Goldfish Girl

thanks val i will post some pictures when i have time tomorrow/when i figure out how to do it. only about 20 or so eggs. i just moved them to another tank so i think they will probably stop laying for this time. they don't look impressed with me. the eggs still look good though. i hope the parents don't eat them or that they don't get fungus. this will be the best coming home present for the person who owns the discus.

so, questions for someone who's new at this. how long do the eggs take to hatch? do they eat the parents slime or do they need something else too? will the parents ever turn on the fry and eat them? anything special besides daily water changes? should i add something to make sure the eggs don't fungus or will they take care of that themselves? also, if i move the parents, will they get so stressed out they eat the eggs? any general tips? dusting off the "breeding discus" book i never thought i'd need. oh this is so exciting. this is why i keep fish.

wow. this is just the icing on the cake. after what a bad fishkeeper i seem to be, my discus are spawning!! i can't beleive it. i don't want to say 'i told you so kevin' but.... so wow. this is exciting. little red/orange eggs they are looking after. so i guess this proves there's more then one way to keep discus. mine are at pH of 7.8 and "predator" knife fish and all they still spawned. anyway, predator platies are eating the eggs as i type but wow. going to move them right now.

ahh yes, nothing like getting insulted to make a girl feel better. for your information i have kept discus before with no problems for three years doing water changes once every two weeks in a 150 gallon tank with just enough filtration. what i have set up is better. i think since you claim to be all high and mighty in fish knowledge you might know that there is more than one way to keep fish, and that includes discus. people keep discus different ways and it works out fine. yes, i have had problems before, i've also had great sucess with discus too. i'm sure you've had fish die on you too. it doesn't mean you should totally get out of the hobby and never keep that species again because you have problems. i have no doubt that Tammy is probably a very good discus keeper. but once again, there is more then one way to keep fish successfully. i didn't "dismiss" her sugestion, i gave reasons as to why i would not do it, even though i'm sure it works for some. i also happen to be an experienced fish keeper and i know what i'm doing. i read books on disease before coming to this site, i just thought maybe someone would add some extra insite. maybe it hadn't occured to you, kevin, that i had tested the water and found the water to be normal, otherwise i probably would have mentioned something. and i probably would have done a water change. the post New to Alberta wrote is helpful along with a lot of the things that people posted and PMed me. i thank the people who want to better this site with replies that are not filled with insults. i find that is the one downfall of Alberta Aquatica, people who think they know everything trying to tell everyone else the "only" right way to do it. there are countless examples in other topics. no one needs to read posts like that kevin and maybe you should stick to picking on people off of this site. this site is for people to talk about fish, if you'd like to insult people on the internet, be my guest, it's called a blog. keep it off this site.

ya, i've heard bad things from people who age their water with no conditioner. especially during certain parts of the year when the city adds more/different chemeicals to the water. (not an expert on this but when spring comes, because of the run off, people lose a lot more fish. this has been a thing i've also heard from many members of the aquarium club) i decided i'm going to leave everything for tonight. i forgot, i added 4 albino bristlenose to the tank the other day. never had a problem with them sucking discus, ottocinclus i find are little terrors in that department, but i doubt it is the pleco's because as i said, it is only one fish with the marks. nothing has gotten any worse so i'll hope for the best. the bristlenose were from a different tank not a store so i know they are healthy. as for the 40% water change every 2 or 3 days, i find that to be a little overkill. i know people keep fish different ways and if that works for you then great, keep doing it. i just find that they already have a filter that is good for a 120 gallon tank, i'm not feeding them beefheart or any other food that spoils the water fast, and the tank in by no means overcrowded. one a week water changes is already more than a lot of people i know who keep discus just fine. at this point i've ruled out any tankmakes being the problem here. i think i can regognize fish inflicted wounds pretty well and whatever this is it would have to have a sucker smaller than the head of a pin. as far as i know there is nothing in the tank with a mouth like that. (there better not be!) the main problem here is i always hear so many conflicting things about which medication to use. i have quickcure (the blue stuff) in my fishromm but i've heard that it doesn't work so well. if there's a natural way to cure this then that's the route i'd rather take. something like cooking ich off fish. i do that for mild cases now and it is way less of a hassle then medication. anyway, any one product i should use? i had a few suggestions already. (all different of course!) help! good night!

i'll read about lateral line erosion. it looks like it is the same since last night. hatchetfish are more timid than cardinal tetras, the horseface loach has been in many discus tanks in the past with no problems (acts like a khuli loach not like clowns), the ghost knife has also been with discus before and the one i have is really peaceful. nothing else seems to be the problem. i have tanks available for it but i don't want to move it unless nesscessary. don't want to stress it out more. i have them in a 65 gallon tall. i can move it to where ever it needs. using a rena canister filter. they've been in the tank a few months, no problems with water or anything. temperature is around 86 F change water once a week and about 25% using Prime (a lot more than i should) for conditioning. they look fine as far as behavior. poop looks normal. i put the ghost knife in because i think they are one of those fish that get a bad rep for no reason. i've had mine for at least 2 years and had no problems with him attacking anyone. he stays in his tube and is nice. plus i'd notice markings on the discus if the knife was biting anyone. also i think he would've ate the platies first. even though i don't own these i have kept discus before so i know about all the usual problems. this hasn't happened before though to any of my fish, so not sure what to use against it. up date you people if anything else develops.

