Joined: 30 Jan 2006 Posts: 290 Location: Omaha, NE USA
Posted: Sat May 13, 2006 10:08 pm Post subject: My Discuses...um Disci...oh, you know what I mean.
I feel a bit sheepish even posting my amature pics after taybelZ's beautiful pictures.
But here are my four juvenile-ish discus...
For those who want to know...there's a Melon, a Blue Diamond, a Red Dragon & a Leopard. Not that my wife has any idea yet but I'll be adding two more soon. Don't know what type yet.
I won't clog up the forum with a bunch of photos, but if you're interested you can find more of these four in the "Fish Photos" section here ------->
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taybelZ...what type were the fish in your pics?
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Joined: 30 Jan 2006 Posts: 290 Location: Omaha, NE USA
Posted: Thu May 18, 2006 10:31 pm Post subject:
Kana3 wrote:
It's a good thing you're on the Internet Gary. It'd be hard for us to view those Discus pics with the pages stuck together.
eeeeww.
Kana3 wrote:
How about some specs, approx age, size, difficulty rating , something odd or unique in their behaviour, etc.
Let's see...
The melon is probably the largest. I'm going to say 4". The blue diamond and leopard are both just smaller than the melon...and the smallest is the red dragon. I'd guess he (she?) is 3" or so.
They're all almost certainly under 1 year...probably ranging from 6 to 10 months as I've been told.
I think the blue diamond and leopard are either good buddies or pairing up.
I catually have two interesting behavioral stories, Kana...and one of them has to do with your difficulty question.
When I first got discus, I got the blue diamond & leopard at the same time. For about 36 hours or so they were fine. Then they started acting sluggish (the leopard first always - then the diamond would follow). They slowed down but never stopped eating and literally started turning brown. Their skin got crinkly & they would occasionally tip while swimming. It got so bad that I seriosly considered euthanizing the leopard.
Through my LFS manager (a discus expert & a moderator on my forum) we did some preventative medicine with Maracyn & Prazi Pro. She suggested it 'just in case' even though she was 90% certain that it was just the trauma of being plopped into a new place. None of the other fish were sick. Turns out they really did get sick from stress.
She suggested that to take a chance and relieve the stress, I could add another - since they're social fish & enjoy lots of their own kind around. She said "it won't make them any worse and it might help to have another active, eating fish in there." So I added the melon.
A couple days later and not 24 hours after I was 100% sure the leopard was dying, their color started coming back. They started swimming upright & eating more. Within another 24 hours their color was completely back & they were healthy as horses.
So they are delicate fish. Temp fluctuations aren't good, pH fluctuations aren't good, hardness fluctuations aren't good. I also drip them like a saltwater fish when adding them...adding more tank water each 15 minutes for an hour before releasing them.
In my 55, as I said I do 2 or 3 15g water changes a week which is no biggie. They are so completely worth it. My goal is to have six in that 55.
So now the social situation looks like this...
The leopard is the tank a-hole. He chases the melon all over the place and isn't very nice to the red dragon either. But he and the blue diamond are tight and never nip. When they're sitting still, they seem to touch all the time - like a couple almost. We'll see. Sexing them for me is like sexing angels. in other words, I'll know when I see babies.
The blue diamond occasionally picks on the dragon but never the melon. The melon will chase the blue diamond but runs from the leopard. The melon very occasionaly will nip the red dragon (usually over food) but they hang together for the most part. The red dragon doesn't nip anyone - being the smallest, he's the punching bag & tries to stay out of the way when the others start acting like the cichlids they are. You can usually find him behind his piece of driftwood in the back right corner of the tank.
I was worried about it at first, but no one is getting hurt. And after all, they are cichlids. I figure if they stop nipping & chasing I should start worrying.
Sorry you asked?
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Joined: 27 Dec 2005 Posts: 1851 Location: Melbourne, Australia
Posted: Fri May 19, 2006 4:23 am Post subject:
No, that's great!
You reminded me of some Angel behaviour I must add to an old Topic of mine. I have similar group dynamics between the four of them.
You know we've been talking Filters and Water quality a lot this week. I'm thinking with fish like that, it probaly worth testing the water from the LFS, and comparing to your own, presumably tested before you went out.
