Larger better

Hello,

I have some Heckels in a 60 gallon tank. I have three and I know I
should a few more. The thing is, these fish are use to their surroundings,
driftwood and all. And all they do is fan the fins and sit idle in their place.
Not much personality in terms of swimming and roaming around.
I have a chance to get a larger 135 tank. Would moving them into a
larger body of water give them interest to swim more and move
around. I have become despondont over their lack of enthusiasm
to explore the tank more. What do you think?

Thanks,
Jeff

Quote:

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Originally Posted by wannafish

Hello,

I have some Heckels in a 60 gallon tank. I have three and I know I
should a few more. The thing is, these fish are use to their surroundings,
driftwood and all. And all they do is fan the fins and sit idle in their place.
Not much personality in terms of swimming and roaming around.
I have a chance to get a larger 135 tank. Would moving them into a
larger body of water give them interest to swim more and move
around. I have become despondont over their lack of enthusiasm
to explore the tank more. What do you think?

Thanks,
Jeff

---

Jeff, in a Heckel's wild environment they tend to be shy and they prefer slow moving waters and prefer to stay near river banks and undergrowth. Whereas other species of Discus live in faster moving waters. Your fish do not seem unusual in that way.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by wannafish

Hello,

I have some Heckels in a 60 gallon tank. I have three and I know I
should a few more. The thing is, these fish are use to their surroundings,
driftwood and all. And all they do is fan the fins and sit idle in their place.
Not much personality in terms of swimming and roaming around.
I have a chance to get a larger 135 tank. Would moving them into a
larger body of water give them interest to swim more and move
around. I have become despondont over their lack of enthusiasm
to explore the tank more. What do you think?

Thanks,
Jeff

---

Hi Jeff, heckels tend to be more quiet until you get them into a low ph tank, adding a few more might help. I have eight in 75 QT tank which does not have a low ph ATM. I find feeding them live (blackworms) foods does liven them up. Also there was a thread which talks about adding orange peel to the water. I tried it and it seems to help. My plans with this group is to add them to 230 soon and get the RO going so I can slowly drop the ph into the 4/5 over time.
Pat

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Second Hand Pat

Hi Jeff, heckels tend to be more quiet until you get them into a low ph tank, adding a few more might help. I have eight in 75 QT tank which does not have a low ph ATM. I find feeding them live (blackworms) foods does liven them up. Also there was a thread which talks about adding orange peel to the water. I tried it and it seems to help. My plans with this group is to add them to 230 soon and get the RO going so I can slowly drop the ph into the 4/5 over time.
Pat

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Yeah,
My Heckels just love the solitude and protection of the driftwood.
They are somewhat active when foraging for food. I am thinking
that if I move and change the driftwood more often, then they
will discover more of the tank and be more inquisitive. They
are somewhat restricted living in a 48" by 24" by 18" box.

Pat

I use R/O water for water changes and top it off with tap water.
My R/O is 6.0 and my tap is 7/6. After changes my ph is 7.0.
How can you get the tank down to 4/5 under those circumstances.
Do I just use R/O and don't add the tap water to reconstitute. If
my R/O is 6.0, what do I do to get it lower.
I do use almonds leaves, but that's just for tannins.

Jeff