310 gallon build and 55 gallon quarantine tank

[jake37]

Isn't 86 too warm for panda garra ?

 

[coralbandit]

Nice !
I would not keep the garas with the discus .
Maybe just me ?

 

[FisHobbyist]

Nice !
I would not keep the garas with the discus .
Maybe just me ?

Please expand on this...I would like to learn more about your concerns for their compatibility. Thanks!

 

[86 ssinit]

Tank and discus look great! How big are the discus?
As to the garras I wouldn’t recommend them. Get SAE instead. The garras may try to eat the slime coat off the discus. And that could happen at any time. Tomorrow or 4 years from now.

 

[FisHobbyist]

Isn't 86 too warm for panda garra ?

I don't keep my 310 that warm. Mine is currently at 82.5 and has maintained that for weeks...same as the tanks they came from.

That’s a gorgeous tank. I love the way discus look, and i loooooooooove rummynose tetras!! they’re just so stinking cute.

Thank you! They have adapted fairly quickly and are schooling nicely. Will probably add some more later on!

Tank and discus look great! How big are the discus?
As to the garras I wouldn’t recommend them. Get SAE instead. The garras may try to eat the slime coat off the discus. And that could happen at any time. Tomorrow or 4 years from now.

Shoot! I've seen certain pleco species can do that, but weren't aware that garras could do the same. That will be fun trying to fish those guys out.

 

[86 ssinit]

Yeah it’s pretty much any fish with that sucker mouth. I’ve even seen an Otto on one of my discus. But the garras are known for that. Also it’s funny what can adapt to the higher temp. 82 is on the low end for discus. I keep mine at 84-85. I’ve got 12 rummie noses in one of my tanks.

 

[jake37]

I thought folks said 86 was the prefer temp for discus - if they are healthy at 82 maybe i will go with some.

Yeah it’s pretty much any fish with that sucker mouth. I’ve even seen an Otto on one of my discus. But the garras are known for that. Also it’s funny what can adapt to the higher temp. 82 is on the low end for discus. I keep mine at 84-85. I’ve got 12 rummie noses in one of my tanks.View attachment 768712

 

[SouthAmericanCichlids]

I hear BN are one of the least likely to suck on discus. And I have my BN in 84 degree water, and he's thriving.

 

[86 ssinit]

I’ve got bn plecos and they have not been a problem yet.
Yes Jake 82 is the bottom end for discus. But if you have a problem the first recommendation will be raise the temp.

 

[FisHobbyist]

Yeah, the person that I bought these guys from said there tanks are all around 82 degrees. I will probably work on getting the garras out and then I can gradually raise the temp up. Any concerns with the golden nuggets or royal pleco in yalls experience? Just curious. Haven't seen anyone having problems but I do understand that if they're a pleco, there's always potential for it latching on. Will eventually just move to small species like otos. Btw thanks for the advice.

Yeah it’s pretty much any fish with that sucker mouth. I’ve even seen an Otto on one of my discus. But the garras are known for that. Also it’s funny what can adapt to the higher temp. 82 is on the low end for discus. I keep mine at 84-85. I’ve got 12 rummie noses in one of my tanks.View attachment 768712

What kind of bottom feeders do you have with your discus?

 

[AngelfishDude722]

I have got a few questions about that tank and other things. Why are you lucky enough to get fish swaps near you? I have never heard or seen anything like that near me. Also what is it like for water changes with my 65 using a 5 gallon bucket and hose it is a struggle what do you use to change all that water?
Also nice dog btw

 

[86 ssinit]

To the garras I’d just leave them. If there’s a problem down the road deal with it than. It’s not guaranteed they will go after the discus. Oh and they change color to a darkish green when they mature. For clean up fish I have in one tank 4 ottos and 12 sterbai corys. In the other I have a bn pleco,4 ottos and 9 bronze corys. Oh and 2 SAE in each tank. Many different plecos used in discus tanks. All good till it looks like your discus has ring worm .
Yeah the swap meet sounds like a great deal. I’m in NY and never heard of that.

 

[AngelfishDude722]

Yeah I am in NY too we never get the cool stuff

 

[FisHobbyist]

To the garras I’d just leave them. If there’s a problem down the road deal with it than. It’s not guaranteed they will go after the discus. Oh and they change color to a darkish green when they mature. For clean up fish I have in one tank 4 ottos and 12 sterbai corys. In the other I have a bn pleco,4 ottos and 9 bronze corys. Oh and 2 SAE in each tank. Many different plecos used in discus tanks. All good till it looks like your discus has ring worm .
Yeah the swap meet sounds like a great deal. I’m in NY and never heard of that.

Oh shoot how did it get ring worm? And yes, I was very lucky to be able to go to this swap. It is almost a dream if you're into the fish keeping. Capped out at 80 vendors and some of the most interesting fish and best prices I've ever seen. All healthy fish from breeders and store owners from the Midwest. Plants, shrimp, DW, aquariums...you name it and it's there!

