Faran

Yup, Luke and I have fish from a Red Spotted Green Teffe X Royal Red and some look like mum, others like dad and many have thrown back to a wild brown look. I just got a few discus in a bulk order that are white Diamind X Blue Diamond and well... it's not the prettiest colour strain I've ever seen... who woulda thought they'd come out pink and/or grey?

I feel that interbreeding causes genetic defects and can enhance weaknesses as much as they can bring out specific colour strains. Then again, half of my breeding pairs of fish are from the same clutch anyways so it's a but of a hypocritical view on things. Fish luva, discusguru is one of the breeders I recommended in your other post.

Giant clam is a delicacy for Japanese. They used to fly all the way from Japan to the tiny island just to have a feast. Tey were also exported for the food market and aquarium market as well. Your clam may have come from where I used to work Glad he's recovering. They're beautiful, majestic creatures and when you realize how slowly they grow and how large some get you appreciate the majesty of them. Still hard to shake the fear of getting your leg trapped in one while diving, though.

I'm not a local but ChCh recently had a breeding pair available on TradeMe - http://www.trademe.co.nz/Home-living/Pe ... 457153.htm I was keen to buy but they say they don't want to ship in the auction and I never got a response to my question to say if they were willing or not. You'd probably be best buying young discus from one of the breeders (NZ Discus, Discus Haven) advertised on this site (see banners top right corner) but there's also a few breeders such as Ryden8 and Discusguru on these forums as well. Best bet would be to PM them for price lists and shipping options and decide from there. Discus Haven has a 10% discount for FNZAS members. Mind you - all the discus breeders/importers I've mentioned above are in Auckland but they all ship anywhere in NZ.

:lol: Soz to say but they're fightin, not luvin 8) Cichlids lock mouths when competing for dominance. At 4cm I'm guessing they're about 3-4 months old so you have a lot of growing and waiting before they even think about breeding. One thing to mention is that discus compete this way whether male or female, so you can't sex them by this behaviour. So are they from the same batch/parents? You shouldn't be breeding them, anyways....

The fish is an ambush predator which means it will probably be timid in most occurances when you're working in the tank. I suppose if he was buried and your hand lazily drifted by...

Aww, someone is getting excited Thomas, I'll be giving you the contact info (e-mail addie) for the current owner/seller so you can ask him whatever you're curious about (and see if he/she already has a name). Would that help?

You can use a LFS sold med called Fluke Tabs for worms, or if they don't have that you can crush up 1/4 of a tablet of Drontal Dog Worming tablet and mix it with a cube of thawed discus tucker and feed it to them. As for Met, it's prescription only and you'll have to hit up your local vets or LFSes to see if they can get it for you. You can also check with your discus supplier to see if they have any 'extra' for sale. I paid out of my nose through a vet (actually needed to see the fish), then the SPCA vet came over for free and sold me some for cost and I've even found it once behind-the-counter at my LFS who sold it to me for a better price than any of the previous sources. I'd hook you up but I barely have enough for another dose and two discus looking a bit dark...

Morning Jo Borneo Sword (Aglaonema Simplex) From: Thailand and neighboring Islands Size: 11 inches This bog plant has dark green egg-shaped leaves which are waxy in appearance at maturity. They grow very slowly and prefer lower temperatures. They are relatively hardy last for long periods of time. In captivity, growth will usually cease at six inches. pH: 6.5-7.5 Temp: 22-28 Propogation: Division of Rhyzomes Difficulty: Less Demanding Lighting: Low That's from a website as well as "The Aquarium Plant Handbook". Glad to help.

LOL, Luke beat me to that post. Good point though, could be sparring. Let's ask this, what other behaviour have you observed your discus doing?

As Alan mentioned already, CAPS is like SHOUTING in the forum world. So yeah, sounds like you have a very small breeding pair if they're actually shimmering. If they're just shaking fins it's a sign of discomfort. I have video of discus matig behaviour but hard to show you when you're there and I'm here... So 4cm, eh? Suppose they might be small for their age. How old are they, if you know? Discus usually don't pair off any sooner than a year old though 6-8 month old breeding has been reported (once again, hormones are attributed to this behaviour). Either way, good luck. If they actually lay some eggs, let us know. Otherwise, got pix? What colour strians do you own? Did you buy them from a local? There was a popular guy from Christchurch that was getting the discus shipped down from importers/breeders to make them available to locals, can't remember his name though....

