'The Full Monty' Has Left The Building last photos

[aaron.c]

Looking amazing Steve! Great work


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[REDSTEVEO]

Thanks aaron.c,

It looks a bit better now after the new plants went in yesterday, I am waiting for it to get dark so I can take some photogrpahs without all the reflections.

Cheers,

Steve

 

[flygja]

Nice. I've had 3 or 4 attempts at spawning, all of them failures as the eggs turned white the next day. On the last attempted, my turqoise leopard male spawned with a red melon female! Internet wisdom says blue discus should not spawn with red discus as the offspring would be extremely peppered. Strangely the male ate the eggs within minutes of fertilising them.

 

[Martin in Holland]

Nice. I've had 3 or 4 attempts at spawning, all of them failures as the eggs turned white the next day. On the last attempted, my turqoise leopard male spawned with a red melon female! Internet wisdom says blue discus should not spawn with red discus as the offspring would be extremely peppered. Strangely the male ate the eggs within minutes of fertilising them.

I guess the male loves peppered eggs ....lol

 

[REDSTEVEO]

Internet wisdom says blue discus should not spawn with red discus as the offspring would be extremely peppered. Strangely the male ate the eggs within minutes of fertilising them.

Hi flygia,

I have spoken with a few people about this subject, this is what I found out.

Example 1:

A Male Blue Diamond pairs off with a Female Red Curipeau.

The female offspring from this pair will be passed the colour and genes of the Blue Diamond Male
The male offspring from this pair will inherit the colour and genes of the Red Curipeau Female.

Example 2:

A Male Red Curipeau pairs off with a Female Blue Diamond.

The female offspring from this pair will be passed the colour and genes of the Red Curipeau Male.
The male offspring from this pair will inherit the colour and genes of the Blue Diamond Female.

This allows for cross matching and passing on certain gender and colour characteristics.

Hope this helps.

Cheers,

Steve

 

[REDSTEVEO]

Hi All,

Since the last update I can tell you that I am keeping the other set of 2 x 54 watt Guisemann Aqua Flora tubes in the tank along side the Current US Satellite Pro Plus LED. The Altanthera Reineckii Mini and the Staurygene Repens are making a miraculous recovery so I am really pleased. Even a spot of Monte Carlo Cuba has sprouted its head and is spreading so the LED has made a difference.

The other update I have got is about the Discus. As some of you will know I lost a few discus along the way due to one thing or another and so now I have got five left in the tank. It was always my intention to let nature take its course and see which fish paired off with one another. From the five remaining fish I have got two pairs and one single male Blue Diamond. Two of the Red Curipeua have paired off and have spawned twice in the last couple of weeks. The other pair is a large female Blue Diamond and the remaining male Red Curipeua which have also spawned twice in the last few weeks. So far nothing has come of the eggs and they were all gone within 24 hours.

Well here is the situation I have got now. Last night the Blue Diamond female and Red Curipeua started spawning again on a spawning cone in the right corner of the tank. The trouble is the other pair interfered, and the male from the other pair was eating the eggs off the cone as quick as they were being laid, so not good. A bit stressful for me and probably for the fish.

It is obviously time keep one pair and sell on the three others, but I don’t know which pair I should keep! The female Blue Diamond is a quality fish and looks gorgeous with solid bright red eyes and great shape, but to be honest she has paired off with probably the least colourful and smallest of the Red Curipeua, the other two Red Curipeua are bigger and much better looking with beautiful halos around the top and bottom fins. Ideally I would have liked the big female Blue Diamond to have paired off with the other larger Red Curipeua male, but that’s nature I suppose.

Any way, as soon as I have made my mind up which pair I am keeping, the other three will be for sale at around £65.00 each including the other pair. I will post another update as soon as I know which pair I am keeping. If anyone is interested let me know and I will keep them for you, collection only though I am afraid.

