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Jmaldo's Discus Build
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Just an observation here.
During my research, it was recommended to the point of being mandatory to start with a bare-bottom tank. Never kept one, I decided to go that route except I have some potted plants. I have to admit I now understand the "Why'. Yesterday was the 2nd W/C I performed with them. Feeding 3-4x per day. Just surprised at how much waste they produce and realized how much actually would be camouflaged/hidden/disappear in the dark substrate I use in other tanks.
Learning all the Time.
During my research, it was recommended to the point of being mandatory to start with a bare-bottom tank. Never kept one, I decided to go that route except I have some potted plants. I have to admit I now understand the "Why'. Yesterday was the 2nd W/C I performed with them. Feeding 3-4x per day. Just surprised at how much waste they produce and realized how much actually would be camouflaged/hidden/disappear in the dark substrate I use in other tanks.
Learning all the Time.
They are beautiful fish!! Congrats!!Well, despite all the fumbling around I did they survived their first water change (70%). Yeah!
Feeding 3x a day FDBW, Mysis Shrimp and Diskus Gold pellets. Noticed some lip-locking during feeding. Hey guys there is plenty of food for everyone. Also as some of the food eventually sank to the bottom. I noticed the majority of them will actually expel/blow water at the food to raise it up off the bottom then eat it. Also, some are nibbling at the plants.
Here is a pic.
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Well, its been 10 days since they arrived. Doing fine. Of course it took them awhile to acclimate to their new home. First few days they were shy and stayed together towards the back of the tank. Not sure they ever had plants before. Then they started wandering around exploring. Have noticed some pecking order squabbles. Sadly the smallest one seems to take the brunt of the chasing.
They are fed 3-4x per day in 4-5 hours intervals. Eating well, devour Freeze dried Black worms, Frozen Brine shrimp, Frozen Bloodworms. No leftovers after 10 minutes.They have learned that the "Big" guy is no threat and now come up to "Greet" me (actually they figured out I am the food guy) LOL.
Water change every other day. By the way, I picked up a EHEIM Quick Vac Pro Automatic. Figured I could use it between/ during water changes. I like it, could have just a bit more suction but it "Works". They have no fear when I get in there. In fact yesterday using the Vac they were pecking at the clear tube as it pulled up the waste thinking it was food.
Here is a pic of them today 1st feeding.
They are fed 3-4x per day in 4-5 hours intervals. Eating well, devour Freeze dried Black worms, Frozen Brine shrimp, Frozen Bloodworms. No leftovers after 10 minutes.They have learned that the "Big" guy is no threat and now come up to "Greet" me (actually they figured out I am the food guy) LOL.
Water change every other day. By the way, I picked up a EHEIM Quick Vac Pro Automatic. Figured I could use it between/ during water changes. I like it, could have just a bit more suction but it "Works". They have no fear when I get in there. In fact yesterday using the Vac they were pecking at the clear tube as it pulled up the waste thinking it was food.
Here is a pic of them today 1st feeding.
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Update appears I dodged a "Catastrophe". Woke up Tuesday AM with a tank leak. Lost about 30 gals only about 4" of water in the tank and they are approx. 3". Whew!
More Details here:
https://www.fishlore.com/aquariumfishforum/threads/not-if-but-when-tank-leak.409465/#post-4173495
As mentioned in the thread, Discus are in the 45g water aging container. I am sure they are stressed but appear to be fine.
Will be setting up the "New" 55 gallon this weekend.
More Details here:
https://www.fishlore.com/aquariumfishforum/threads/not-if-but-when-tank-leak.409465/#post-4173495
As mentioned in the thread, Discus are in the 45g water aging container. I am sure they are stressed but appear to be fine.
Will be setting up the "New" 55 gallon this weekend.
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Wow you are lucky and sorry to hear this. But since you need a new tank....go big . A 60 gal display fits on the same stand and is 30” tall. Nice for discus. But if you can go 90 or 125. 90 is 24” high by 4ft long and 18 deep. For a 125 I got the 5ft 24” high tank. The higher the better for discus.