This to give you an idea of how to play out the transition, ala duration against temperature and water attributes (hardness, ph, and such). With small fish, you could drag this out for hours. Discus? What a pain, especially for the average fishkeeper.
Do you ever think along the lines of, 'Hey, I'll buy some fish today. Better do a water change before I go out!' The idea being to lower your waste (NH, NO...) content, before introducing new fish.
Joined: 30 Jan 2006 Posts: 290 Location: Omaha, NE USA
Posted: Fri May 19, 2006 4:56 pm Post subject:
Kana3 wrote:
No, that's great!
You reminded me of some Angel behaviour I must add to an old Topic of mine. I have similar group dynamics between the four of them.
You know we've been talking Filters and Water quality a lot this week. I'm thinking with fish like that, it probaly worth testing the water from the LFS, and comparing to your own, presumably tested before you went out.
Yes and no. Since I know the parameters of my LFS (I know them well & see them all the time) - it's really no big deal in my case. Especially with a long trip.
Filtation is big, though. It's a 55g and I have 2 HOB filters that can filter 300g per hour plus one sponge filter rated at 60g. Another interesting detail I never knew before is that with Discus you go carbonless. It's detrimental to their slime coat and apparantly their slime coat is vital to their health.
Kana3 wrote:
This to give you an idea of how to play out the transition, ala duration against temperature and water attributes (hardness, ph, and such). With small fish, you could drag this out for hours. Discus? What a pain, especially for the average fishkeeper.
Do you ever think along the lines of, 'Hey, I'll buy some fish today. Better do a water change before I go out!' The idea being to lower your waste (NH, NO...) content, before introducing new fish.
I would if I were buying them from either two places whose water varied or from lesser fishkeepers - OR - If I didn't do water changes so dang often. But you're right. It's important. I just never let it go long enough for the waste to really build up. I feed heavily and waterchange often. That tank has never exceeded 20ppm in nitrates.
Also - even if I'm being my normal absent-minded self, my 88f tank with 200w of lights reminds me. The evaporation becomes obvious in just a few days...so it's sort of like an alarm clock for me.
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Joined: 27 Dec 2005 Posts: 1851 Location: Melbourne, Australia
Posted: Fri May 19, 2006 10:23 pm Post subject:
PepperedGary wrote:
and apparantly their slime coat is vital to their health.
And food for the young, which I've always found interesting. It'd be worth breeding them to see that alone!
I use that method as well, the crack of light, shining out from under the hood.
When I mentioned transitioning the Discus being a pain, I was thinking in terms of floating the bag. This can't be an easy thing with a fish that size and shape. Is it one to a bag? (I've never seen them sold).
With the Hood and gear off, I guess you could transition them in some sort of floating 'tub'. Looking at it from the 'minimal stress' angle. How do you handle it?
Joined: 30 Jan 2006 Posts: 290 Location: Omaha, NE USA
Posted: Sat May 20, 2006 1:39 am Post subject:
Kana3 wrote:
And food for the young, which I've always found interesting. It'd be worth breeding them to see that alone!
I use that method as well, the crack of light, shining out from under the hood.
When I mentioned transitioning the Discus being a pain, I was thinking in terms of floating the bag. This can't be an easy thing with a fish that size and shape. Is it one to a bag? (I've never seen them sold).
Yep - one to a big ol' bag. I'm going to say 7" x 12" bag.
What I do is when I get home, about 50% of the bag is drained. I add some of my aquarium water and tie the open bag to the 1/2-way support on my 55g with spare airline tubing so it doesn't sink. Then, each 15 minutes for an hour I add a bit more of my water.
The only astarisk is on getting them out. I can't bring myself to try and net a discus or to dump one into a net. Using my LFS lady's advice, I actually palm the fish until he's laying flat in my hand...then I just slowly submerge him in the water until he swims away. Seems to work well & not freak them out too much.
I find that if you have to get them out of the tank, a large plastic specimin conatiner is much better than a net. (Like you use to make your cory enclosures, Kana)
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but I'll be adding two more soon. Don't know what type yet.
No! Don't! Can't you see? That's just what he wants !!! 