These are a few Nhamunda Heckel Cross I got from Hudson, from 2008 to 2010.
Hey Mellisa
I don't think you are over thinking, just the opposite. Everyone's water is different and understanding what changes we make with water is the most important part in keeping these guys happy,especially wilds with soft water.
The ph of your ro should be lower than the ph of your hard tap water and will lower the tank ph somewhat when you add it while lowering the tank tds. At some point the gh and kh will also go down then the ph of the tank can slowly drop over time by itself. An inexpensive ph pen to monitor the tank water is a good investment. Keeping a log seems anal but allows you to find the tds you want and how much ro water changes is required to keep everything fairly stable and the fish happy.
My tap tds is 65 ms and ph 6.5 and stays stable for a few days then ph slowly starts going down. Crushed coral defeats the purpose trying to keep a low tds for me. In a lightly stocked tank my tds may only increase to about 80 ms but the ph can slowly drop to 4.5 to 5.0 in about a week. A large water change to bring the tank water from ph 4.5 to ph 6.5 is fine with the discus. With soft water the ph is what drives my water changes rather than tds. I have tanks with 50 - 100 juvenile growouts, heavy stocking and feeding the ph will drop faster and water changes are required more often. I've never seen a ph crash with water 30 - 100 ms and kh < 1 but it does have to be monitored. If I leave for a week or two I will just throw a handful of crushed coral in each tank and everything is fine and remove it when I get home.
Sorry for the long winded post but hope something here helps. I'm sure you will become comfortable doing this in no time.
Anxious to see new pics of the babies.
Bill
These are a few Nhamunda Heckel Cross I got from Hudson, from 2008 to 2010.
a few more ...
A few Nhamunda Bluemoon from 2009 (Hudson stock)...
Ohhh beautiful!!!!
I LOVE the fish in the second picture of your first post (#62). what a stunning group of fish!
Melissa
Just be yourself. The people who matter, won't mind.
And the people who mind, won't matter.
Mckchu, just awesome pictures! I'm still drooling over them! The blue moon is superb. Are all of these your fish? If so, lock your doors brother because I'm coming to steal them.
Melissa
Just be yourself. The people who matter, won't mind.
And the people who mind, won't matter.
Yes - these are fish I got from Hudson over the years. You'll have to climb many floors to reach them They are swimming safely in my home - which is on the 20th floor!
My Blue Faced Heckels.
Has anyone had any luck spawning a pair of heckels? I have spawned male Heckels with a Brown and just this month had a Penang Eruption and a Blue Faced Heckel spawn. They have about 100 fry that are just starting to feed on brine. I had three very large Heckels in with the Penang and all three showed interest in her so my guess is they are all males. I am waiting to see what this cross produces. Both fish are very nice confirmation wise. The Heckel is in excess of 8" and the Penang is around 6" but has very nice dorsal thread and coloration. I will post photos as the fry progress.
James, there has only been a few instances of true heckel breeding and the number of verified people you can count on one hand. Apparently getting a female Heckel into spawning condition is the hard part as most of the heckel crosses have been male heckels. If you get a female heckel to lay eggs hang onto her she's worth her weight in gold!
Mark
Here is a breeding pair of Heckels with a lot of fry.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRk8g1XCj68
Larry Waybright
Great video, thanks for the link, Apisto!..Gary
The meek shall inherit the earth. The oceans are for the brave.