My 10 new discus babies arrived semi safely via Airborne Express yesterday- all alive. They came from an Aquabid vendor and were very well packed- individually bagged even.
They settled into their new home right away- and I mean settled. All 10 are huddling together almost as one- I feel so bad for them. Knowing how discus are raised this is probably the first time they've seen live plants, the first time they've seen gravel, the first time they've seen another species of fish- culture shock!
About every 20 minutes its as if a signal sounds and they all start venturing out in random directions- peeking over the plants and scoping out their new territory. Then the return signal (?) and they all gather back together.
I didn't observe much more than that as we kept the light low so their stress level didn't zoom right off the chart.
But I did peek long enough to establish that they are of decent enough conformation- fairly nice profiles. Broad little faces- as broad as a 2½" fish face can be, anyway. Nice small eyes. No glimpses of their true color (they are all 10 Blue Diamonds)- they stayed in dark mode.
These fish will be raised in my planted community tank.
I've heard the naysayers insist that juvie discus must have a dedicated tank and 3000 feedings a day. As I am interested in display fish only I won't be pushing for phenomenal growth, so they will be left to make it or not in this tank.
I figure if 80gJoe can do it so can I
Of course I've had to add some extra ghost shrimp to eat all the flotsam food I expect them to generate, and of course I'll keep the water clean. But they will sink or swim so to speak in the community tank and I think they should be happy to be here!
They'll have a great life if they just cooperate and live!!
They settled into their new home right away- and I mean settled. All 10 are huddling together almost as one- I feel so bad for them. Knowing how discus are raised this is probably the first time they've seen live plants, the first time they've seen gravel, the first time they've seen another species of fish- culture shock!
About every 20 minutes its as if a signal sounds and they all start venturing out in random directions- peeking over the plants and scoping out their new territory. Then the return signal (?) and they all gather back together.
I didn't observe much more than that as we kept the light low so their stress level didn't zoom right off the chart.
But I did peek long enough to establish that they are of decent enough conformation- fairly nice profiles. Broad little faces- as broad as a 2½" fish face can be, anyway. Nice small eyes. No glimpses of their true color (they are all 10 Blue Diamonds)- they stayed in dark mode.
These fish will be raised in my planted community tank.
I've heard the naysayers insist that juvie discus must have a dedicated tank and 3000 feedings a day. As I am interested in display fish only I won't be pushing for phenomenal growth, so they will be left to make it or not in this tank.
I figure if 80gJoe can do it so can I
Of course I've had to add some extra ghost shrimp to eat all the flotsam food I expect them to generate, and of course I'll keep the water clean. But they will sink or swim so to speak in the community tank and I think they should be happy to be here!
They'll have a great life if they just cooperate and live!!