Cabe
09-27-2005, 10:24 PM
Hi folks,
My name is Cabe and I just found this forum today. Years ago (late 80's early 90's) I worked part time at a large petstore for credit. I can't remember how much I made, but I could trade my time for anything in the store at it's wholesale price. Needless to say I had a blast! I went through everything from boa constrictors, parrots, and just about every fish you could think of. I think I had maybe 6 tanks at one time in my living room. Brackish, cichlids, salt water, arrowanas, snake heads, angels, tetras, you name it!
I was quite good at it too, I might add, and had great success. Then I saw a couple of discus fish, and was mesmerized. I read up on them and most things I found said they were hard to keep, prone to disease, finicky, etc...
Nonetheless, I bought 3 small german red turquoise discus. I put them in a 38 gallon tank with angelfish, cardinal and emperor tetras, all live plants and an undergravel filter with one powerhead, a whisper back filter ( i think back then I put some stuff in it named chemi-pure, but I can't find it now)
The discus took over and thrived. I fed them flakes, dried tubiflex worms, frozen brine, and a tetra food product that was a sinking discus food ( I dont know if they still make it). They pretty much ruled the tank and grew like weeds. I think most of the plants were amazon swords, a couple kinds of aponogetuns (sp?) ( some of these I grew from bulbs you could buy back then and they even flowered up through the tank top!) I kept the temp about 82 - 84, the ph stayed low, I think the plants helped, like maybe 6.2 - 6.6.
Two of the discus started to hang together and act a bit weird. Then I brought home some stuff for my water called black water extract. After I added this to my tank, the discus spawned and the females laid some eggs on a piece of slate. They hatched and we watched the parents defend and take care of the fry. They grew into a slew of nickel sized discus and I sold them. The pair spawned another 5 or 6 times until it was over ( I cant remember, but I think I sold the pair and got interested in something else).
Just this past weekend, I bought a new 38 gallon tank and am currently trying to cycle it and get it ready. I am so excited! I have a couple of questions though as it has been a while. I seem to remember having undergravel filters and powerheads in most of my tanks (along with back filters, sponge filters, etc), and I think when my discus spawned I turned the powerhead on low (it had a control to adjust the speed) and all was ok. What do you guys think? Would they powerhead pull some of the fry into the gravel?
Or have some of you had success using one?
Also, I'll probably order some discus online when my tank is ready. What's the general consensus here? Have most had good luck with shipping?
Cheers to all! Great forum and resource!
-Cabe
My name is Cabe and I just found this forum today. Years ago (late 80's early 90's) I worked part time at a large petstore for credit. I can't remember how much I made, but I could trade my time for anything in the store at it's wholesale price. Needless to say I had a blast! I went through everything from boa constrictors, parrots, and just about every fish you could think of. I think I had maybe 6 tanks at one time in my living room. Brackish, cichlids, salt water, arrowanas, snake heads, angels, tetras, you name it!
I was quite good at it too, I might add, and had great success. Then I saw a couple of discus fish, and was mesmerized. I read up on them and most things I found said they were hard to keep, prone to disease, finicky, etc...
Nonetheless, I bought 3 small german red turquoise discus. I put them in a 38 gallon tank with angelfish, cardinal and emperor tetras, all live plants and an undergravel filter with one powerhead, a whisper back filter ( i think back then I put some stuff in it named chemi-pure, but I can't find it now)
The discus took over and thrived. I fed them flakes, dried tubiflex worms, frozen brine, and a tetra food product that was a sinking discus food ( I dont know if they still make it). They pretty much ruled the tank and grew like weeds. I think most of the plants were amazon swords, a couple kinds of aponogetuns (sp?) ( some of these I grew from bulbs you could buy back then and they even flowered up through the tank top!) I kept the temp about 82 - 84, the ph stayed low, I think the plants helped, like maybe 6.2 - 6.6.
Two of the discus started to hang together and act a bit weird. Then I brought home some stuff for my water called black water extract. After I added this to my tank, the discus spawned and the females laid some eggs on a piece of slate. They hatched and we watched the parents defend and take care of the fry. They grew into a slew of nickel sized discus and I sold them. The pair spawned another 5 or 6 times until it was over ( I cant remember, but I think I sold the pair and got interested in something else).
Just this past weekend, I bought a new 38 gallon tank and am currently trying to cycle it and get it ready. I am so excited! I have a couple of questions though as it has been a while. I seem to remember having undergravel filters and powerheads in most of my tanks (along with back filters, sponge filters, etc), and I think when my discus spawned I turned the powerhead on low (it had a control to adjust the speed) and all was ok. What do you guys think? Would they powerhead pull some of the fry into the gravel?
Or have some of you had success using one?
Also, I'll probably order some discus online when my tank is ready. What's the general consensus here? Have most had good luck with shipping?
Cheers to all! Great forum and resource!
-Cabe