75g w/ sump. Group of 25 discus grow out thread UPDATE: 2-7-16

[nofearengineer]

Yeah, the 405 freeway (or parking lot as you mentioned), just the most traveled freeway in the US.

according to wikipedia:

"I-405 is a heavily traveled thoroughfare by both commuters and by freight haulers along its entire length and is the busiest and most congested freeway in the United States.[2][3] The freeway's annual average daily traffic between exits 21 and 22 in Seal Beach reached 374,000 in 2008, making it the highest count in the nation.[4] It has played a crucial role in the development of dozens of cities and suburbs along its route through the Greater Los Angeles area."

Good Lord...when I visited my family in SoCal, I drove the 405...this Indiana boy didn't know what to think...you people are nuts the way you drive! LOL

[rickztahone]

Update video:

[Phillydubs]

Love it! They are lookig so good !

[Stonecrazy6]

such a pretty bunch.. just swimming around and happy as can be..

so which ones did you end up keeping??

[Filip]

Lookin great Rick. Theese are the 9 favorite discus that stays for good in this tank right?
The red one amongst them is the other discus that fall out of different tank during pick up right ?
What strain was he ?

[Loosir]

Wow Ricardo! the 14 bars are my favorite but they all look fantastic!

[rickztahone]

Love it! They are lookig so good !

Thank you Phil

such a pretty bunch.. just swimming around and happy as can be..

so which ones did you end up keeping??

the ones you see in the video are the final 8. 3 of them were predetermined selections, the other 2 were not. I had a hard time deciding and in the end, I just made a decision since I had the buyer waiting for like 30 minutes for me to make up my mind, lol.

Lookin great Rick. Theese are the 9 favorite discus that stays for good in this tank right?
The red one amongst them is the other discus that fall out of different tank during pick up right ?
What strain was he ?

There are actually 8 left Filip. I wish it was 9 . The brown based one is indeed the one that fell from another tank. That one is a Cuipeau cross. It was crossed with an Albino Red Cover.

Wow Ricardo! the 14 bars are my favorite but they all look fantastic!

Thanks. I love their spotting too. I have always been a turq fan though and the leopards offer almost this same feel to a certain extent. In the past I had a PE and I didn't quite like the shape, more long and a pronounced forehead. These don't seem to exhibit that which I really like. I hope to get at least another 1.5" out of them. In about a year I plan to put the DW and sand in there to make it their permanent home

[Stonecrazy6]

I bet is was like giving up a child to let some of your discus go.. I feel for you!

If I have time, I will read back through your posts, but if you have a moment, could you sum up what you did to get such great discus! types of food, number / amount of feedings.. wc.. etc.. I have trouble with my discus not growing as much as they should.. some do and some just don't..

[rickztahone]

I bet is was like giving up a child to let some of your discus go.. I feel for you!

If I have time, I will read back through your posts, but if you have a moment, could you sum up what you did to get such great discus! types of food, number / amount of feedings.. wc.. etc.. I have trouble with my discus not growing as much as they should.. some do and some just don't..

Well first and foremost it comes down to the quality of the stock. Fortunately for me, Al had a great pair of Goh line Fine line SS.
food I feed:
Home made BH typically twice a day
FDBW - once or twice a day depending on work schedule
D4 pellets by Forrest - every other Daily
Al's (brew) diskus gold pellets - their favorite and daily staple pellet. Sinks fast and gets devoured by my discus
BH flakes by Bill in IE - They don't eat this as much as they use to when smaller but still feed this every other day or every 3rd day.

That's about it for food.

WC schedule has been daily 60-70%. On the weekend, they get a nice 100% WC and change of filter floss in the sump. The prefilters get cleaned daily.

That's it. No secret really. Water changes and food is the key IMHO

hope that helps.

[Yoda466]

I love that background in your tank. Does it have any tendency to grow algae? Do you ever need to clean it?

[rickztahone]

I love that background in your tank. Does it have any tendency to grow algae? Do you ever need to clean it?

I never have gotten algae on it. However, I use to have a 3D background in my fully planted 55g and that thing grew algae like there was no tomorrow. Very difficult to clean too back then.

Luckily, with my daily WC's and not that much light, it has not been a problem. Recently, I just installed a new light, will see if this has any affect on algae. I run my lights for a really long time, like 6am, to 10pm and moonlights in between. It is never actually off.

[Stonecrazy6]

Well first and foremost it comes down to the quality of the stock. Fortunately for me, Al had a great pair of Goh line Fine line SS.
food I feed:
Home made BH typically twice a day
FDBW - once or twice a day depending on work schedule
D4 pellets by Forrest - every other Daily
Al's (brew) diskus gold pellets - their favorite and daily staple pellet. Sinks fast and gets devoured by my discus
BH flakes by Bill in IE - They don't eat this as much as they use to when smaller but still feed this every other day or every 3rd day.

That's about it for food.

WC schedule has been daily 60-70%. On the weekend, they get a nice 100% WC and change of filter floss in the sump. The prefilters get cleaned daily.

That's it. No secret really. Water changes and food is the key IMHO

hope that helps.

thank you for the recap!
I see some points I can improve in my wc schedule..I just upped the drip system just recently.. should be doing 50-60% now.
do you think frozen beefheart would be ok? my family hardly gets homemade food, so ... making food for fish my not go over too well..
also.. "als discus food".. ? found a facebook page.. where do you buy food from him?
I am going to order some pellets from forrest..

[rickztahone]

Here is Al's page for food:
FDBW:
http://www.aquaticsuppliers.com/Free...d-foods_c2.htm

and the pellets:
http://www.aquaticsuppliers.com/Disk...Pellets_c9.htm

As far as home made BH? I have actually used the SF brand and while it worked, it was expensive. I feed my discus a lot of BH, and if I used up the same amount in the SF equivalent, I'd be much poorer today than I currently am. Start up cost including the food processor I bought specifically for the BH was around $80. The food I made has lasted me well over 6 months and I still have about 2 slabs of BH to cut it for another few months. It is going to average out at less than $10 / month at this rate which is ridiculous considering how beneficial it is, and how big it gets them. Only draw back is the mess, but, hence the WC's.

[Stonecrazy6]

http://rockymountaindiscus.com/Discu...ood_recipe.htm

how does this recipe for beef heart sound?

what is your recipe?

Sandra

[rickztahone]

http://rockymountaindiscus.com/Discu...ood_recipe.htm

how does this recipe for beef heart sound?

what is your recipe?

Sandra

That's not a bad mix. I use John's recipe:

http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showth...art&highlight=