Wild Blue/Brown/Red Discus Biotope

[LizStreithorst]

Never saw purple roots before, have they stayed purple?

I wondered about that too, Jack. The dither fish are having a ball, but it looks like the Discus need a little more time to become comfortable in that huge tank.

[Swedgin]

I wondered about that too, Jack. The dither fish are having a ball, but it looks like the Discus need a little more time to become comfortable in that huge tank.

Well I had just been poking around with a pipe for half an hour trying to syphon, they didn’t appreciate it much

Here’s a water change pic from today, the UV got rid of all the tannins. Makes their colors pop like crazy, better than in the picture, but the overall look is not for me. Just put a load of fulvic acid concentrate in there, we’ll see how long the brown tinge lasts.

5C73E5E9-855A-48AC-A37D-9E69B14F953F.jpeg

[Swedgin]

Never saw purple roots before, have they stayed purple?

They have and will, Jack. It’s the purple rooted water hyacinth, so I’m going by that

It’s actually a pest in most countries, but there are some good studies proving their efficiency at (of/with? me no englishing) pulling all kinds of toxins and heavy metals out of the water. Which is tbe main reason for me to use floaters and pothos roots in the first place.

[Swedgin]

Just a few things to report which I also hope to get some pictures of in the next few days, right now I’m busy finishing off the heckel tank. Should be done with that in a couple days though, lot less hassle than this one.

So, got some hitch hikers when I got the rummy noses, 3 Iriatherina werneri (threadfin rainbow fish). Not exactly biotope correct, as they are from Asia, but these little dudes are so much fun to watch, chasing each other and flashing their fins at each other. Stunningly beautiful fish, too. Looking at pics online I guess I have subadults, not fully colored out but fins starting to get darker.

I seem to have a pair forming, the Cuipeua and the larger of tbe Paraconi are claiming the complete right quarter of the tank, any other discus gets chased away immediately. Should be cool to see what’s going to happen. I think the Cuipeua is quite young, smallest fish in there and not stunted as far as I would say.

Also, filtration seems to be on point, the water is crystal clear and I can alter the tinge at will, currently using my 5% homemade fulvic acid concentrate and a few new IAL here and there.

I have also decided not to move the large L095 over, he’s so comfortable in the greens tank with his favorite spot etc, and looks as fat and healthy as can be. No point ripping him out of there.

Further I have noticed my fish prefer flakes over granules and even over frozen krill and brine shrimp. The only thing they go proper nuts for are FDBW and frozen blood worms.

That’s it for now, hope to document this in pics soon.

[Swedgin]

Quick FTS from tonight. Did a WC and added some humin, hence the dark water..

What bothers me with this picture and most others is that I can’t seem to get rid of that really bright spot top left where the plant gets a lot of light. Any iPhone pros here with some tips? I’d rather not use a photoshop type of program but take a good picture straight off.

7B5395E8-2234-4E39-819A-5FADAB1962B1.jpeg

[Second Hand Pat]

Hey Tobi, Just remove the floating plants along the front edge prior to taking your picture. I think that will remove your hotspots!!
Pat

[Tshethar]

Well, whatever the limits may be as far as the photography goes, the tank is awesome! Keep the fish pics coming--like the two starting to pair!

[Swedgin]

Well, whatever the limits may be as far as the photography goes, the tank is awesome! Keep the fish pics coming--like the two starting to pair!

Will do, Bill. Problem is they start begging as soon as I move an inch, so their behavior gets interrupted.

But stumbled across some older pics and quite cool the development these 2 took, though the second one was in fairly good shape to begin with.

6E3D2279-1CB2-4386-9C5E-2FEBC5C88592.jpg



51E92380-5874-4518-9800-0A1839CE184D.jpg

[Swedgin]

And a little post WC action.
46DEB553-FE58-4CD2-BF7B-454E61CAD711.jpeg
C132BEAC-06C7-42CE-8662-ADDA24B4E5C6.jpeg
B95E02AF-65B0-46B7-8526-9EE39A662FCE.jpg

Meet “Cocky”, the Cuipeua:
1EB8955E-63DE-4488-90A7-20012896798B.jpg

“Fabio”, always photogenic:
9DCDFE38-9A87-43F0-AA21-00E5992D63DB.jpg

Corydoras metae
FB72ED0F-706D-404F-AAC6-009460DF0467.jpg

Corydoras oiapoquensis
AD41561F-A0E7-4130-9E82-F539F8FF5EFF.jpg

And let’s not forget the water change assistants. They’re spent
935C5D19-C6DA-44C3-BC28-9D8A710560F7.jpg

[RogueDiscus]

You've probably told us before, but what are you using for tannins, dark look?

