Growing out in a planted tank - my 120g project

[Jack L]

LOL, I am a bit of a discus fanatic! But then again, once I saw the results of growing them out in optimal conditions I couldn't imagine doing it any other way.

And I swear that one of these days I'm going to take pics of my tank just before my weekly scrub down and then pics after I do the scrub and before I siphon out all the crud. Because I do a thorough siphon job on my tank every day during my 90% WC's and my tank looks spotless all week long. You'd never dream that there's a ton of crud hidden in it! Till I do the scrub down that is.

I drain about a foot of water out, turn off the siphon and then scrub the bottom, stir the sand, remove the sponge filters and heater to clean them, take out the driftwood and then scrub the sides down. And the water is GROSS! It's full of floating gunk. I then let it all sit for 15 minutes till it settles onto the bottom, then siphon it out and continue with the water change.

So why do I do it this way? (I do this even when I have a bare bottom tank with no plants)

Because you can grow discus from these little 4" guys:

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To this - in just 18 months:

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they are LARGE

[pastry]

they are LARGE

Yep, Toni ain't no rookie. She's plent experienced. Handeled some pretty large ones in her day . All jokes aside, she'll come off humble but knows darn well what she is doing. She's one that helps me out when asked.

[fishguy456]

Welp, I just went through all of my photo's from July and the ones that are the best/most usable are from the middle of July, so by then I'd had my little juvies for 2 weeks. They'd already grown over a 1/2" by then, but the pics will still give you a general idea of how small they were compared to the 6" older group.

Oh and I removed some of the plants and driftwood just before these pics were taken. They needed a good cleaning and stayed in a QT tank for a few days till I could get around to do that.


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Growth rates on both batches of discus have been right on par for all the groups I've grown out in the past 5 years. I average about 1" per month till they reach 5", then 1/2" per month till they reach 7", then they add another inch or two over the course of the next year of life.

on the last picture of this post is the eruption leopard the one in the middle? Trying to figure out what mine will grow to look like

[strawberryblonde]

Yuppers David, the one in the middle is one of my eruption leopards.

If you look at the pictures in the very first post on this thread all of the blue fish are the eruptions too.

They've grown quite a bit since then but the colors and patterns have remained the same. Blue with spots, but when they turn just right in the light they have a yellow glow to them. They're very very pretty fish!

I only wish mine had redder eyes. The eyes ARE red, but with the black barring on the head they appear a lot darker than my other discus... more like a deep dark red and from a distance they just look black eyed.

[Jack L]

do you know the size of the parents?

[MKD]

Wow Toni!!! They are big and beautiful. You have done awesome job.
Thank you for sharing.
Tony

[strawberryblonde]

do you know the size of the parents?

Nope, no clue at all. I buy all my discus from Hans and Kenny, so I'm sure the parents are in good health and at least average in size.

[Kyla]

beautiful fish, u put my maintenance routine to shame! def gotta up my game.

u mentioned a soft-sided plant pot... i havent head of these. what r they made of? is it like a baggie? do they disintegrate over time? where did u get them?

[strawberryblonde]

Hi Kyla,

I make my little pots that I call "squishy pots".

I buy cheap pantyhose in a color to closely match the color of the sand in my tank. Then I start by cutting the feet off of them for the first 2 planters.

Just fill them with a mix of sand and fine gravel, or just gravel, or just sand. You can add a plant tab if your plant requires more nutrients at the roots (swords in particular get their nutrients through their roots). Pull up the piece of pantyhose to settle the gravel mix at the bottom and then roll down the top till you get to the gravel. Then stuff the plant roots into the gravel mix, than use a rubberband to loosely wrap around the base of the plant, just above the roots. You can squish the pot around a bit once the rubberband is in place in order to get it nice and tight around the root system.

The last thing to do is to pull all that rolled up part of the pantyhose down over the pot you made, then tie a tight knot in it at the bottom of the pot. It creates a nice tight ball and gives it a double thickness of material so that the pot won't split open when you move it around.

