I just figured I would give everyone an update as to what's been going on lately with me and my fishies. I know it's been a while since I've posted anything.

I've been working alot of overtime at work and getting some stuff done there and that won't stop anytime soon. This is the first time in history of my company of needing to give the office people overtime to finish work for customers. So that's always a good thing, but at the same time I'm limited to what I can accomplish at home without just wanting to take a nap! blinky

Anyhoo I've had my brilliant and blue diamond seperated from everyone else in the 90 gallon in the hopes that the brilliant would stop eating the eggs. Well he's been slowly leaving them longer and longer and they've been spawning regularly about once a week. I decided I would take the divider out to see if another male would step up and pair with the blue diamond but neither of them wanted that and I guess that made them bond a little better. The silver pigeon which is a female wanted the brilliant but he ignored her and the flachen and bert wanted some action from the blue diamond but the brilliant wouldn't let them get close to her. The last week or two there have been alot of battle scars apparent on all the discus except my extremely small runt. No one was worried about him/her.

My neighbors roommate moved out the beginning of July and he gave me a 20 or 29 gallon (I have to measure it and figure out what it is) free with light and lid that he had in storage. So I set that up in the basement and made a contraption that would make daily water changes just a little easier on me. Jason was calling me Bill Nye the science guy while I spent 3 hours setting everything up. I'll take pictures when I get a chance.

So last night before I did a water change on the 90 gallon I netted the brilliant and blue diamond (which they didn't like) into a 5 gallon bucket to acclimate them to their new home. After they acclimated I put them into their new home. They didn't like it at first but a few hours later the blue diamond was slapping her tail in the brilliants face. I don't think it will take them long to start cleaning the clay pot that Jason picked up for me. I've been looking into figuring out how to lower the PH, GH and KH using peat moss in my water holding tank that I have set up for them for hopes of a spawn that the brilliant doesn't go "scooby snacking" eating all the eggs up and I actually get wigglers. In this tank because I don't have driftwood my ph is about 7.8-8.0. So I want to get it down to about 7.0. Any ideas out there, other than RO which is not in my budget right now??

Anyway sorry for the long post, can you tell it's been awhile? I could go on more and more but I'll spare you all! I'll get pics when I get a chance, possibly tonight since I won't be staying late at work today (it's friday Wooo hoo!! )!

cturner,

One thing i can relate to is overtime at work and lots of long hours. Sounds like things are going great with your fish post pics ASAP.....dont you fnid after a long day relaxign with a beer in front of your tanks is the best stress realiver ever

Yeah sometimes I think I would enjoy doing manual labor overtime more than sitting in front of a computer for more than 8 hours. It kinda makes you go roll eyes

So far I haven't had a chance to relax and watch them but tonight I will make a point to! Who knows I might even fall asleep on the floor watching them. Giggly

I don't have any advice on lowering the ph, but I'll wish you luck with the spawning. Tres Bien!

Good luck with your new tank and a spawn.

Both driftwood and peat moss should be able to lower the ph, but
you may have to use chemical aids to help out.

Okay so my internet is finally working so I've got lots of pics to post.

First an updated pic of the 90 gallon


A few close ups




Now the love nest and my contraption that makes a water change only take 10 min. of my time while I'm folding laundry with Jason or on the computer. It's so nice to be able to do a "hands free" water change.


Water Storage


The love birds




Hope you like them!

Wow, those plants look great!

The water changer sounds intriguing. How much water do you change at a time with it?

Thanks Aura, I actually had to throw away about 75% of my last trimmings because I didn't have anywhere to go with them and no one wanted any. worry wart!

If you look at the tank the pvc coming out the right side of the tank with the ball valve on it is my drain. Turn the ball valve open and instant drain. Then I have a small pump hooked up to pvc in the trashcan pumping aged water into the tank through the pvc with a sponge on the end so it's not a fast current to disturb the love birds.

Well I marked the tank at 25%, 50% & 75%. I've been doing 2 65-75% water changes a day for the last 3 days because there's been a slight rise in the ammonia. Unfortunitly I didn't have any sponges to cycle the tank with, so I've removed some eco-complete from the 90 and put it in the tank to help seed it as well as buying some "Cycle" from my local pet shop. Cycle isn't near as good as Bio-spira but I think it's starting to work.

Last night was my first night with no ammonia on the readings so that's a good sign that everything is starting to work it's way thru. I'll feed at lunch today and check a, ni and na and see where they are sitting at and keep everyone updated.

Very cool contraption, Rena!

Love the Discus and the plants look great!

Thanks for sharing!

Thanks Preacherboy!

Well I did a water test at lunch before the fish were fed lunch. The results weren't great but weren't bad either. a-<0.25 ni-<0.5 na-<5.0 I did a quick 25% wc before I left to go back to work and I'll do a large wc when I get home and suck up any food they didn't eat. I'll keep this updated on my progress and the fishies progress as well.

Amazing tank and fish. My son had 13 raising pairs of Discus.
Beautiful fish.. Hope you have much luck with them.

Whaoo, that tank looks awesome. I don't have a "green thumb" but love this type of aquarium. Tres Bien! Tres Bien! Tres Bien!

Wow your planted tank looks absolutely amazing! Congrats on the potential spawns too...I wish ya luck!