New set up with the wilds

[woopaul5]

Been back at home for a week and since I noticed my good pal phillydubs started posting again (welcome back!!!) I guess I'll do a new update. Still in the 125 but took out the manzanita and replaced with a XXL piece of Malaysian driftwood. Not sure if I like it yet. When the discus stay near they try to turn dark brown with the coloration of the wood and they have really been fighting over the caves.

[jmf3460]

really beautiful fish Paul, I like the giant piece of wood but am not too big on the big rocks. are they just there to help hold the wood down or are they permanent?

[farebox]

Excellent looking tank, wilds looking great. Please keep us all wild fans updated...."If I were to start over with my 125G, I would copy your tank setup for sure".

[Phillydubs]

Heyyyyy PAUL! Glad to see you and the fish are well! Taking a break from the dirty jers to head home and see the fam and your wet pets?

Tank and fish look great!

I think you are already experiencing the downside of such a set-up, is that the fish may beef for a bit over their stake of the "island"

They may just work it out and figure it and enjoy the open space or they may get a bit overboard w the tusslin' You may just need to keep an eye on it. Or maybe add a little break up of wood to the right or left or both to fill in the coverage a bit?

Again, looks clean and nice but you just need to wathc that aggression!

Fish look so sweet though, your mom takes better care than you did!!! LOLOL. Sh's a champ man!

[Larry Bugg]

Google the "rule of thirds" I would move the driftwood over to one side a little bit. Think it would make a difference to the look of the tank but the discus wouldn't give a flip, lol. Looks nice.

[woopaul5]

Thank you for the kind comments!

I actually ended up removing the driftwood after a water change last night. For those that have followed these fish will know that they are under my parents care. I reside in Jersey now and only visit AZ until I can transfer back here. My mom has been taking care of them for the past year and has been doing quite the amazing job. She's 70 though and only 5'1" and it'd be really hard for her to clean around it or move it. The piece weighed around 40-50lbs.

Pics soon... letting them settle down for another day. Their coloration is absolutely stunning these days and unfortunately the driftwood made them want to go dark brown instead of vibrant reds/yellow/blue

[woopaul5]

[Phillydubs]

So no more wood at all? Tank is empty ?

[woopaul5]

Yea. The manzanita was rotting away or whatever it was doing was getting a few discus sick prior to spring. My last trip up something was making a few discus turn dark and had a spike in ammonium (pH is around 6). Since the discus seemed to do better with it out I left it.

Of course when I visited this time I wanted to make it look a little better but decided against it. Plus the new wood made a few when they were near it look like a cow poop patty on how brown they were getting. Deciding factor was really for my mom. It's easier for her to maintain a bare tank as boring as it looks.