plunc
01-30-2004, 01:24 AM
hello,
I made my first discus purchase on saturday. in the 3" size i bought 2 red leopards(great color, good shape, but cant seem to get them to eat anything other than blood worms), 2 snakeskins (red im guessing, although they really just look like brown discus to me at this point. Was told they will change colors some time), 1 red rio (this guy is really neatly colored, unfortunately this guy is a runt, pinched head, bigger eyes, although he eats the best of them all). At least i learned some things to avoid next time, i guess. 1 red marlboro(i probably wouldnt have picked one of these, but they seemed to think i should have one) I also got (2) 1.5" "Brown discus". They were throw ins, and they eat like mad.
So far, all has been ok, have been doing a 50% water change daily (55 gallon tank) with heated ,aerated, and overnight stored tap water. Temp is at 86.
Filtration is aquaclear 500 w/sponges, and 1 large sponge filter run w/ rena 400 air pump.
Tank is bare bottom, with a black acrylic sheet bottom and back.(say that fast 3 times).
Problems so far:
The leopards, are very picky eaters, wont eat color bits, or beefheart. Bloodworms only. I have seen one of the leopards scratching himself off the driftwood. No visible spots of any kind, though. Seem to be very active and normal otherwise,
I have also seen one of the snakeskins scratching himself on various objects, again, no visible irritations or other irregular behavior. Eats anything i give him.
All of the fish are fairly bold, and look very good (except the red rio)
Any thoughts on what to do about scratching, and getting them to accept a more varied diet?
Thanks for any input,
plunc
I made my first discus purchase on saturday. in the 3" size i bought 2 red leopards(great color, good shape, but cant seem to get them to eat anything other than blood worms), 2 snakeskins (red im guessing, although they really just look like brown discus to me at this point. Was told they will change colors some time), 1 red rio (this guy is really neatly colored, unfortunately this guy is a runt, pinched head, bigger eyes, although he eats the best of them all). At least i learned some things to avoid next time, i guess. 1 red marlboro(i probably wouldnt have picked one of these, but they seemed to think i should have one) I also got (2) 1.5" "Brown discus". They were throw ins, and they eat like mad.
So far, all has been ok, have been doing a 50% water change daily (55 gallon tank) with heated ,aerated, and overnight stored tap water. Temp is at 86.
Filtration is aquaclear 500 w/sponges, and 1 large sponge filter run w/ rena 400 air pump.
Tank is bare bottom, with a black acrylic sheet bottom and back.(say that fast 3 times).
Problems so far:
The leopards, are very picky eaters, wont eat color bits, or beefheart. Bloodworms only. I have seen one of the leopards scratching himself off the driftwood. No visible spots of any kind, though. Seem to be very active and normal otherwise,
I have also seen one of the snakeskins scratching himself on various objects, again, no visible irritations or other irregular behavior. Eats anything i give him.
All of the fish are fairly bold, and look very good (except the red rio)
Any thoughts on what to do about scratching, and getting them to accept a more varied diet?
Thanks for any input,
plunc