanks for the comments guys, trying my best to make it a learning experience for me and hopefully others. When are you picking out your 8 fish Pat? I know yours are older than mine, I'll probably wait another month at least I think.

[Second Hand Pat]

Drew, I have already picked my eight fish. They are in the last posted video which I took after I moved the others out so the eight fish look a bit unhappy and are huddled in the back corner of the tank.

[DiscusDrew]

Yeah fry are never crazy about that, I'll have to go watch. Your just too popular Pat (I think you're sweeter than me lol), going through 10 pages sounded so rough. I was watching religiously then I got dazed and confused lol . They have to be several inches now right?

[Second Hand Pat]

Drew, my contest thread is just older. Just go to the last page or so unless you want a go through the whole thing.

Several inches, I wish, maybe two at this point. LOL. They are Wild Tefe F1s or a wild green which are known to be slow growers. Even the largest of my batch A which is coming up on six months are maybe/almost four inches. These guys grow out over a two year period and maybe mature at 18 months.

[nc0gnet0]

Drew,

Just curious, do you, or did you see alot of red starting at the dorsal and anal fins and extending into the fins? I doubt the darker color fry are going to turn out like mom, but we will see. What percentage do these darker fish make up of the total batch?

Rick

[DiscusDrew]

Don't crush my dreams Rick! Lol no seriously I value your advice and opinion, was kinda hoping you'd stop by eventually. At their younger stage yes I did see red in the fins. I don't see much now though but I am red/green deficient so its possible I just can't see it. The total darker group is approximately 15-20% of the total batch. Were you leaning towards sex differential? I'm curious about your thoughts, and what brought on the question about red in the fins?