Finally some Pics

[geo57]

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I started a Discus tank about three months ago and have not been able to post pics. Ok here are my first pics and I hope they come out.

[RogueDiscus]

What size is that tank, George?

[geo57]

450 gal Rogue

[geo57]

A few of my fish.114671114672114673114674

These were gifted to me from my brother in law. There is seven, the largest a female going about 6 inches, the smallest goes about three inches. I originally wanted to keep 12 and all the same size, was gonna buy from Kenny...But what can you say about a gift lol. I was gonna call the 12 the apostles, but I'll settle now on the magnificent7.

[geo57]

One more of the tank.114675

[geo57]

ok, so after three months and the Discus now being with me about six weeks my water parameters are PH=6.6, Amm/nitrites=0, Nitrates=between 5 and 10ppm. I wanted to do water changes weekly but that didn't work out. Why? because the white sand shows all debri and I have three orange seam plecos which make quite a mess daily. So i vacuum my sand daily, while I do two major water changes right now of over 100 gallons i replace the water I took out vacuuming every other day. My lighting mimics a cloudy day where the sun pops in and out between the clouds, so it gets dark and then lightens up and gets dark etc etc, combine that with the tannins from the driftwood and the peat moss and it is basically a biotape black water tank. At 450 gallons with at least 400 gallons of water I have ten main fish...7 discus and three plecos, add about 100 tetras and 5 corys and the tank is under stocked a bit. I feed my fish once a day, live food, Dan's Calif Black worms, and i throw a little of Northfin Veggie Blend pellets a few times a week and mostly for my plecos. My plan as of now is to maintain a clean healthy tank for a few years just as it is now without adding any fish at all. I believe one of my mistakes in the past was moving my fish around from tank to tank, or constantly adding new fish to an established tank. Again I believe this messes with the fishes mental state, i think how would a different animal react to all of the sudden intruders coming into their territory out of no where to compete for food and living space? So i will continously measure my water parameters, waiting to see if they change in the future and if they do when and why. One of the things I do a little differently is I don't service my cannister pumps very often because I believe you can destroy the beneficial bacteria easily if your not careful and constantly read how other folks have problems after they service their pumps. So that's one of the reasons I will continuosly measure water parameters to see if my water changes before my pumps are cleaned.

[Filip]

Hi Geo. Nice work on your blackwater looking tank.
Sorry if ive missed it in the thread , but what strain are your discus ?

It seems like you have your discus keeping and maintenance routines under control and your low PH and being severely understocked sure helps a lot with keeping your discus healthy on the long run with just weekly WC and maintenance .

The only suggestions that I may add are to up your feeding schedule , way up to at least 3 meals a day since your discus are very small and need more food to grow properly.
Other suggestion would be to put a prefilter sponge or filter flooss wrap around your intake to keep your canister safe and clean on the long run without cleaning it at all , but just rinsing the prefilter bi weekly .

Good luck with your grow out project Geo and please keep us updated about your progress.

[geo57]

Thanks Filip and appreciate your comments. I probably didn't make myself very clear about my maintenance lol. I wanted to do just a weekly WC but that did not work out. I as of now am doing a major WC on Sunday's including tank and sand clean, sand clean on Mon, major WC on Tues and tank maint, sand clean on weds, sand clean and minor WC on thurs and Fri, sand clean on Sat and start over on Sunday. Your right about pumps, will check at about the 6 month interval and clean, until then I will monitor my water almost daily to make sure nothing unusal comes up. I'll think about increasing feeding but there is only two small discus and I'm in no hurry to enlarge them. They eat well and forage thru out the day, will monitor also just in case I do need to up the food. Thanx Filip.

[geo57]

As far as the strains Filip,I'm not sure lol. One is an F1, which if I got the explanation right has a wild parent.

