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Thread: coopers 6x2x2

  1. #16
    Registered Member cooper666's Avatar
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    Default Re: coopers 6x2x2

    Thanks danotaylor, that looks much more appealing.

    Thank's for the compliment slick. I couldn't agree more about the blue bottom, poor colour choice. It wasn't so bad in the reef tank as it went purple with coraline algae. Anyway, its there to stay for a while yet.

    I still have a few more sizeable bits of wood, nearly sunk. I'm going to use them to add some height to the centre of the tank and hopefully get some appealing formations going. I'm also planning on shifting the rocks to the left, and rearrange them a bit too.

    I am going to get some more discus, maybe 4 -6 once I'm confident that the filter is handling the new loading

    Did some test today, all nitrogen parameters are reading 0, Currently dribbling about 400L of fresh water in the tank every day.

    What do your expert eyes think of the fish, do they look about right?
    My tank - http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?135251-coopers-6x2x2&highlight=

  2. #17
    Registered Member + MVP danotaylor's Avatar
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    Default Re: coopers 6x2x2

    No worries mate! I think your hard scape looks good too. Nice chunky cardinals. The discus are decent, and still have plenty of growing to do. With high protein diet and plenty of clean water which you're giving them they should grow out nicely! Just be sure to extract detritus that gets trapped under/around your hard scape so you don't get a high bacterial count down the road. Good work mate, look great!

  3. #18
    Registered Member cooper666's Avatar
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    Default Re: coopers 6x2x2

    Thanks I thought the discus looked OK when I purchased them, but I don't have much experience with them so I appreciate your opinion. Now it's up to me to do them justice.

    Would you believe that the tank doesn't trap detritus anywhere, I don't siphon it either. My return pump is rated at 14000 Litres per hour and its split into three outlets at the back of the tank, near the surface. They all point downward and into the back wall of the tank, then through the rock work. All of those cory's and bristlenose work the detritus furiously and it ends up being air lifted into the corner overflow (behind the big log) As a result, the water is always a tad chunky, but no worse than seen in the video. It might sound like a raging torrent of a fish tank, but the flow is tight against the glass and the bulk of the water has fairly gentle flow. I have to change the filter sock every day though. Probably a good thing so long as it gets done.

    My cardinals aren't chunky enough. The discus slaughter them for about 15 min either side of lights on, I'm not enjoying watching it much, my 4 year old daughter looses her cool big time. I think I'm down to about 25 from maybe 35. There are a few with holes in them too. I'm not sure if they are going to last, I might need a larger schooling fish or more clues about what I'm doing. Anyway, it's a discus tank and if the cardinals end up being food, well so be it.

    Thanks for reading and helping
    My tank - http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?135251-coopers-6x2x2&highlight=

  4. #19
    Registered Member bluelagoon's Avatar
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    Default Re: coopers 6x2x2

    Nice looking set up. I like the one strain look and you can't go wrong with turqs IOM. Looks like a billiant blue turk there as well. I had a difficut time keeping cardinals with discus as well; they see to get ticked off one by one. The rummy nose tetra seems to survive better with discus.

  5. #20
    Registered Member cooper666's Avatar
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    Default Re: coopers 6x2x2

    One of my discus, the greediest one is suffering from a mild swim bladder problem. It has to work to swim down (just a little).

    I've chucked it in my sump, away from feed. I hope that a couple of days of the feed might be enough to unblock it. What do you think? Temp is 30C ATM
    My tank - http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?135251-coopers-6x2x2&highlight=

  6. #21
    Registered Member bluelagoon's Avatar
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    Default Re: coopers 6x2x2

    I would add canned peas to their diet. Spirulina in their diet can also benefit some. I have used epsoms salt for constipation 1-3 teaspoons pre 5 gal. Maybe soak your pettets. Do not over feed.

  7. #22
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    Default Re: coopers 6x2x2

    You can go as high as 3 tbsp/10 gallons epsom salts for severe constipation. At that concentration you are best off getting into a small tank, that'd be a lot of epsom salt in a 6x2x2. Keep an eye on him, I had a discus get so bloated his side and pectoral fin dried out from being out of water. Took three days with 3 tbsp/10 gallon of epsom salt before he passed the blockage.

  8. #23
    Registered Member cooper666's Avatar
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    Default Re: coopers 6x2x2

    Thanks for the input guys. The fish is swimming nicely this morning. I think Ill give it another 24hr or so before feeding, just to really empty its guts. Then I will follow the suggestions above.

    Wow James that fish sounds very gassy, well done treating and recovering it. My fish was nothing like that, just has a slightly head down look to it when it wasn't moving and displayed a bit of a wobble when swimming down. Greedy idiot would not stop eating.

    I'm hopeful that this will sort it without meds, but if it continues I will scoot down and grab some epsom salts.

    Bluelagoon, I wonder if those spirulina gut loaded BS would have a laxative effect.
    My tank - http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?135251-coopers-6x2x2&highlight=

  9. #24
    Registered Member bluelagoon's Avatar
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    Default Re: coopers 6x2x2

    A varied diet with some kind of vegtable matter (fibre) will help with fish prone to constipation. You can buy flaked spirulina or if you make you own BH mix you can buy the powder form at a health food store; you can even eat some yourself. I have used the epsom salt before and it woprked like a charm. It purged the discus from both ends. Puking and pooping halibut roe shell casings (egg shells).They were too thick for them to digest. It took just a few hours in that case.