Cheers,

Steve

 

[Edvet]

hIs it possible to make a makeshift "wall"in your tank to see if one pair actually fertilises the eggs? (like a large piece of filterfoam stuck in the tank). The usual breeding tanks for discus are quite small so if you only have 1/3 of the tank it will be large enough.
If you realy want to breed them you might want to lower the TDS, it enables the fertilising of the eggs

 

[REDSTEVEO]

Hi Edvet,

Thanks, I have thought about a divider using the plastic egg shell crating, but to be honest I don't really want to spoil the appearance of the tank, and I am not sure if I can be doing with the extra hassle. I have been lowering the TDS gradually by adding more RO water with the water changes. Recently I have managed to get my hands on loads of live Blackworm from a supplier. The discus have been eating it like crazy and I think this is what has triggered all the spawnings.

Cheers,

Steve

 

[alto]

If that smallest red male is not the same quality, I'd just remove him first ... his loss may encourage a pairing between blue girl you like & another male ...

If the fish didn't seem stressed about the other fish joining in (& dining), I'd not worry about it - it's all good practise ... some fish never seem to get it right, others seem to get it right the first go ...
As long as there is no stress behavior, I'd just let the fish continue playing for the next few months - also consider if you really want to raise discus fry, what will you do with the juveniles (I'm crap at selling on babies I've raised)

Great update on the plants

 

[flygja]

You can also consider moving the pair into a bare bottomed tank with a spawning cone. You'd have to remove the fry and parents sooner or later anyway, so might as well get a cheap tank, filter and put them in there. No lights needed even, natural sunlight is enough.

 

[REDSTEVEO]

If that smallest red male is not the same quality, I'd just remove him first ... his loss may encourage a pairing between blue girl you like & another male ...

Hi alto,

This sounds like a plan to me, great idea and one which I will definitely consider.

As long as there is no stress behavior, I'd just let the fish continue playing for the next few months - also consider if you really want to raise discus fry, what will you do with the juveniles (I'm crap at selling on babies I've raised)

To be honest I am not doing this to make any money from selling on any fry, just doing it for the pleasure of seeing any baby discus being raised naturally by the parents, without all the cafuffle of bare bottomed tanks, water changes and feeding routines etc. I've been through all that before in Germany and it can take over your life.

You can also consider moving the pair into a bare bottomed tank with a spawning cone. You'd have to remove the fry and parents sooner or later anyway, so might as well get a cheap tank, filter and put them in there.

Hi flygia,

I don't mind setting up a few bottles of newly hatched brine shrimp once they are too big to feed from the mucus on the skin of the parents, but that is about as far as I will go, at least until I retire from full time work.

If I was successfull enough in having a lot discus fry I would happily give them away to anyone who knew how to look after them properly.

Cheers,

Steve

 

[REDSTEVEO]

Here are a few photos of the discus that have paired off.

Any white dots you can see in the water are from the Twinstar Super S, must remember to switch that off next time.

This is the female Blue Diamond...her male partner is just out of shot to the right...

This is the other pair of Red Curipeau...

The Staurgyrene Repens making a comeback...

Cheers,

Steve

 

[Ady34]

Hi Steve,
stunning looking Discus....even through the mist

 

[REDSTEVEO]

Hi Steve,
stunning looking Discus....even through the mist

Thanks Ady,

The Discus have since laid eggs again and I now know exactly which fish are females and which are the males. The downside is that the biggest and best Red Curipeau which I thought was male is actually a female, a bit gutted because I was hoping to pair that fish off with the big female Blue Diamond.

Here are some of the latest photographs.

The female Blue Diamond. The pair of Red Curipeau are busy laying eggs in the background!

Still not sure which pair I should keep, but I will decide once I have actually seen some eggs hatch that have been properly fertilised. The other pair plus the single male Blue Diamond will be for sale once I have decided which pair I am keeping.

Cheers,

Steve

 

[REDSTEVEO]

Sad News

After catching as many Planaria as I could using a trap that I bought off eBay and after much deliberation I finally decided to try out the 'No Planaria' product to finish off any remaining Planaria that I couldn't catch with the trap. So I put the first dose in yesterday as per the instructions, one small measuring spoon for each 50 litres of water. The water went a bit cloudy to begin with but soon cleared and everything seemed fine. I checked everything late last night and all was well.

