Advice

[Hidonest]

Hello pplz,

Set-up:
55gal Tank
75% 1-1.5" layer of sand. Rest 25% bare bottom
some artificial decorations providing hiding spots
(planning to add some drift wood soon which is currently under going hot water treatment)

Fishes:
2 yellow diamond
2 red melon
2 blue turq
2 others still trying to figure out (will post pics for you guys to judge) - i have a feeling they might be stunted
4 bronze cories
2 plecos
1 black ghost knife fish

Feeding regime - 2 times a day (frozen blood worms, frozen artemia - alternatively)

The discus are about 2.5-3" size. I have had them for about 2 weeks now. They love the blood worms, not so much the artemia (4 of them dont touch it). I am trying to get them on to the discus flakes and pellets for the past 4 meals (2 days) but no luck. How long do you think I should continue pushing for it?

Lighting:

I have noticed that they get very stressed when I turn the lights on in the morning. They are in a room where there is a lot of natural light already. Plus I turn on the room light for 5 mins before turning on the aquarium lights. I have 3 T5's and turn them on one-by-one. Still doesn't help
How do you guys normally turn on your lights?

Cories

The cories have been in the tank for almost 8 months. Previously I had a sand / pebbles mix. After moving to sand / bare bottom mix for the discus, the cories seem to be very hyper. They dash across from one corner to the other a lot of the times hitting the decorations. have you guys faced any such issue? I have researched online but every1 says cories do fine in bare bottom tanks.

[twocat]

It sounds like they are just getting use to the light. What do you do when you are asleep and someone turns the light on. I turn my room light on and 10 or so minutes later I turn the tank light on.

Mark

[John_Nicholson]

Does the room ever go completely dark? If so put some sort of a night light in there. That will help. Also you are basically feeding them candy. They will eat it but it is not the best for them. Personally I am a beef heart man but several here are having success with other prepared foods especially freeze dried blackworms. Whatever you do you need to improve the quality of the food. Chose one that is high in protein.

-john

[dirtyplants]

OK A lot of sun light, room light and three t5's are these in one unit or do you have three separate fixtures? If three separate fixtures how many bulbs in each fixture? I would put your t5's on a timer so it turns on after the sun is up maybe around 9:00 am or a bit latter. If you have three separate light fixtures place all on a timer to come on and go off an hour in between try to make the light intensity gradual. Your discus will get used to the light timing. Reminder sudden light is blinding to discus. There eyes do not dilate. As they get older they will become accustom to the light cycle. Your corys are probably young and they are crazy with energy when they are young. As they age they slow down. This providing the water parameters are good, and fish are not stressed by parasites or infections.

[Hidonest]

the discus are in my living area that has about french windows about 10 mtrs wide. from 630-730 natural sun light. 730-830 shades drawn but room lights are on. t5's come on from 830 every 10mins till all 3 are on.

regarding the food, i made the following mix:
spinach (about 4 sticks)
multivitamins (3 tabs)
Oats (2 tablespoons)
garlic (2 tablespoons)
fish flake food (3 table spoons)
gelatin (2 tablespoons)

I put them in grinder however the mixture turned out to be too liquid. how do you think I should make it a bit more coarse so it doesnt mess up the aquarium? mayb more oatmeal and fish flake food?

[Hidonest]

well I added some more oatmeal but i did not grind the mix. I just finish feeding them and my aquarium was tooooo cloudy. I had to clean out the oatmeal left overs.

how do you guys make sure the food doesnt start to melt or cause cloudiness when you put your home made stuff in?

[dirtyplants]

Ever make oatmeal ?? Place it in water and the water turns milky.

[Hidonest]

interesting...
but a lot of the recipes do include oatmeal without mentioning the water will get cloudy.

while still researching further and experimenting, i added some more gelatin (using this link http://www.fruciano.it/Acquario/fish-food-recipe.shtml) and then froze the food. It definitely helped a lot. There was very minimal clouding.

but after all this work, the discus would have a bit at it and they just spit it out. guess need to work on the taste a bit.

Also I noticed that 1 discus really takes control of the food and nibbles/fights every other discus that comes to feed, sometimes chasing it across the length of the aquarium. Any suggestions on how to keep this one under check?

[Hidonest]

interesting...
but a lot of the recipes do include oatmeal without mentioning the water will get cloudy.

while still researching further and experimenting, i added some more gelatin (using this link http://www.fruciano.it/Acquario/fish-food-recipe.shtml) and then froze the food. It definitely helped a lot. There was very minimal clouding.

but after all this work, the discus would have a bit at it and they just spit it out. guess need to work on the taste a bit.

Also I noticed that 1 discus really takes control of the food and nibbles/fights every other discus that comes to feed, sometimes chasing it across the length of the aquarium. Any suggestions on how to keep this one under check?

[Hidonest]

my response few days back got a pop-up that it will be reviewed and then posted. Any feedback on it from the moderators? how long does it take for the approval?

update: i skipped last 3 meals and today when I fed the above mixture, they all pounced on it. I am glad all were eating. Although a few did something weird: they would take a bite, chew for a bit and spit some out, then re-take what they spat out and chew for a bit or go for another bite from the big chunk.
Could it be that the size was too big for them to chew? or just that they did not like the taste?

Also, 1 blue turq (named him turbo) is very dominating. Turbo does not let anyone else take more than 1 bite. he starts chasing and nibbling the other discus. how can I discourage this behavior? I am kinda worried about the others not getting enough food, especially one of the red melons, garnet. She is very timid.
FYI - Turbo is also the first one to comes near the glass when I approach the aquarium.

[skie]

Give a little extra time with the room light on. I also have picked up a LED night light that sticks to the side of the tank...supposed to give a little light so there eyes are not shocked when the tank light goes on