New 40 gal tanks, stand and some of the fish

[apistomaster]

I found a steel stand at Home Depot that holds six 40 gal breeding tanks with some mods to assure full bearing. Absolutely no space to spare but the 40 gal breeder tanks by Aqueon fit perfectly. Current Nova 10,000K T-5 fixtures provide illumination. Only $20 each from http://www.petsolutions.com. Good value. One of the top empty tanks will have six new wild Nhamunda Blue Discus in it on Tuesday, next week.
Here is the new set up.

Then some of the fish. Here are some of my 3-1/2 inch Sturisoma aureum along with Apistogramma caucatuoides. If you look closely you will see empty pond snail shells. The Sturisoma kill and eat the snails.

Here are some young red turquoise discus with Sturisoma and Peckoltia L134 juveniles.

More discus in a different tank, a few Sturisoma and my young Kleiner bar Hybrid Sword Plants.

[jopbgon]

Looking good!!!!

[andywoolloo]

very cool!

[apistomaster]

Thanks.
I also got ambitious and thinned out the plants that had overgrown my Heckel Discus tank. They are glad to have their swimming space back. Here are a few photos. I have ten Heckels. I've had them nearly three years. Started out at about 3-1.4 inches in diameter. Now they are adults.


Two pairs are shown here. On the left is the dominant pair and on the right of the piece of wood are the next most dominant pair. Both pairs lay claim to the same piece of wood.

[andywoolloo]

They look simply amazing, your fish. ((clapping)) They look so large and colourful! What do you feed them?

[apistomaster]

I discovered a few years ago that earth worm sticks were well liked by Heckel Discus. This is the staple food that forms the foundation of their diet. They also receive live black worms or frozen blood worms once a day. I also feed them Tetra Color Granules.

All the Loricaridae I keep or breed are fed mainly earthworm sticks, frozen blood worms and live black worms. Alage wafers are used infrequently. My juvenile discus eat earthworm sticks well but less so once they are adult and the other adults of wild discus species are not as enthused over earth worm sticks as Heckels are. For some reason, earthworm sticks seem to be a good substitute for much of a wild Heckel Discus' diet. The pellets are slow to soften and release small particles as they do. This takes hours so it allows the Discus to graze in the sand for hours as they do in the wild. This is also a useful when feeding fry of plecos and such which tend to be constant grazers.
I go through 10 lbs of earth worm sticks annually. Quite a bit considering the small operation I have and it is only part of my annual food bill.
I buy 100 lbs of frozen blood worms every year and a pound of live black worms weekly.

I used to make up a lot of beef heart blend for mainly discus because the fry grow so fast when fed heart. But I only make up a little twice a year and use it as a treat. I think the discus I raise for sale have better survival rates for their future owners when fed on my current regime than when i used heart blends. They can get spoiled on rich foods like heart blends and some have trouble making the diet changes they encounter in a LFS or home aquarium. It's better to concede a little rapid growth as the breeder for a more steady and gradual growth rate if it helps their future owners experience more success.

[Richard B]

That's quite a food bill you've got goin' on - however with fish like yours it's obviously worth it to maintain top quality

[apistomaster]

Here is one of my Discus pairs just after spawning. First fish is a wild Manacapuru Blue

His mate is one of my female Red Turquoise Discus, shown here guarding the spawn which they ate shortly before they were due to hatch. Grrr.

[andywoolloo]

stunning colours. I wish I could get earthworm sticks, I bet my synos would like that.

[apistomaster]

stunning colours. I wish I could get earthworm sticks, I bet my synos would like that.

Not a problem.
http://www.aquaticeco.com/subcategories ... ks/F128A/0
Look into their Spirulina sticks, too, Catalog # 125A
Their is a small surcharge for orders less than $50 but it is easy to spend money at http://www.aquaticeco.com
I buy five pound bags of earth worm sticks, Cat # F126 @ $51.45/bag.

I think http://www.kensfish.com sells the same food.
All catfish love them. This food was developed for commercial aquaculture as a breeder conditioning food for channel catfish and Tilapia.

[CanadaPleco]

awesome looking fish, and stand! I've got the same one, they are great, prob. going to get another shortly here.

Rich

[poel_19]

i work for home depot where did you find those stands??

[apistomaster]

awesome looking fish, and stand! I've got the same one, they are great, prob. going to get another shortly here.

Rich

Rich,
Given your collection, I can see why you could use another one. Aren't they a good stand? Just barely but perfectly holds the 40's with 1000#' to spare. I would have to clear out the bed room in order to squeeze another into my small house and I could use the extra tanks. I have a lot of catfish but it's the Discus that really crimp my style. Never enough tanks. I have six more wild Blue Discus on their way and want a group of wild greens. Already have ten Heckels and all these are just the wild ones. I raise Red Turquoise too.

poel,
The stands are just on one of the end aisle displays at my local Home Depot. The nominal dimensions of the stand is 72"L X 18" W X 72" H.
I hope that helps.

[poel_19]

what size are they? I may pick one up tomorrow!!

[syno321]

Have you had any luck with those gorgeous Heckels breeding?

[apistomaster]

No, my Heckels have never spawned. They do some spawning site cleaning behavior and a few pairs have formed but that's as far as it goes.
True Heckels have only been successfully bred a hand full of times over the past 50 years.
I have bred many wild Blue/Brown Discus pairs and one pair of wild Greens. Heckels are far more difficult.

[CanadaPleco]

Yup they are amazing stands, I used to use mine to hold 2 x 125 gallon tanks, now its in the garage holding tools until I move in a month. But I will for sure be using it again for tanks. I keep seeing people using them and still haven't heard of one complaint about them.

Again your discus look great.

Rich

[Birger]

with some mods to assure full bearing.

Just out of interest...what were these mods that you considered necessary?

Birger

[apistomaster]

The stand was about 1/4 inch too narrow. I built a 2 x 2 in frame that sits within the 18-inch wide metal shelf and covered that with 18-1/4 inch wide 1/2-inch plywood. I also added a couple of 2 x 2 cross pieces under the 1/2-inch plywood. I was OK for length.

[andywoolloo]

thank you for the link for the food!