[geo57]

Well my concept at the start of my Discus project was low maintenance and weekly water changes. That did not work out lol. I find that my white sand shows all dirt and debris to the point that I have to clean it daily, which also means I need to replace more water since vacuuming my large bed of sand means at least 50 gallons of water, so I'm replacing water about six out of the seven days per week with two of them being about 120 gallons and the rest about 50 gallons. This also means that I cannot afford to stabilize my water for a week as I have been doing previously, the best I can do is about 48 hours and then I need to use it to replace old water. No real biggie, but, I would be able to hold my PH at about 6.6/6.8 when acclimating water for 7days, now as I'm replacing water almost daily my PH is starting to stabilize at about 7.0/7.2, I liked 6.6/6.8 better but that's OK. My nitrates are almost non existent with that schedule of WC's. Also I've taken some advice from Filip, who suggested that I feed my fish a little more often than once a day. On my days off i feed them twice a day and on my work days only once, I do have three days off so they get fed twice three times a week, best i can do since I'm gone on work days for about 15 hours. The two small discus had me worried as I didn't see them eat much if at all, but they have started to come around and are eating better. The other 5 are pigs lol. So so far I'm real happy with where we are and where we look to be going.

[wannafish]

That is an awesome tank for some Discus. Great swimming room.
The only problem is reaching the bottom. I wouldn't worry about
the debris on the sand. One vacuuming will clean it up and then
the sand gets dirty again. Just have to accept it as part of the
environment. Some long jungle val would look good in there.
What kind of filtration are you using? Does it circulate the
whole tank?

[geo57]

I can't look at the tank dirty lol Wanna so I have to clean it OCD lol. I use three filters, Eheims largest pump, Fluval 405 and Marineland's largest HOB. And yes it circulates entire tank.

[geo57]

Some of my fish.114749This is Dimples. I don't know what type she is, I don't know about discus roundness and the like. She is at least 6inches and I think she's beautiful. This is Blue114748He is a blue Diamond, I have two, the second is smaller and lighter in color. This is Yellow114750He is the bully of the group so probably a male, goes about 4/5inches and the only one with red eyes. This one show one of my 7bars, 114751I have three with the baby a 3incher being one, and one of these is an F1. I don't have any good pics of the rest but I'll get them with time.

[geo57]

Well, seems like Yellow and one of my 7Bars decided to pair up and I actually got a bunch of eggs lol. They were gone in 48 hours and tho the two stay together in a corner and run everyone else off, they will probably continue with the eggs. I'll try a get some pics next time they have some eggs.

[geo57]

So I'm a little worried about one of my fishes, the smaller blue diamond mix. He's very thin. he doesn't eat very much and I see him spit a lot of his food back out. He is definitely stunted as the smallest discus has caught up to him and you can just tell by his shape also. But, he likes me very much and always comes up to greet me, I talk to him and he just hangs out and listens lol. I have gotten very attached to him and do not want to loose him. I have tried different foods, some pellets of krill and veggies, but he eats very little. I can see him trying to eat more, but as I mentioned, he spits a lot back out. I don't care if he stays thin i just don't want him to die.

[Second Hand Pat]

Hi George, can you separate him from the others? You might try placing him in a QT and raising the temp to about 88. Goal is to stimulate his appetite. What does his poop look like?
Pat

[geo57]

It would be difficult to catch him Pat as my tank is huge and I can only access 1/2 tank at a time lol. If I had to I probably could get my daughter to tag team him out, if I had to, but that would create a lot of commotion. I do have a 50 gallon tank with a few tetras and couple of s. Colombian Zebra plecos i could move him to. It's hard to get the dead ones out of this tank Pat much less a live one lol. I have not seen him poop, but all the poop I see is dark. If he worsens I'll try and move him Pat, I also have a 25 gallon tank I can set up in 24 hours and use it strictly for a hospital tank. As of now he looks ok, swims the tank and eats a little. he doesn't look depressed or stressed, just thin...real thin kinda boney, beautiful colors tho.

[Second Hand Pat]

For future reference George, I do not recall how large your tank is but with my 230 gallon (32 inches tall) I open both sides of the top and use two nets with 24 inch handles to catch discus. Lowering the water level helps also. :)

I suspect if you leave him he will simply decline further but maybe not.
Pat

[geo57]

My tank is 450 gallons Pat and 48 inches or four feet tall, its acrylic so it has a sealed top with two square openings in it at the top. The openings are about 20 inches by 20 inches. I have a lot of driftwood also that will make it impossible to catch anything that hides in there. Your right I would lower the water level first. I also have to use a ladder to get up there. I think your going to be right about him not improving Pat and I will get him out if I see him worsen or start to suffer. I get more attached to the ones that are having problems than the healthy ones.

