Nice pups Pat!
Thanks Al, I did net them, good to know
Your discus are talking to you....are you listening
Nice pups Pat!
Al, next time you are this way from the guidelines in post 172 on page 9 of the original contest thread you indicate the 8 contest fish sure be selected when the spawn is about 8 weeks old. As a guess-a-mate what is the average size of 8 week old domestic fry?
Your discus are talking to you....are you listening
So I was talking to Larry (jaykne) last night giving him a show update and asked him the same question I asked Al above about the size of domestic fry at 8 weeks. Larry's answer was two inches for his fry lol and Larry knows how to grow out fry.
My reason for asking this is if I remember the guidelines correctly the contest fish have to be selected at about the eight week mark and these F1 Tefe fry will be around an inch or so. Wild greens are known for being slow growers and this will be true for the F1 Tefe fry. I knew this going into the contest and come judging time these guys size wise will not compare well to their domestic counterparts. My reason for entering the contest was to document the development of F1s for the interest of other members should there be any lol.
So this morning all the fry are out, grouped and fins fully spread out. They still swim to the back when I walk by the tank but another day or so they should be looking forward to me coming and feeding them.
Last edited by Second Hand Pat; 06-30-2012 at 12:20 PM.
Your discus are talking to you....are you listening
This is very interesting Pat keep the updates coming , Please
Here are some pictures at six and one half weeks.
Your discus are talking to you....are you listening
No close ups? There looking good, very nice shape and size looks right on track. Guess I need to shoot some pictures and start a couple threads of my own.
President - North American Discus Association
I will see what I can do for you Keith on the closeups. Would love to see some of your fry.
Your discus are talking to you....are you listening
I don't worry to much about size at this young age just shape and vigor. Different strains grow at different rates, even amounst the domestics. Power feeding is not for those of us with day jobs at this young of age, water qualtiy is much more important, and consistancy in size amoungst the young juvies.
It was my understanding that at dime size you needed to select 30 to work with and not so much at what age. Age Will only be considered at contest end (ie. YOu need to document and measure at the one year mark).
Rick
Thanks Rick, I believe these guys are already at dime sized but need to tape a dime to the glass to verify. As far as 30 this spawn only has 22 fry so the "first cut" is already made. I did PM Al about not having 30 initial fish and his response that the guidelines were not harden into rules so I'm guessing I can remain in the contest unless someone objects.
Now my pondering about the size at eight weeks is based on when I need to select the eight contest fish? I sort of thought Harry would have selected his contest fish by now especially if some are pushing three inches so confused on that as well.
As far as shape and vigor I am happy with the shape but the vigor is not where it needs to be.
Your discus are talking to you....are you listening
I can see no reason why you cannot start with less than 30, the only thing that does is put you at a slight disadvantage.
I thought we had to cut from 30 down to 8 at three inches, maybe Al will clarify for us. Failing to do so is indeed an advantage, but maybe there is some wiggle room? It will stretch to the limits the tanks space on some of those that want to grow out all there fry and they find themsleves needing to seperate them.
As for the "vigor" Pat, your fry are small in numbers and large on space. This can be great for water quality, but the fry don't have to "compete" much for food. They can pretty much eat at thier leasure and not worry about going hungry. While it is just my opinion, I believe sometime this competition encourages healthy appetites and the fry stuffing themselves.
Rick