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Update
Move postponed, decided to vacuum the tank bottom. I could not believe the amount of stuff on the bottom of the tank. Guess with windows open and fans going due to the heat along with no lid. Allowed a bunch of dust in. I did move the canister filter to the tank along with an HOB with fiber fill to polish the water and a 30% water change. Move tomorrow.
Move postponed, decided to vacuum the tank bottom. I could not believe the amount of stuff on the bottom of the tank. Guess with windows open and fans going due to the heat along with no lid. Allowed a bunch of dust in. I did move the canister filter to the tank along with an HOB with fiber fill to polish the water and a 30% water change. Move tomorrow.
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Yes.
2 different types. With spinach and without. Prior to purchasing the Discus I asked what type of food he was feeding.
He uses and recommended:
At feeding time it looks similar to a piranha feeding frenzy, gone within 5 mins.
During my research it was recommended to feed fresh/frozen beefheart. Decided against it, but I just got some freeze dried bloodworm/beef heart cubes I plan on trying.
2 different types. With spinach and without. Prior to purchasing the Discus I asked what type of food he was feeding.
He uses and recommended:
At feeding time it looks similar to a piranha feeding frenzy, gone within 5 mins.
During my research it was recommended to feed fresh/frozen beefheart. Decided against it, but I just got some freeze dried bloodworm/beef heart cubes I plan on trying.
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I actually looked into a bag of the frozen black worms on another website and the had regular, with kale/spinach, color enhancing. I may choose to get some later. Not quite sure which though. Most likely with the kale/spinach to add a variety since the flakes I will be using already have color enhancers. But I’ve seen a lot of reviews saying not to use anything with blood worms in it because somehow the blood worms can still cause your fish to contract illnesses. So I would recommend doing some more in depth research and seeing what’s really up with all of that before you start using them. Just food for thought! Don’t want to see anything bad happen to your Discus!
Could you show us where you're seeing that about blood worms? This is the first I've ever heard about it.
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By the way, Thedudeiam94 jmaldo and 86 ssinit I just found out that brine shrimp is one of the best real foods you can feed discus in order to improve their colors. The next best thing would just be color enhancing flakes and stuff.
https://discusguy.com/best-food-for-discus/
"Brine shrimps make another best food for discus fish and a good substitute for that matter for worms. This is because they are rich in vitamins as well as minerals. They can either be frozen or live brine shrimp. Be careful to rinse them to remove any salt that may be on them though before giving it to the discus fish and incase it was frozen, ensure you defrost them first. This is the best food for strengthening the discus fish colors as it contains betta carotene. We highly recommend you stay away from live worms and only feed frozen worms as live worms can have parasites and get your fish sick!"
That reminds me Thedudeiam94 were you talking about frozen bloodworms, or dried and live bloodworms carrying parasites?
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Thanks Guys! They are around 3.5" with the runt of the litter about 3".Yes, I have read brine shrimp is good for them. I am looking into other live foods. Also, thinking about getting some guppies letting them breed and feed the fry to them. About a year ago I kept Angels and they enjoyed the occasional fry to chase and eat. Nature at it's finest.
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As mentioned, I eventually want to add the SterbaI Corys I have kept for 2 years to the tank. But I am concerned with it being barebottom and how they would do. Started a PM with DoubleDutch the "Cory Guru" he was kind enough to respond with some "Good" information, here is some of the convo.
Me: Curious, what is your opinion on keeping some corys with Discus in a bare bottom tank as cleaners?
D Corys don't do too well in a bare bottom tank. They seem to need a certain bacterial build up that doesn't occure without a substrate (also brand new substrates need to ripen for some time) Another issue is discusfood as for instance beefheart. It contains a protein / fat that Corys can't digest. Seen a lot.of SterbaI with strange fatbubbles.
Me: Ok, I do not feed beefheart,
What about adding a tray of BDBS to one end of the tank and let mature then add them?
