My Wilds

[The Irons]

New to site, but long time hobbyist with both FW & Reef setups. This current setup is a reef ready dual overflow 125 with a wet dry rated for a 300 gal tank. I also use a canister filter packed with peat. I've had these guys for about 4 or 5 months & am thoroughly enjoying the challenge.

[fattubwhale]

Nice set up!

[rickztahone]

What a beautiful setup! Welcome to SimplyDiscus. :thumbsup:

[The Irons]

Many thanks

[jmf3460]

beautiful set up, I especially like your tank scape, love biotope tanks. did you get these from John at FreshWaterTropicals? They look exactly, and I mean exactly like mine that I got from him this year. Couple more questions for you...what other tank mates besides corys do they have? What type wood are you using? I see leaf litter in there, is that just regular oak leaves from your home?

[The Irons]

Many thanks for the compliment. The Discus did come from John via my local store. As for tank mates I have a school of wild Rummies, a small group of wild Rams (these were also originally from John), some Ottos & Acus cats.
The branches are limbs I cut & dried from my Crepe Myrtle trees. I initially wedged them under the cross braces of the tank to keep them in place, but they are fully water logged now. The leaf litter is Oak leaves from my property. I collected a few boxes full & just replace a few at a time as they start to break down. I wedge most of the leaves into the branches & only leave the odd few on the sand, just to make siphoning easier.

[jmf3460]

VERY NICE, how lucky you are that your LFS such quality discus. Saves you on shipping quite a bit. I didn't know crepe myrtle branches were aquarium safe but if you have had them in there this long with no ill side affects, I would say that they are. what do you feed yours? have you started to see any spawning activity?

[The Irons]

I wasn't too sure about the Crepes being aquarium safe either, but I did a few searches & didn't find any negative comments. I do like the overall look & form of them.
As for feeding, they get frozen Mysis, frozen Brineshrimp, frozen Daphnia (& very rarely live Daphnia when I have enough produced), frozen BH mix & the odd cube of frozen Bloodworms.
Just recently I have seen some pushing & tail slapping, but for the most part not much else. I have found that they hate dark clothes though. If anyone goes near the tank in a black t shirt it really spooks them- I can only guess that they see it as a shadow of a predator.
I hope your group are doing as well as these guys seem to be doing.

[jmf3460]

I have a thread on mine...http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?117864-Green-Tefe-biotope-coming-soon&highlight=...
its weird and im jealous that yours will eat all those things. I am struggling still to get mine to eat anything other than Al's FDBW (freeze dried black worm) and frozen bloodworm. I have offered them all the things you've listed and they basically swim away from them. never live daphnia though. I am starting to notice two of mine hanging out a little more together than apart. I saw some wood cleaning once and immediately turned the wood horizontal, I am not ready for breeding nor the aggression. I have 6 in a 75gal with some black neon tetras, corydoras, and laetacara dorsegera as well as 4 ancistrus species and nerite snails for cleaning crew. Pat on here gave me advice on adding Rooibos tea to the water for the tannins. Mine seem to love the tea, I mean once I started using it their coloring and behavior improved significantly, as well as the other fish.

im glad to know about the crepe myrtle, I have a sweet piece laying on the ground at work that ive noticed and thought to myself how pretty it would look in a tank, I think now I will try and use it. not in my discus tank though, im not messing with it much. I did just recently add some java fern to the wood pieces with my wilds and I am still deciding if I like it or not.

[The Irons]

Your tank & Discus look great. I like the Java fern on the roots.
It took a bit to get these guys to eat the different foods. I always offer any new food in the morning & sometimes I'll soak the new food in bloodworm juice to try enticing them. Out of all the foods I would say the Mysis is their least popular, but they still eat it. So far it seems if I can persuade one or two to try a new food, then the rest will start copying pretty soon.
I use peat to provide the tannins & too keep my pH where I want it. I agree that the tannins do seem to help give all the fish more color & I actually like the blackwater look.
It would be nice to see some spawning behavior in the future, but I think my group are still on the young side right now.
I have a 92 gallon corner planted tank & am seriously considering tearing it down & setting up another Discus biotope. Would really like to try a group of Heckels -I guess I am hooked.

[jmf3460]

soaking other frozen foods in blood worm juice, what a genius idea. I shall proceed home to try that this afternoon. good job on your tank and your advice, I have learned a lot from you.

[Solid]

Looks great! I love the algae on the drift wood. Makes it look so natural.

[Phillydubs]

Really a beautiful set-up! I enjoyed the back and forth convo between yourself and Jacklyn, picked up a few tips in there! Thanks Guys!

[The Irons]

Thanks for the comments

[Twistofer]

AbFab! It's really a masterpiece.

[YSS]

Nice tank and fish. Good luck with them!

[plecocicho]

Nice biotop! What are water parameters, wc regime, filtration? What are tank measurments?

[The Irons]

Thanks for the positive feedback guys.

The tank is a standard reef ready 125, which is 72"L x 18"W x 22"H. Filtration is via dual overflows into a wet dry filled with bio balls rated for a 300G tank. I have a UV installed on the return line (left over from reef keeping days). I have a large canister filter that is packed with peat, that I run during water changes to maintain pH. My water is made up from 20% raw well water & 80% RO for water changes. I carry out a 20% change every 4 or 5 days. Tank pH is between 5.9-6.3 depending on how old the peat is in the canister filter. TDS ranges from 70-90 again depending on age of peat. Nitrates are less than 10ppm (could even be slightly less, but the tannins color the reading somewhat). I maintain the temp at 86.