[Swedgin]

You've probably told us before, but what are you using for tannins, dark look?

4 different things:
Indian Almond Leaves
Alder cones
Humic acid
Fulvic acid

The IAL and the fulvic when used alone only give a very slight hint of brown. The alder cones leach a lot for quite some time, gets quite dark.
With the humic you can black out the whole tank if you want to, and you don’t need much.
These are a couple of pictures of the first test run, just to see what it looks like. 700 gallons of water vs 100ml 5% humic Acid concentrate

06C05342-441D-4F64-ABF4-F43E6CF244E0.jpg

9047F6E5-63C7-47F4-862D-29D8D5BC6D6C.jpg

The actual setup with added fish is done with IAL and Alder cones. Didn’t count at the time, but only maybe 20 large leaves and a good handful of cones. Took ages to get lighter, even with 160 watt uv running 24/7, due to the cones leaching for a while

0201B93C-BFE6-4CB3-A72C-F911744ABBCB.jpg

[Pices]

I was looking back and noticed it didn’t take them long to own that tank. They are front and center and seem very happy in their new fish mansion. I hope you keep posting pics of your tank after the contest ends as I’ve become a big fan of these beauties. Your photo skills are also excellent.
Patty

[Swedgin]

I was looking back and noticed it didn’t take them long to own that tank. They are front and center and seem very happy in their new fish mansion. I hope you keep posting pics of your tank after the contest ends

Yes they bave, and it’s incredibly interesting what’s going on there. The 11 old residents all had their fixed spots in the old 220, and for the most part they are occupying the same spots as before. I think it has to do also with the fact that the new tank is in the exact same spot as the old one, so when they look out they see the same environment they are used to. Except for the 2 that used to own the right quarter of the old tank, which is now kingdom of the Paraconi/Cuipeua couple. So the displaced ones are more in the back, staring at the wood.

I guess after the contest, depending on what Al has in mind, I will move or copy this into my homestead and keep going in there.

Your photo skills are also excellent.

My iPhone clicking skills, yes. I wish I could take credit for that, but the phone has such a good camera by now it’s ridiculous. Also you don’t get to see the 30 bad shots for each good one.

Case in point:

West coast still sunny, east coast going to sleep. Need to fix the timers.
3DD16DE3-E4FF-4D92-BD4A-53BF976B20EA.jpg

And the kids playing in the dirt:
34E6E876-A926-4C7B-99F8-5C7C0D944C77.jpg

[plecocicho]

Gorgeous tank and fish, my dream tank (only i would go with true biotop). Care to share recipe for your homemade tanin/fulvic concentrate?

[Swedgin]

Gorgeous tank and fish, my dream tank (only i would go with true biotop). Care to share recipe for your homemade tanin/fulvic concentrate?

Thanks. True biotope would be nice, but species wise over here I take what I can get. And I got greedy with the plecos. Neither of my 3 groups qualify for B1 or even B2 due to the dithers, but I don’t mind.

The humic acid concentrate is made from TeraVita’s 90% humic acid powder

3224A0B9-1C09-4384-98B9-D22347D0B7C6.jpg

The fulvic acid concentrate is made from a 90% powder as well, sold by customhydronutrients.com

59D9067D-A673-4724-B739-9AF244617EB0.jpg

I use these instead of the ready made aquarium varieties due to cost. With my water volume combined it would cost me an arm and a leg to keep the tanks saturated with the commercial stuff. So this is the next best thing.

The humic clouds the water for a few days, the fulvic barely has a visual impact. I have been reading up on both compounds a lot recently, there’s a bit of controversy. Some say humic is indispensable to keep wild discus successfully, others say humic is useless as it does not dissolve properly. Fulvic as a stand-alone seems fairly new. Solubility is better, and from what I know SO FAR, it can replace the humic compounds 100%.
It’s virtually impossible to find hard data on what works best, so I am experimenting quite a bit.
Subjectively both have an equally positive impact on the fish. Their colors are more vibrant and they are more active when I use either these 2 or the alder/almond combo. It seems that as long as there are either of those substances in the water, it doesn’t matter which.
But I’m still learning about it and can’t give any qualified facts. What is fsct is that shortly after I started adding the humic concentrate to the greens tank, they started spawning, which they have never done before.