a six inch discus that i am looking after for a friend has tiny holes along it's lateral line, but only on one side of the body. i can't imagine that anything in the tank would be hurting it as all i have are other discus (smaller ones), hatchetfish, a few platies, a horseface loach, and a ghost knife fish. all the other fish in the tank look fine. i tried to get a picture but my camera has issues. i kind of want to give back all seven discus my friend gave me and not kill the nicest one of the group that i have never even seen for sale in canada. any help on what to use would be great. he's still eating and everything. doesn't look like hole in the head as no holes are apparent anywhere but the lateral line. the top lateral line if that matters. reminds me again why i got out of discus, just when you think your doing great.... help me. and thanks in advance.

wow. but of course we know the majority of people out there will buy them anyway. I guess the through the roof prices will deter the general public but still, people will buy them. I think people should tell local fish stores about this so at least suppliers know that alberta stores do not support overfishing and destroying natural habitat. anybody here feel deja vu from injected fish boycotts? i think its sad that people would rather enjoy something in their homes rather then leave it in the wild when its numbers are low. i hope no one on this site will buy these fish now that this information has come up. unless they plan on breeding them.

the auction is FULL of every type of sword plant you can imagine... way cheaper then stores too. its on the feb 24th i beleive

i've grown the dwarf variety this year in my pond and they turned out great. they are low mantenience and i'm told they winter great. i'll let you know if mine made it though.

seachem flourite is a great substrate for planted tanks

great points rudy. as far as the octopus goes i think there are the few and far between fish keepers like you who will keep an octopus how it should be kept, in an environment that it will thrive. it is the same with alot of things. i just think its great that someone won't bring them in because of people who will buy it because its "cool" throw it into their saltwater tank at home because they think it will be "fine" and have it crawl out dry up and them wonder why it didn't live. its the same with oscars and red tail cats. people buy the fish, throw it in their 10 gallon when they first get it and then wonder why it doesn't seem happy. i've worked at two different pet stores over the past five years and even though the store policy, esspecially at one store, was to always sell it. i don't care, fire me. its not worth a fish going to an environment where it will eventually die because it is not being looked after. i don't care if that means an octopus in a six gallon, or someone putting a goldfish in a bowl and not changing the water for a year. i do understand that people on this site are generally well educated and if they aren't want to learn about how to do things better. unfortunately, i can speak from experience that this isn't the general public's point of veiw. so i guess its not so much the octopus i don't agree with, its irresponsible fish keeping and octopus seem to be a prime target for that. wish i was in the hobby when the blue ring was in calgary. have a feeling that would have caused quite the stir up...

i had a 'mystery fish' that i put in with my discus. (i know already that doesn't sound good but i had to learn this one the hard way) turns out twelve dead discus later my 'mystery fish' was a jack dempsey. grew from about one inch to 6 inches in about two months. i still have him. some how you can't quite get rid of a fish that kills that many fish. he's worth a whole lot of maney i'll tell you that. he's in a pond right now and goes into the outside pond in the summer. they can take pretty much everything as far as temperature goes.

thought i'd start this here instead of hijack the thread in the buy/sell. agreed. (maybe not about the chimps part though) wish we had that type of responsible store in edmonton. have to check out your store next time i'm in calgary. thats not saying anything against people who keep them though. they are cool. no one can deny that. some people keep octopus, some people hybrids. don't agree with it but, what are you gonna do. (please do not start the hybrid debate for the gazilionth time in this topic. start your own. this is about octopi.) on to the octopus: there was a story in the paper a while ago, can't remember which public aquarium it was at, but they were draining a tank with an octopi in it and as soon as the water level went lower then her ledge, she started freaking out and trying to climb up the wall. no one could figure out why so they just assumed it was the low water level she wasn't used to. the octopi then started to blow water up onto the ledge. that was when they decided to look if there was anything on it. it turns out there were eggs and she was trying to keep them wet. needless to say they filled the tank back up. just shows how smart these things really are. anyone watch 'Ocean's Deadliest' with Steve Irwin? they had bluerings on there. (anyone watch it and feel the need to buy a stonefish after? lol. i did.) something neat at the seattle aquarium about octopus. shows how evolved they really are. esspecially for something that doesn't even have a backbone. i wouldn't beleive it if they didn't have this video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-3_UPnCtLg

someone should start i business for this, because they are right, its way more stressful on you then it is on the puffer. but good luck. mine turned out alright after... despite all my worries i had just killed them all. i got my clove oil from shoppers drugmart. and cuticle clippers work great. don't try nail clippers. super bad idea.