As the plant grows, the roots will grow right out of the sides and bottom of the pot. Once the pot is nearly invisible because of roots everywhere, repeat the procedure with a new piece of pantyhose. Just add more gravel mix and nestle the roots, along with the first plant pot, right inside the second one you've created. There's no need to pull the plant out of the first pot. =)

Ohhhh, to make more pots, cut an 8" length of pantyhose and knot the bottom, then proceed as above for the footed sections of the pantyhose.

[Boyd Luth]

Very, very nice Toni :-) I am still learning from you. Appreciate all your help in the beginning. I enjoy planted, low light plants. Thanks again, Boyd.

[Filip]

Hi Kyla,

I make my little pots that I call "squishy pots".

I buy cheap pantyhose in a color to closely match the color of the sand in my tank. Then I start by cutting the feet off of them for the first 2 planters.

Just fill them with a mix of sand and fine gravel, or just gravel, or just sand. You can add a plant tab if your plant requires more nutrients at the roots (swords in particular get their nutrients through their roots). Pull up the piece of pantyhose to settle the gravel mix at the bottom and then roll down the top till you get to the gravel. Then stuff the plant roots into the gravel mix, than use a rubberband to loosely wrap around the base of the plant, just above the roots. You can squish the pot around a bit once the rubberband is in place in order to get it nice and tight around the root system.

The last thing to do is to pull all that rolled up part of the pantyhose down over the pot you made, then tie a tight knot in it at the bottom of the pot. It creates a nice tight ball and gives it a double thickness of material so that the pot won't split open when you move it around.

As the plant grows, the roots will grow right out of the sides and bottom of the pot. Once the pot is nearly invisible because of roots everywhere, repeat the procedure with a new piece of pantyhose. Just add more gravel mix and nestle the roots, along with the first plant pot, right inside the second one you've created. There's no need to pull the plant out of the first pot. =)

Ohhhh, to make more pots, cut an 8" length of pantyhose and knot the bottom, then proceed as above for the footed sections of the pantyhose.

Sorry to go a bit offtopic in your growout thread Toni , but im interested in this potting method you explained , but i didnt quite understand it .
I get quite frustrated when i spill the pots and gravel during my siphoning and it just happens often, so maybe your method can help me .

Do you pot the plant entirely in a sock or you just use the sock to cap the pots and prevent spilling gravel?
if you just cap and close the pots , please explain how you do it?
And what if i pot the plant entirely in just a sock and use a rubber band , have you tried this ?

[strawberryblonde]

Hi Filip,

I've never tried using a sock, simply because I'm cheap and they are expensive if you can only use one per pot. With pantyhose I can make up to 8 pots per leg of the pantyhose, so 16 total pots of varying sizes. (Did I mention that I'm Scottish? Yup, we're cheap and proud of it! lol)

I don't cap pots, I create the pot out of the piece of pantyhose. I just cut off a length of about 5 inches for small pots and 8" for big pots. Put a knot at the bottom of the length of hose, then fill it with a mix of sand and gravel. Add a plant tab if you need one, then nestle the roots of the plant into the mix. It helps if you use a damp sand/gravel mixture. Once that's done, place the rubberband around the pantyhose piece right at the base of the plant. Then pull the extra bit of pantyhose (it will be bunched up around the plant by now) down and over the pot you just made. That covers up the rubberband. Tie another knot in that piece you just pulled all the way down to the bottom of the pot. Now it's extra thick so it won't split open.

You can pick them up, shove them around and they move very easily.

If you look at some of the pics of my plants in this journal you can see the vals and a couple of other plants in the little squishy pots. My other plants are sitting in actual pots, but inside the pots are the squishy pots. And I agree, I tip over my ceramic pots ALL the time - drives me nuts! LOL

[Kyla]

that is a very cool idea!! thanks for the detailed response next time im potting plants im going to try this out for sure

[Filip]

Thanks for your time and patience Toni.
I've got it this time.
Next potting I'll try the pantyhose method.
Enough frustration with spilled pots and uprooted plants.

[rickztahone]

I see a video in your future Toni! The pantyhose planter!

That's what your video title should be. Bet you no one else has it!