Discus - Recording my Journey

[brewmaster15]

I have curtains. However the temperature is fluctuating between 41-47 Celsius & I get direct sunlight, so light comes through the curtains. It should get better once the summer passes.

I am sure timers are cheap, but struggling to find any quality aquarium light that has those features. Lots of quality aquarium lights available for smaller tanks, but few LFSs are importing quality lights for a 4 foot tank and the few that have it aren't that good or are ridiculously overpriced.
Might have to look into building my own and will add a timer to it. Till then I will have to make do with what I have. Though still cant figure out why all my algae eaters dine on beef heart and not algae.

You should be able to find a timer that plugs into the outlet and you plug the light into it.They work with anylights...

something like this..
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Intermat...FU8INwodFk4HSA

white-plastic-intermatic-timers-tn111k-64_1000.jpg

You can then set it to be on only a few hours a day when you are there.
hth
al

[Hidan]

Will look into timers. They are probably available here, but will have to search for them as they won't be available with the regular electrical shops (We don't have home depot like massive places as yet).

How many hours should the lights be on and is it a problem for the Discus long term health if I put the lights on when I get home at 7.30pm or so, after it has been off for a few hours prior to that?

[brewmaster15]

Discus really do not need any set number of hours with the lights on. What I usually do is leave the ambient room lighting on in the day when i am not around much. I then set my timers for a few hours at night 7-10pm usually and early morning 4-7 am when I am up and about So they get about 6 hours lights on, and the day lighting in the room. Thats more than enough for discus. You may have to adjust that for plants depending on the plants and light spectrums and lumens.

al

[Hidan]

Chamelion Discus 1.jpg

So my brown San Merah has found a perfect hiding place whenever I do water changes. He thinks he is a chameleon.

Its hilarious coz his color goes back to normal 15 mins after I finish with the water change.
Got to admire nature and the ability of fish to adapt to their surroundings when they sense danger.

[lastflea]

Thanks for posting the tank shot. Looks great!

The timers Al posted above are what I was thinking. Maybe it's just the camera, but the tubes look very bright, so will definitely be contributing to algae if left on all day.

Is the San Merah acting completely normally aside from the water changes? This would be worrying me he was somehow unwell, especially as he's the only one that does this. I really don't know, but just for information would be good to know if you, or anyone, thinks this might an indication of sickness.

Rob

[Hidan]

Is the San Merah acting completely normally aside from the water changes? This would be worrying me he was somehow unwell, especially as he's the only one that does this. I really don't know, but just for information would be good to know if you, or anyone, thinks this might an indication of sickness.

Well he is the bully of the tank, so am not worried about him in the least. He only does that during water changes and goes back to his bullying act after 15-20 mins.

I don't think my lights are bright enough, to be honest, but yeah I think they are on too long. Working on making a new light system for the tank, ideally that will have a timer and a dimmer.

Also got some nice pics of the fish as they are now unafraid of me and will happily eat from my hands.

Fish tank 5.jpg

Fish tank 4.jpg

[brewmaster15]

They.look like a nice group of discus.. look healthy and alert.
I know that many people have bright lights in their tanks and discus will get used to them but its a stress factor for some. These are a fish that in the wild like to hang out in the shadows of fallen trees.. that tells you alot about what they like.
hth,
al

[Hidan]

From what I have read Discus tanks need around 1-1.5 Watts per gallon. So as per that my tank would need about 100 Watts of lights. Is this correct?

I currently have two LED tubes of 20 Watts each installed (so 40 watts total). I only leave one on, during the day and will only switch on the second one when I am sitting in front of the tank watching the fish. Even both together they don't illuminate the tank well, especially as you go lower into the 2 foot depth. In addition both are mounted at the back, so the front of the tank receives limited light from them.
Was hoping to buy a ready made aquarium light for the tank, that has some blue, red and green LED's to make the Discus colors pop, but its been quite a challenge.

[lastflea]

Wow, they're beautiful. The colours are really popping. What are you feeding them, out of interest?

Re the lighting. Where are you based? Can you import?

[lastflea]

They.look like a nice group of discus.. look healthy and alert.

Al, I've been puzzled for a while about something, and what you've said there prompts a question. It seems, particularly with the wilds, that despite showing stress bars I read lots of positive comments on discus. So are they only an indication of stress, or could they showing for other reasons? Thanks.

Rob

[Hidan]

Some Discus just have bars, other varieties don't have them.

I'd have to go out on a limb here as I am an amateur with Discuss, but Stress bars probably mean that bars either appear on a fish that doesn't have them or if it does, the bars get a lot more pronounced.

So in my fishes, the Brown San Merahs have the bars and I fathom they will have them permanently. The Cobolts have always had the bars, though from pics of fully grown cobolts, they may eventually lose them.
However none of the bars showing on my fishes are stress bars.


This weekend there is a party at my place. Going to be the Discus's first real test. Am interested to see if a crowd of people in their room sitting, chatting, eating will scare them or will they be brave and curious enough to come out and swim around carefree.