Luke*

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Home-living/Pe ... 282096.htm Cool (ps I am not connected in any way to the seller)

Haha the secret's out fellas. Might have to stop using less myself and put more in the food to maintain a competitive advantage. I think about 4 weeks is a good time to remove the fry from the parents. What's the earliest you've done it Ronnie? I have some a couple of weeks old now but not a big batch, so thought I might move them in with the other older fry and let the parents spawn again. Lynne I find my pair gets quite bolshy at times, but then they kiss and make up. So I'd say if it's really bad then remove one.

Hey Jamie good to see another Hamiltonian fish keeper out there I'm breeding discus at the moment should have some ready in a month or two. Are you planning on a few large show type discus or just some to fill out a planted tank? To get them big means daily water changes and lots of feeding. I'd recommend reading as much as possible here: www.simplydiscus.com hope this helps and might see you this Sunday (11th June)

How long has the tank/filter been running? Is it cycled? Shouldn't be picking up ammonia. I agree with nz_mitch, up the water changes. Discus love fresh water which at the same time will rid the ammonia. Ammo-lock will get rid of all ammonia and then the filter won't be 'fed'. Juvenile discus are best 6 times per day and with lots of fresh water gets the best growth. If you're not worried about growing prize fighers 2x per day is fine. Feed them more than once every 2 days and they like a higher temp too.

Hey Jordan, yous would be using a 45 x 30 x 30cm or 60 x 30 x 30cm tank, some even use half that with great results. The smaller size is usually better because the fry have less distance to cover to find food, and therefore less energy spent searching for it and more energy used for growing. You just need to do water changes a bit more regularly than you would in a larger tank. I've raised discus babies in a 60gal (220L tank) but then they're a lot bigger than your average dwarf cichlid

hehe funny when that happens. Can't really go over algae enough though as its always there in some form and it always comes back! Although in saying that the excel worked wonders on the hair algae for me and actually hasn't come back. Now I just have a bit of blue-green instead

Very nice, great pics Blue Does it not try to suck on to the sides of the discus?

Cath just curious why you replied over 2 months after the original post. Wok I have found Flourish Excel double dose killed off my long stringy hair algae after about a week.

Sure would, probaby cheaper to grab a snorkle and go for a canoodle down the Amazon River :bounce:

Gotta love tetras. There's also albino glowlight tetras and a yellow congo tetra variety, the scales aren't as rugged looking as the normal congo.

Hate idiots like that, no consideration for others or other's property

It's camillanus, a type of worms. If you can get levamisole from your vet that is best, treat in the water (not food) at dose vet recommends, I think it's 0.1mg/litre. Piperazine works too in the water. Drontal is one tab per 40L I believe, Dogmatix knows. I tried it on my rams but it didn't seem to work, may have been too far gone though. Camillanus Camillanus is easily recognized as a small thread-like worm protruding from the anus of the fish. Control of this nematode in non-food fish is with fenbendazole, a common antihelminthic. Fenbendazole can be mixed with fish food (using gelatin as a binder) at a rate of 0.25% for treatment. It should be fed for three days, and repeated in three weeks. (http://www.simplydiscus.com/library/dis ... ro11.shtml) Also, how to add fenbendazole aka panacur to food here: http://www.simplydiscus.com/library/dis ... worm.shtml

I don't know what your water supply is like there, but in most areas they urge people to conserve water because each person uses so many litres per day and they say it cannot be sustained. Something to consider. edit: rainwater would give them all the fresh they need. IMO the underlying problem should be fixed.

Invaluable... thanks so much for posting

In humans immunity is hugely depleted when sleeping with the lights on so I presume fish are similar as they are animals too, but as mentioned don't have eyelids. James you are right about the plants reversal at night, but it is worth noting that at night they don't consume much O2 and release CO2. There is a much bigger occurence during the day of CO2 consumption and expelling of O2. I leave the light on 24/7 for my discus when feeding off their parents so they can find them and I just dim it at night to allow for a sleep period. The moonlight effect is nice.

yea Caper I believe they're all bottom feeders. They can consume some normal air though so they often dart to the surface of the water briefly.

You can use alum or potassium permanganate also, treat seperately/away from your fish tank.

Very cool Shane, great shot of what looks like the female laying there. Nice clear pic thanks for sharing

phew?

lol can't wait to see the pic

The famous north shore.....bit susceptible to outages in bad weather I'm afraid.

Hi Vickie good on you. Discus predominantly come from whitewater areas, however some are found in clear and blackwater areas. Peat, tannins from wood, and leaves falling in to the water make it dark, soft, and acid. We are lucky in NZ in that our water is so soft. A lot of people in America use RO units to soften the water which is quite a hassle. I keep a stocking or two of peat in my storage barrels that I use for large water changes and it gives it a nice natural tinge to the water and lasts about a month. The fish appreciate it too as it helps relax them

Personally I warm the water. Cold water can stress the fish and make them more susceptible to disease. I have found the only time I get white spot breakouts is when I use cold water. If you do small changes though they should handle it. But remember going into winter the tap water temperature plumments therefore having a bigger impact than it would in summer.

ahhh Smcoleman that'd be why there was only the fry in the tank when Shane and I visited that afternoon Apparently there is no smaller breed of jags, aye Sharn?

Not definitely fertile but bettas seem easy to breed, i got a great hatch rate out of mine, they looked white in the nest though so i thought they'd fungused but obviously not. Seems to be a lot better numbers than the tetras I've bred so far. I fed mine on green water the first few days, then microworms, then baby brine shrimp. Should take powdered flake food soon.