D What are the Discus (awesome) fed exactly ?
Me: Freeze dried Aus Blackworm/spinach mix. Frozen Brine shrimp, Blackworm and bloodworm pellets.
D Then you can try that. Never seen it before though, so can't share any experiences.
I assume the bare bottom is vacuumed often ?
Me: Everyday, not much if any food leftover at all. Temp @84f - 29c.
Water change every other day. I am thinking about adding the 4 Sterbais I have had for almost 2 years now eventually to the Discus tank.
D That's the species you need!
Me: Thanks again for the information. Your pics and vids inspired me to keep corys.
Me: Curious, what is your opinion on keeping some corys with Discus in a bare bottom tank as cleaners?
D Corys don't do too well in a bare bottom tank. They seem to need a certain bacterial build up that doesn't occure without a substrate (also brand new substrates need to ripen for some time) Another issue is discusfood as for instance beefheart. It contains a protein / fat that Corys can't digest. Seen a lot.of SterbaI with strange fatbubbles.
Me: Ok, I do not feed beefheart,
What about adding a tray of BDBS to one end of the tank and let mature then add them?
D What are the Discus (awesome) fed exactly ?
Me: Freeze dried Aus Blackworm/spinach mix. Frozen Brine shrimp, Blackworm and bloodworm pellets.
D Then you can try that. Never seen it before though, so can't share any experiences.
I assume the bare bottom is vacuumed often ?
Me: Everyday, not much if any food leftover at all. Temp @84f - 29c.
Water change every other day. I am thinking about adding the 4 Sterbais I have had for almost 2 years now eventually to the Discus tank.
D That's the species you need!
Me: Thanks again for the information. Your pics and vids inspired me to keep corys.
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You can add phosphiltrum or phosguard for a few weeks to remove them. I have to use it for a few days after water changes to keep diatoms at bay. Just beware, the green spot algae will likely take hold if your phosphates get too low.
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I never have a diatom problem either. Especially since I’m allways moving media to start new tanks. I’m betting since the old tank was bear bottom and you were allways doing water changes the media was not holding much bb. Just for thought with all the water changes the bacteria never gets a chance to grow and if you have added bacteria or old media from another tank. All the water changes will cause a lot of that bacteria to die off. Just not enough food. So with that said if you/we have a problem and can’t do water changes for a longer period there could be major problems. Things to think about!!
So, the ammonia rate doesn't change with water changes. It's a pretty constant rate and unless you're doing like hourly water changes, the bb aren't affected. Also, diatoms have nothing to do with your cycle bacteria. Current contested theory is it's from silicates. I have a VERY mature tank and still get diatoms from my source water. My favorite aquascape lfs also battles them constantly in their freshwater tanks. (They won't use ro in them because they want higher success rates for customers. They have a beautiful retired fish planted tank that they could inject co2, but refuse to so the customer is more likely to have a happy plant. Doesn't stop them from running kessil pendant lights over the tank though lol.)
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86 ssinit and Thedudeiam94
Your Lucky!
It's a pain, to have a nice clean new tank and when the lights come on and see the brown stuff. As mentioned it's happened to almost every new tank setup. Maybe it's the Lake Erie water?
On another note: They are still jittery and still run and hide. Even when feeding one will spook the other and then they all hide. They were doing so well before the tank leak and moving back and forth. C'mon settle back in.
Your Lucky!
It's a pain, to have a nice clean new tank and when the lights come on and see the brown stuff. As mentioned it's happened to almost every new tank setup. Maybe it's the Lake Erie water?
On another note: They are still jittery and still run and hide. Even when feeding one will spook the other and then they all hide. They were doing so well before the tank leak and moving back and forth. C'mon settle back in.
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As mentioned earlier, they still get spooked. And it appears one of them has a scratch about 1/2" long. Still swimming around and eating. Will need to monitor. I'll try to get a pic.
That "Darn" tank leak, they were doing so well, inquisitive and no fear after a day or two.
C'mon settle back in.
Random Great Topic!
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