[geo57]

The mating game continues, yesterday no one really ate. They all just hang around the intakes where Yellow laid her eggs, and the other striper, the suspected F1, is just dark and looks mad, and fights a little with the striper that Yellow lays eggs with. Yellow doesn't even hang around the intakes that much and is no longer laying eggs. All kinds of drama because two are in love and mating and the rest don't like it. The big female looks to be pairing up with the larger of the Blue Diamonds, he is the one that is growing faster than the rest, the large Blue diamond. Checked my water parameters and they are all good still the same. I'll go home today and give them a WC and a feeding and hope they can come around to creating less drama.

[Second Hand Pat]

My tank is 450 gallons Pat and 48 inches or four feet tall, its acrylic so it has a sealed top with two square openings in it at the top. The openings are about 20 inches by 20 inches. I have a lot of driftwood also that will make it impossible to catch anything that hides in there. Your right I would lower the water level first. I also have to use a ladder to get up there. I think your going to be right about him not improving Pat and I will get him out if I see him worsen or start to suffer. I get more attached to the ones that are having problems than the healthy ones.

Ouch. That is a tall tank. Hope you have long arms George :)
Pat

[geo57]

Hope you have long arms George

Lol, not really but I have tools Pat. Anyhoo, the two lovers are still going at it and the rest are starting to go about their business as usual with out bothering them. The small stunted one is still eating a little, hangs out with the group at times and sometimes stays by himself. To QT him I believe would do no good and possibly cause him to get depressed and stress him out, IF he takes a turn for the worse then I'll set up a separate tank and treat him as best I can, I don't think he is ill, just bad genetics. I'm doing Water changes every other day and about 30% of the water, roughly 125 gallons and I clean my sand at every WC. The discus are doing great except for lil blu, i have lost a couple of tertras and another cory, the cory's just don't seem to do well in the higher temp, the tetras have been getting eaten.

[geo57]

Sad news, moved the small stunted discus to a hospital tank i set up Monday morning and he passed that nite. I had noticed that he had white poop and was getting more and more lethargic. I probably should have moved him sooner as Pat had suggested but I hesitated feeling it was going to be difficult getting him out and throw the whole tank in a frenzy. He was very easy to pull out, my bad. I'm a little depressed as I fell I let him down and did not act quickly enough to save him. I was wrong in thinking he was just stunted, he was also sick. Sucks.

[geo57]

It has been awhile since I last posted cause nothing has been going on. After little Blue died i medicated the entire 450gal tank. I had seen my largest Discus pooping white stringy poop so I didn't hesitate, I didn't want to start loosing them one at a time. After that all settled for a while. Then the mating couple started getting irritated at the larger blue diamond that i'll call big blue. Big Blue would keep picking fights with the mating male...then one day Blue disappeared...not for good but would not come out from the driftwood. A couple of weeks go by and i spot him by chance and see that he has a large chunk missing in between his eyes and forehead, ****, so I move him to hospital tank and he is doing fine, then i went and got 4 more discus from my brother-in-law. All are good. 9 discus in my main tank and one in hospital and all doing well. Big Blue should be ready in about another week or so to go back home.

[geo57]

116667116668I have a few more pics on my finished product, sorry I can't seem to take a pic of the entire tank at one time without moving way back and I do not have the space in room to move back more lol.

[geo57]

I received more driftwood, this time a gift from my Bro-in-law, my fish love it and it quickly became their favorite area.

[geo57]

As you can see in the upper pic, Big Blue got healthy and was moved back to main tank, then i pulled my largest spotted discus, Dimples, and placed her in quarantine for about a month as she had stringy white poop, she is healthy and moved her back too. Will not wait too long if I see any problems to react to them quickly and hopefully not loose anymore fish. They are all at this time doing great.

[Filip]

I'm glad all of your fish are well and have regained their appetites back George .
They get more resilient as they grow , so I guess youll have less and less troubles in the future .

[geo57]

Thanx Filip, they're my babies.

[Marc Davis]

I'd love a tank that big (mines a 55 gallon). Maybe one day when the wife allows it lol

[geo57]

Don't tell her until it arrives.