My 56 Gallon Planted grow out

[Dhavalsp]

For the first time i am attempting to grow out discus in a lightly planted setting.

Tank size: 56 gallon, 30" X 18" footprint.
Habitats: 4 Stendker Discus, 2 BN placos
Filtration: Fluval 404 canister and a regular sponge filter.
Feeding: Beef heart mix, NLS pellets(they dont enjoy it), tetra color bits.
WC: daily, alternating between 60% and 30%.

This is the first video taken on 19th Feb, 2016.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iIszhEeNbqg

This is the second video taken on 5th March, 2016.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbYCDlMct8o

Well in the past 2 weeks, based on all the help from members on this forum, i have modified this strategy and learned some facts.

1- Cleaning is difficult, but doable, i spend around 30 mins on daily water change(i still in mesozoic era and work with buckets)
2- Plants are hit hard due to constant water changes, growth is slo. I have not tried yet but supplements will b needed (i am still hesitant)
3 - i cleaned my canister at 2 weeks, it was not that bad, planning to change it after 3 weeks now and i wlll post my experience about it.
4- Discus are growing, may at 75 % capacity but they are growing.

Please let me know what you think especially about the growth rate.

***** i moved this thread in this section as it made more sense to track the progress here.**********

[magplate]

I am pretty new to discus myself but your fish look great. After only 2 weeks the important thing is that they are eating well and healthy. I look forward to the one month update!

[Dhavalsp]

Steve, I agree my biggest concern was one of them would be finicky about plants and other environmental factors and not eat. Fortunately, they all started eating immediately with no fuss. I think this just underlines the fact that a good source of discus is very important. I thank Hans for that.

[Dhavalsp]

I have had them for 2.5months now...I must say growing them out in a planted tank has been challenging. I prioritized discus (obviously) so my plants are not at their best...but I am happy with the way the tank looks.

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[Filip]

Your discus look great so far. Do you have any info at what size you got them and what size are they now ?
And a photo of your whole tank would be much appriciated :-).

[Dhavalsp]

Hi Filip, I got them at 2.5 inches...I think the biggest guy should be touching 4 inches tip to tip, but never measured them as such...I will upload a full tank pic once I get home today...

there is a day 1 video on the top,...I don't think I will have pics from day one but will do some digging later...

[Dhavalsp]

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full tank shot...please excuse my poor photography skills ..all pics are from old phone camera,,,

[Filip]

Nice tank and pretty clean setup. I wish there was at least 2 more of this beauties in here , you can face aggression with only 4 of them.
I would pot the amazon sword for easier and cleaner sand maintenance if this was my tank.

[Phillydubs]

Nice!!! You are growing some nice fish there!

[Quintin]

Very Pretty Discus

[Dhavalsp]

Thanks everyone!

Filip, I wanted to add 1 more, yellow faced melon in there...unfortunately it is too late and now I wont disturb the hierarchy....luckily the aggression is not that bad, the smaller one the darker blue one is just a picky eater and hence has been losing in the race...

For the sword, the cleaning is not that bad, the siphon tube goes around pretty well, I have both those pots twice so far but never ended up using them in the tank...

[Dhavalsp]

So it has been four months since I got these beautiful fish at 2.5 inches ...and started my rebellious journey of growing them in a lightly planted tank. I had one major set back last month when suddenly my fish stopped eating my turkey mix ( i had tried turkey 99% fat free turkey instead of beef heart, they loved it but stopped eating it after few weeks, may be it went bad, not sure) and there use to be lot of uneaten food which affected water quality a bit and I saw some fine dot on the tail of 2 discus. This was taken care of immediately, upped my WC and things are stable now. I am feeding these guys Aquabite and tetrabits only since last few days, planning to add bloodworm flakes (kenfish) in a month or two. Here are some pics...I think they all are 4.5 inch plus for sure, I have not measure them, but the width of the tank is 30 inches so you can ballpark (also let me know :) ). here are some pics.
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[ruudvk]

Looking great Dhaval! How is the dynamic/agression between the discus (since they are with 4)?

[Dhavalsp]

Looking great Dhaval! How is the dynamic/agression between the discus (since they are with 4)?

Thanks Rudd!

Aggression is not that bad, actually the alpha position keeps getting rotated and everyone is holding their ground. The small one (blue) has caught up!

[Dhavalsp]

Just a quick update without any pics...

I have been battling multiple hunger strikes for past few weeks...it may have to do with switching to pellets (variety) and then back to beef heart ( after giving up on pellet food)...I think I just confused the heck out of them....

have had few deaths..non discus, lost both the Rams...I think my 86F was just not right for them...

now to discus..in 56 tall, with plants, I was definitely not expecting to grow them to 6+ inch..but the growth in last few days has been minimal...they are 4 inch or so...the reduced growth rate may also be due to hunger strike which has been 'on and off' for 3 weeks or so...they went crazy after Aquabites and then stopped eating it in a week or so, same happened with tetrabits and NLS after few weeks of feeding...they pick on it, eat a little but the whole joy of seeing a full bellied discus has not been witnessed in while...