I came down this morning and the first thing I saw was one very dead Blue Diamond Discus in the right hand corner of the tank, the other four were nowhere to be seen.

My first thought was that the Ammonia levels had gone through the roof as a result of the die off from the Planaria. After removing the dead discus I tested the water and was very surprised to see that it was a zero reading. Meanwhile I located the other four discus at the back of the tank behind the bogwood and heavily planted section on the left hand side of the tank. At first sight my heart sank because looking at their appearnace and how still they were, I thought they were all dead, but as I proceeded to remove the first one with the net there was some movement, likewise with the other three.

I decided to do a massive water change, turn down the heater and pump loads of air into the tank from an air pump via the internal aquaclear powerhead. I cleaned as much of the glass as I could, then gently lifted the four discus to the front of the tank where I could see them better. The single remaining Blue Diamond is in a very bad way, gone almost white and showing signs of a distressful night, but still breathing, the other three Red Curipeau were a little better, but still not moving or swimming, except for their mouths and small amount of fin movement.

At the moment all four are still alive, but I am not holding much hope for the Blue Diamond and one of the Red Curipeau On top of this two Flying Foxes were also dead and a number of Amano shrimps. Yet strangely one Flying fox is fine and none of the Ottocinclus have been effected by this at all??

So what has caused this? My first thought after eliminating the suspected ammonia spike from the cause, was that a combination of high temperature, (30 degrees) and the addition of the 'No Planaria' product which is a Palm Nut Oil based product, had caused a huge reduction in the oxygen levels within the water. This in turn led to stress, possible darting around during the night, and hypoxia killed the fish. This is just a theory but in reality I have no idea what caused this and would be very interested to hear what anyone else thinks might have caused it.

I will be emailing the company who produce the No Planaria product with the pictures below to ask what their view is on this. Sadly the pictures are a little distressing so I apologise to anyone who is upset by them. I have deliberately kept the photos small so hopefully less graphic.

This is the large female Blue Diamond which had paired off with one of the Red Curipeau.

Two others struggling, fighting for their life.

The Flying Foxes and the discus.

I will keep an eye on them and hope for the best. Updates to follow.

Sadly, Steve

 

[Ryan Thang To]

hi steve

im really sorry about the fish. im really stock about that. do you worm your fish every month?

cheers
ryan

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[John S]

I really feel for you Steve. Must have been horrendous to get up to that this morning. Fingers crossed for the survivors.

 

[Clint Hewitt]

hi steve

im really sorry about the fish. im really stock about that. do you worm your fish every month?

your blue discus is amazing. colour is really bright and colourful. how the fissiden moss by the way?

cheers
ryan

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Please read Steve's post just before you sent yours.

 

[Ryan Thang To]

Please read Steve's post just before you sent yours.

my phone is very slow at loading steve journal. i did not see the sad new. i just saw the post about blue discus laying egg so that was my first post and then i relise so im sorry about that. I've edit the post.

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,
That is a horrible thing to happen.

was that a combination of high temperature, (30 degrees) and the addition of the 'No Planaria' product which is a Palm Nut Oil based product, had caused a huge reduction in the oxygen levels within the water. This in turn led to stress, possible darting around during the night, and hypoxia killed the fish. This is just a theory but in reality I have no idea what caused this and would be very interested to hear what anyone else thinks might have caused it.

That would be my suspicion. I've never used "No Planaria" (although I have used "Panacur" without any problems in the past), but a film of oil may have reduced gas exchange.

Yet strangely one Flying fox is fine and none of the Ottocinclus have been effected by this at all??

If it was low oxygen levels it might be a size issue, larger fish are more prone to hypoxia than small ones (body volume increases more quickly then gill area). Also Otocinclus can also extract oxygen from gulped air (like a Corydoras).

cheers Darrel