 

[AngelfishDude722]

The best stuff I get is the occasional Mom and Pop fish store but there is only one by me. Other than that we got petco and pet smart

 

[FisHobbyist]

I have got a few questions about that tank and other things. Why are you lucky enough to get fish swaps near you? I have never heard or seen anything like that near me. Also what is it like for water changes with my 65 using a 5 gallon bucket and hose it is a struggle what do you use to change all that water?
Also nice dog btw

Lol I am lucky. I've moved around and this is the first time that I have been close enough to attend one. And by close I mean I still drove 2 hours to get there and then returned in a winter storm another 2 hrs back. Well worth it. I wouldn't be surprised if there are some close to you though...there is only one LFS near me and I just happen to hear from them about it. Otherwise, I really don't have any place to buy fish and they don't carry anything like discus or other exotic fish.

As far as water changes go, are you aging your water? I don't age my water. I don't do more than 25% water changes at a time if I can help it. I use a python to siphon water from the tank straight to my sink. I use Seachem safe and treat my entire system with it prior to adding water even though I have a softener and chlorine remover from the tap. Pretty easy without the buckets. I'd recommend it if you have a close enough sink that will work and you can control the water temp.

 

[AngelfishDude722]

Lol I am lucky. I've moved around and this is the first time that I have been close enough to attend one. And by close I mean I still drove 2 hours to get there and then returned in a winter storm another 2 hrs back. Well worth it. I wouldn't be surprised if there are some close to you though...there is only one LFS near me and I just happen to hear from them about it. Otherwise, I really don't have any place to buy fish and they don't carry anything like discus or other exotic fish.

As far as water changes go, are you aging your water? I don't age my water. I don't do more than 25% water changes at a time if I can help it. I use a python to siphon water from the tank straight to my sink. I use Seachem safe and treat my entire system with it prior to adding water even though I have a softener and chlorine remover from the tap. Pretty easy without the buckets. I'd recommend it if you have a close enough sink that will work and you can control the water temp.

Maybe I am luckier than I thought. But yeah I use buckets. I might have to look into treating the water for now I just use chlorine remover. I wish I had a sink close to my tank but I live in my parents house and only have my tank in my room and no bathrooms near enough. I can’t wait until I do college and that and get my own house so I can finally have the fish room of my dream. Living under someone else with limited room sucks but someday my basement is gonna be the fish crib of the century.

 

[86 ssinit]

Yeah I am in NY too we never get the cool stuff

Ain’t it amazing!! Biggest city and it’s hard to even find a fish club. Car clubs there everywhere!! Fish not so much. It just shows how few actually keep fish.

 

[AngelfishDude722]

Ain’t it amazing!! Biggest city and it’s hard to even find a fish club. Car clubs there everywhere!! Fish not so much. It just shows how few actually keep fish.

We are a rare breed but we one of the strongest breeds. How many car people do you see helping each other? But for real the fish keeping community is smaller than we would like to think.

 

[86 ssinit]

What part of NY? I’m on the island with city water and my water is great . I change 50% on one tank every other day and on the other every 2 days. Once a week on community tanks. I go from the tap through an under counter filter than into the tanks. Nothing added. I do carry buckets when draining. I’ve got cherry shrimp with the discus so I’m always looking for the little ones that get siphoned out.

 

[AngelfishDude722]

What part of NY? I’m on the island with city water and my water is great . I change 50% on one tank every other day and on the other every 2 days. Once a week on community tanks. I go from the tap through an under counter filter than into the tanks. Nothing added. I do carry buckets when draining. I’ve got cherry shrimp with the discus so I’m always looking for the little ones that get siphoned out.

I am on the bigger island aka Long Island my water is pretty acidic. 50 percent water changes every other day that is insane what is in that tank? I got my one mud ball tank 65 gallons 4 Cories and 5 giant danios and 1 platy with my Favorite (and only) angelfish. I try and do water changes every week about 20 gallons I might need to pick it up cause I have been slacking recently. But yeah basically I got the tank as a gist to replace my smaller tank. But when I went shopping I bought weird pairings and now I got a really weird tank.

 

[coralbandit]

Many answers already given since my last post .
Garras are the 'spa fish ' that they use to 'manicure' peoples feet ! They eat the dead skin .. Close enough to 'bio slime' I guess if you are a hungry fish . Spa Home - Garra Rufa - Paphos Spa Cypria Maris Beach Hotel & Spa
I use sterbai cories I got from DarkOne or nothing . I have kept my super red plecos in 84+but only with my rams not discus . All sucking fish are a threat potentially .
I have gone to many swap meets in the NY/MA/CT area .
Look into NECA ; NEC Council (northeastcouncil.org)
Actually looks like there is finally some activity on the calendar !
The auctions are great and just a ton of fun ..
I hope they happen ..

 

[FisHobbyist]

To the garras I’d just leave them. If there’s a problem down the road deal with it than. It’s not guaranteed they will go after the discus. Oh and they change color to a darkish green when they mature. For clean up fish I have in one tank 4 ottos and 12 sterbai corys. In the other I have a bn pleco,4 ottos and 9 bronze corys. Oh and 2 SAE in each tank. Many different plecos used in discus tanks. All good till it looks like your discus has ring worm .
Yeah the swap meet sounds like a great deal. I’m in NY and never heard of that.

so I won’t have to worry about fishing out the panda garras...I got home and amazingly I found the two in my sump all the way on the return end with my pumps. BOTH of them!! just couldn’t believe it. They’re pretty active down there feeding on some of the algae that’s formed in the sump.

