When is a discus ready to move from a BB tank to a planted tank??? [Archive]

Deepak

04-09-2007, 02:03 AM

It should really depend upon you. The reason people prefer a BB for juveniles is that young fish need to be fed very frequently for faster growth. This creates a lot of waste & all this waste & some uneaten food will eventually settle in your gravel & foul up the tank. Now if you are ready to spend the major part of your day cleaning up the gravel during each WC & you manage to keep the water clean you can shift your fish to a planted tank right away.

Second option however to a planted tank is to have potted plants instead of gravel covering the entire bottom. This should reduce the problem of waste getting trapped in the gravel. Though I never found even this successful for me. The plants started dying off & increased the bioload of my filters. Anyways I was never too successful with plants :( I just keep on trying.

tpl*co

04-09-2007, 09:06 AM

OK, I hope I don't get flamed for this, but I've found that depending on an individual discus's personality, that for me some do better in planted tanks and some do better in bb.

I've had discus, with lots of tank cleaning, were kept in (low tech) planted tanks from juvies. They loved being with plants, had a very outgoing (alpha) personality, and when I had to move them to a bb tank for a while because of house work, they never really liked it (didn't get sick, but didn't really show off till I put them back in with plants). I had to keep them for quite a while BB too, so it wasn't a new move. As soon as I set up a planted for them there was a drastic change and they started the breeding behavior and took over the tank ;).

Then I've found some discus in my group now every time I try and move them from a bb to a planted, don't seem to do as well with the plants. They want to hide until feeding time. Again they're healthy, but they have a slightly different personality too, not quite as outgoing, more of a "follower" than a "leader" personality (hard to describe, but did you have a bunch of discus, and then there was a discus that no matter what they did, everybody else had to do it too?). But as soon as I put them back into a BB, they'll perk up and not be as shy.

Another thing I've noticed when I had Sampson and Goliath, and now with a couple of my discus, is there is more teritorial behavior too. I had a pair form that loves my current planted 130 tank, but unfortunately, I'm finding depending on them, I'm able to put fewer discus in the tank. (plus plants, I've found that fewer discus can co-habit my 130 planted than my bb 60). The pair that formed are 2 of my favorites too. Of course they have the majority of the tank, are always out in the open, and maybe contributing to the reason why the others are hiding ;) . I'm still experimenting with my 130 planted but it seems that only 3-4 discus are getting along in there! Much bigger territories! I've got 6 in there now, but 2 may have to go back into the BB depending on how they adjust/or not adjust (and I've had these for quite a while too, 2nd time trying).

OK, just my observations. I like plants since it helps water quality too, but my tanks are again Low tech., no CO2. More for the fish than the plants :).

OK, Sampson and Goliath I had in a low tech planted tank since about 2.5-3 inches, with daily water changes and feeding 4-5 times a day, they grew very well and were very tame (that was a way I kept the tank cleaner, hand feeding ;)). Also, I don't feed beef heart, or other types of food that can foul the tank. I also have a good clean-up crew ;).

Tina