My concern is this could be a down fall that all folks on SD warn you about or just a temporary tantrum and I have to be strong parent....lets see...

My course of action in last three days is literally giving them 3-4 pellets(per fish) in the night and keep doing those water changes. I am planning to crush metrogyl, dissolve it in water and them immerse some pellets and try to dose them internally....any one has tried this with any success in the past? any word of advice on how to go about this ? Also if I were to dose the entire tank, what is the recommended dose of metro and for how many days?

thanks,

Dhaval

[Quintin]

Beautifull discus you have there

[discuspaul]

I'm sure it's no surprise to you that growing out young 2.5" fish in a planted set-up, no matter how attentive you might be to doing large, frequent water changes and a good tank cleansing routine, generally results in appreciably slower growth than what would normally have taken place in a bare-bottom set-up, and lesser than optimum growth into maturity.
As you recognize, that has indeed been the result in your case, but it's a credit to you that you have nonetheless managed to do an excellent job of maintaining a smaller than usually recommended group into a seemingly very good looking and healthy condition from the outset - you are to be congratulated for having accomplished that.
Many fail miserably attempting a planted tank grow-out of very young discus as you likely well know.

[Dhavalsp]

Thanks Qintin and Paul!

Things have been looking up...discus have started eating again except the blue one(he has always been picky)...I have been crushing 200mg metrogyl tab mixing in it in about 5-10 mg water and soaking tetrabit in it and then feeding them once a day in the morning....the fact that they get hungry and are interested in food seems positive. fed them in the evening yesterday and they gobbled up that as well.

I think soaking pellet food has proved instrumental in my case..i think I am going to invest those 5 mins from here onwards and not take a short cut on that one..

I will keep you posted...planning to post pics on 20th Aug, when they will complete 6 months at my place..

Thanks,

Dhaval

[Adive]

Really love these discus. Why not switch to bare bottom until they are done growing and then put the landscaping back in? Please post before 20 Aug

[Dhavalsp]

Really love these discus. Why not switch to bare bottom until they are done growing and then put the landscaping back in? Please post before 20 Aug

I have been thinking about it in past few days....all have started eating except that blue one who is definitely looking thinner....planning to try FDBW tomorrow if that doesn't work...I may have to take some drastic steps....

The fish seems fine, hangs out with everyone, comes running towards food, just does not eat it....

[Ryan925]

Nice looking group. Best of luck

[Kyla]

FDBW r a staple in my tanks, hopefully it helps. i have noticed more aggression when i feed sinking food than when i stick FDBW to the front of the tank. with sinking food the dominant fish tend to cover and guard their meals, but with it on the glass wall its a free for all.

[Dhavalsp]

These discus have spent 6 months at my place....they are growing pretty well and getting better every week....about 4 weeks ago, I removed all the sand and plants and made the tank minimally planted...feeding has been 4 times a day tetrabits, aquabite and FDBloodW (2 times a day)

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[Dhavalsp]

and yes, here are all the plants- 8 gallon bio-orb, has 5 neon tetras, 2 otos, 2 ghost shrimps and 3 assassin snails....100575

[two utes]

Looks like all is going well here. Nice work.
I really like this one. Keep up the good work :cool:




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[Dhavalsp]

thanks Joe!

that is the biggest one in the lot...i need to get some nice pics...they look a lot bigger in person, i would say at least 5 inch...i will measure them on the scale next time...

[Dhavalsp]

Just for reference... Measured them on the scale... They are touching 5.5....

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[tunerhead24]

The new setup looks really nice! Good job! What kind of plants are on the driftwood?

[Dhavalsp]

The new setup looks really nice! Good job! What kind of plants are on the driftwood?

Thanks Manny. some kinda anubia, don't remember the type though.

[Filip]

Thanks Manny. some kinda anubia, don't remember the type though.

This are called Anubia Pettite . Or a small Anubia.
Smallest variety of all the Anubia family species.

And Dhaval. Your fish look great IMO.

[Ryan925]

Love the shape on those fish. Great looking group

[Dhavalsp]

A quick update.

this video was taken back in last week of December. So about 10 months in my care (or me in their servitude)


https://youtu.be/l8Kee1kjCac


I always keep procrastinating to post a video or pic, just so that I can post when they get even better....unfortunately, one of them has been suffering with swim bladder issue and in the treatment tank, so posting an old video of all four. hopefully things will get better.

[Dhavalsp]

A quick update - its been about 14 months since I got these guys at 2.5 inches. they all are about 6.5 + (my best conservative guess). The remaining three are doing well and growing well. I have also added 2 platinum pearlscale angels and small bristlenose pleco's recently (after completing 4 weeks QT).

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[DatDiscusDude]

You lost 1 discus?

[Dhavalsp]

You lost 1 discus?

Yup, due to swim bladder, it was very sudden and overnight. it was one of the RT.

[DatDiscusDude]

Oh wow, so sorry to hear...