 

[jake37]

Could leave them down there - they like lots of current

Just be sure to give them a bit of meat now and then.

so I won’t have to worry about fishing out the panda garras...I got home and amazingly I found the two in my sump all the way on the return end with my pumps. BOTH of them!! just couldn’t believe it. They’re pretty active down there feeding on some of the algae that’s formed in the sump.

 

[86 ssinit]

I am on the bigger island aka Long Island my water is pretty acidic. 50 percent water changes every other day that is insane what is in that tank? I got my one mud ball tank 65 gallons 4 Cories and 5 giant danios and 1 platy with my Favorite (and only) angelfish. I try and do water changes every week about 20 gallons I might need to pick it up cause I have been slacking recently. But yeah basically I got the tank as a gist to replace my smaller tank. But when I went shopping I bought weird pairings and now I got a really weird tank.

Lol same island! Massapequa here!

 

[FisHobbyist]

Could leave them down there - they like lots of current

Just be sure to give them a bit of meat now and then.

Haha I was tempted to but since I will be raising the temp, I didn’t want to cook them

 

[FisHobbyist]

If anyone is in the Midwest, there’s another fish swap happening in April again!! Will plan on picking up the clown loaches and possibly another six discus, cardinals and rummies! Here’s some updated photos. Discus color has bounced back nicely.

What are y’all feeding your discus? I’ve ordered a cow heart from Hyvee and looking at making my own beef-heart recipe...any good pelleted food out there that I can alternate with where I’m not contaminating the water as often?

 

[Toothy]

Fish swap sounds like fun. Wish we had something like that in my neck of the woods. Discuss look colored up nice!!

 

[FisHobbyist]

Update on the discus tank: I want to share this experience hoping I can spare others from the experience I had. The importance of quarantining... I chose not to quarantine because I moved a majority of my fish out of the 310 prior to introducing the new fish. What I didn’t think about is the amount of water I would be treating if there was any sickness and the fact that I have live plants. I know rookie mistake This limited my choices on medications.

I noticed ich on my discus within the first week of arriving into the aquarium. Fortunately, I picked it up quickly from close observation each day. I had to order the meds which by the time it arrived two days later, it had spread to my cardinals.

One discus had a mark on its lateral fin that I could not distinguish as just a marking, damage or some kind of fungal growth. I observed for days without any changes before I decided to play it safe after the ich treatment. This one is quarantined now. I tried a salt treatment for a week with no changes. This week I have tried the Melafix, and the size of the growth has decreased after about a week. The discus had never shown any signs of stress and has always been an aggressive eater. He’ll be returning back to the 310 by end of next week.

Ich treatment in the 310. I chose IchAttack for a couple reasons: 1) it is not harmful to my plants. 2) it’s highly concentrated. 3) you don’t need to do daily water changes during treatment. Cons: it will tint your water to a dark yellow/brown during treatment.

Total treatment was 11 days. It took 7 days to obliterate the Ich. The directions state to continue treatment for three more days following the first signs of no ich which is very important. I added an extra day for safe measure.

It has been almost two weeks and I haven’t seen any more ich in the aquarium and I observe every fish very carefully a few times a day. I can’t say enough good things about this medication. The aquarium has been staying steady at 86 degrees and currently have been doing 40% weekly water changes.

I will be at the fish swap again this month. The 55 gal is ready for quarantining the next batch. We are looking at 6 more discus and more cardinals/rummies. The tetras have exploded in size and the discus will pick the food out of my hand before I can place it in the aquarium lol. Will update when the new ones arrive. (Also got the 90 gal up and running. Barbs in there will be moved out most likely if we go with african cichlids, otherwise will be the loach tank)

The first photo shows my red cover discus before I moved him out. You’ll notice the damage/growth to the fin I mentioned.The following photos are updates on the remaining discus. Also, attached is the food. Upper left is a blend we’ve tried making ourselves (beefheart, garlic, krill, spinach,multivitamin). I’ve stopped using this in the 310 because it’s very messy but I’ll be great for the quarantine.
Photos:

 

[Gudgie]

Oh yikes! I thought it was bad when I had to medicate a 25 gallon tank (instead of 10 gallons)! I can't imagine having to dose a 310 gallon tank!

Glad it sounds like the ich has cleared up.

 

[Jojo205]

Glad the fish are ok now! Love the rummynose tetras, theyre one of my favorites

 

[FisHobbyist]

The new fish are here!! We picked up seven more discus of similar size to the six we have now. We also got four Sterba’s corys. These are all being quarantined in the 55 gallon.
We also finally got a school of 12 clown loaches that are in the 90 gallon and a L200 (green phantom) pleco.

I’ll give it a few weeks of quarantine and then the discus and corys will be going into the 310 with the rest!