Did he spawn before or after you isolated him? How is he doing now? Sorry, I don't visit the saltie forum very often, will tell it to notify me when there's responses on here.

The only problem you might have is the massive amount of water flow with a 2000lph pump. Seriously, your fish will be spining in the current until it fills with gunk and slows down. Too bad peanuts doen't have a larger tank but you mught ask a local with a big tank if you can run it in one of their tanks for a few days to build up the bacteria (cycle).

Discus mating behaviour includes "saluting" - tail standing while swimming by each other, "shimmering" - a quick wriggle from head to tail, and other cute dances. If they're just shaking their tails, you may have an internal parasite and considering the size, I'd have to say it's time to de-worm them as they're FAR from breeding size unless they've been dosed up with some serious hormones. Otherwise, they could just be unhappy with water conditions or any number of things... If they are a pair, they'll send lots of time with each other and stake out a territory in the tank that they'll defend other fish from entering. Best of luck.

Just look on the back of the container at the crude protein, fat, fibre, etc. That's the only difference, and gold fish flake seems to float longer... As Wok said, yes

Red Spotted Teffe Green... acronym is sooo much easier to type for that one

No brown discus in Luke's tank. They're all offspring from a RSTG x Royal Red pair. I have 4 from the same batch.

This is my 460L tank with new additions. Tank is overstocked temporarily while BB grow-out tank is in transit (arrives on Tuesday). This tank will only hold the largest half and the rest will move on to less-competitive space At present, the only full-grown adult is the Marlboro Red located below the flower pot on the left side of the picture. The remaining discus range from 5cm up and there is hardly any bickering or fighting for food (all fish are well-fed). Beautiful, peaceful tank. I'm currently working on growing taller plants in the back as the Marble swords are more interested in reproducing (see pup stalks) rather than filling the space For larger version of this photo (had to shrink due to pixel reqs) please go here With flash here Close up of lower left section here

LOL! Oh man... that's something else. I can imagine it started with the idea to use a computer PSU to power the blue CC "night light" and then went on to try and figure out how to subnerge it and then decided to just put the whole PC in there. Ah well, at least he has a handy place to run his fishtank database from! Back to the concept of tank-cooling the CPU... I've been brainstorming and it's going to be a tricky business keeping either a steady temperature in the tank or on the CPU with a heat-exchange system like that. While it will definitely shave a few degrees off the cpu if it's a cold-water tank (with average temps of 20-22 degrees) would it make a difference towards heating the tank? Would there be any way to stabilize it aside from running a secondary heater? In the meantime, I'm working on stripping down an old radiator to extract the SS tube. I'll then start playing...

Find a LFS that has an in-store vet. That's one way of getting by the back-and-forth. Otherwise, try calling your local vets and LFSes to see if anyone will give you some. It can be a bit pricey if you're treating the whole tank so I recommend a hospital/Q tank. Believe it or not, my breakthrough getting this stuff was the local SPCA. The vet even stopped by to look in on my fish and didn't charge me anything so I donated some $$ to the SPCA in his name.

When discus get moody and start to get dark with a light tail it's a good sign that "hex" has set in. Oddly enough, this is an infection that can hit one fish and leave the others unaffected, then seems to pass to other fish when the affected fish dies. Don't ask me how this happens, I never pretent to fully understand discus social dynamics. Either way, treating all your fish with Metronidazole would be a good idea, as well as de-worming them if you don't already do so regularly. I find this site a great reference when dealing with spiro/hex - http://article.dphnet.com/cat-02/spiron ... Treatments Give it a read and see if any of the symptoms sound right. If so, treat with Met and if you're REALLY cautious then you should try and get a smear under a microscope to see if you can see the buggers. Remember that these things waaste away a fish slowly and if left untreated for too long your fish will not have the strength to recover. All this is advice that I wish others had given me during the long months of watching Big Blue (an extraordinarily large blue turq) waste away...

So this is the closest that I've seen. Still not quite an integration between an actual tank and a computer, but close! Guess it's just easier to have fake fish...

Actually, I;ve heard of hungry apple snail even taking out plastic plants... an unlucky betta, as well...

pickup only

Wow, completely missed this post before. Tim a.k.a. Bulldog breeds yellows and blue zebras and they're the best in WGTN. He's in the city right off Vivian street. If you want to get a hold of him PM me or Paul (I just gave him his number to get some more E Yellows) and he'll let you know what he has available!