  10. #25
    Registered Member cooper666's Avatar
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    Default Re: coopers 6x2x2

    I've been a discus keeper for about 3 weeks now and I've laughed and cried.

    Most excitingly, I left the house for 15 min and returned to find the lounge room flooded, joy. One of the hose fittings in my sump had popped and pumped all of my excess sump water 200-300L at a guess into the aquarium cabinet and into the lounge room. Much to be said for the hose clamps that I didn't have. Luckily the cabinet drained very nicely and hasn't held much water (that I can see). Thank god there's no carpet in my house and I managed to sweep most of it out of the door. The most alarming part was seeing power boards sailing across the fishy water lounge room swamp. Amazingly nothing shorted, bud I did kill (and replace) my air pump. Thankfully, 4 days on the fish still live.

    I've learned why big fish are recommended for beginners as I've encountered a few problems, mainly due to overfeeding Australian dried blood worms which gave the fish a few swim bladder problems. Firstly one fish would not deflate its swim bladder, then more recently 2 fish have had trouble inflating their swim bladders, large dimples were visible and the fish were wobbly. I've just purged them with peas, which they love, and the fish are improving control over there buoyancy.

    On the bright side, the growth has been phenomenal IMO. Other than one runt, which took a week to get feeding, the others are all now 9 cm plus fish. I didn't realise how much they had grown, until today when I added 3 more 9cm discus and saw that my little fish are now the same size as the new ones, but healthier and meatier. I also picked up a particularly large and ugly male bristle nose catfish. Ill get some pics once everything settles in.
    My tank - http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?135251-coopers-6x2x2&highlight=

  11. #26
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    Default Re: coopers 6x2x2

    Quote Originally Posted by cooper666 View Post
    I've been a discus keeper for about 3 weeks now and I've laughed and cried.

    Most excitingly, I left the house for 15 min and returned to find the lounge room flooded, joy. One of the hose fittings in my sump had popped and pumped all of my excess sump water 200-300L at a guess into the aquarium cabinet and into the lounge room. Much to be said for the hose clamps that I didn't have. Luckily the cabinet drained very nicely and hasn't held much water (that I can see). Thank god there's no carpet in my house and I managed to sweep most of it out of the door. The most alarming part was seeing power boards sailing across the fishy water lounge room swamp. Amazingly nothing shorted, bud I did kill (and replace) my air pump. Thankfully, 4 days on the fish still live.

    I've learned why big fish are recommended for beginners as I've encountered a few problems, mainly due to overfeeding Australian dried blood worms which gave the fish a few swim bladder problems. Firstly one fish would not deflate its swim bladder, then more recently 2 fish have had trouble inflating their swim bladders, large dimples were visible and the fish were wobbly. I've just purged them with peas, which they love, and the fish are improving control over there buoyancy.

    On the bright side, the growth has been phenomenal IMO. Other than one runt, which took a week to get feeding, the others are all now 9 cm plus fish. I didn't realise how much they had grown, until today when I added 3 more 9cm discus and saw that my little fish are now the same size as the new ones, but healthier and meatier. I also picked up a particularly large and ugly male bristle nose catfish. Ill get some pics once everything settles in.
    If the fish are in fact a little bit wobbly, then you could use epsom salt to help them digest the food. if I remember correctly, I used one tbs for 10 gallons.

  12. #27
    Registered Member cooper666's Avatar
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    Default Re: coopers 6x2x2

    I've redone the scape, and included the last few bits of wood. I've gone with a diagonals thing, with repetition of wood, rocks, wood, rocks etc. I'm a bit pleased with myself this time, its different to anything I've put together in the past I also threw in a few anubias, what a difference a touch of green makes IMO. I think the plants will probably perish slowly in this tank as the nutrients are very low. Time will tell.

    I can't upload pics, not even small ones?? So I made another short video.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1w2O...ature=youtu.be
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1w2Oa...ature=youtu.be
    My tank - http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?135251-coopers-6x2x2&highlight=

  13. #28
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    Default Re: coopers 6x2x2

    I usually email myself the pics and it resizes it for me. I see you added more discus - BD. I know your tank is brand new but make sure to qt unless it’s from the same supplier. Once your fish are established, qt even if you buy from the same supplier. I like the scape like this a lot better.





    Quote Originally Posted by cooper666 View Post
    I've redone the scape, and included the last few bits of wood. I've gone with a diagonals thing, with repetition of wood, rocks, wood, rocks etc. I'm a bit pleased with myself this time, its different to anything I've put together in the past I also threw in a few anubias, what a difference a touch of green makes IMO. I think the plants will probably perish slowly in this tank as the nutrients are very low. Time will tell.

    I can't upload pics, not even small ones?? So I made another short video.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1w2Oa...ature=youtu.be
    Last edited by Mando; 09-12-2019 at 11:14 PM.

  14. #29
    Registered Member cooper666's Avatar
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    Default Re: coopers 6x2x2

    Thanks for the tip, I've stumbled a bit posting pics here but never struggled like this time.

    I've been real naughty with QT, in that there is none. I'm playing with fire and I know it. Watch me cry later on.....
    Last edited by cooper666; 09-12-2019 at 11:25 PM.
    My tank - http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?135251-coopers-6x2x2&highlight=

  15. #30
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    Default Re: coopers 6x2x2

    Quote Originally Posted by cooper666 View Post
    Thanks for the tip, I've stumbled a bit posting pics here but never struggled like this time.

    I've been real naughty with QT, in that there is none. I'm playing with fire and I know it. Watch me cry later on.....
    Technically you're somewhat ok with this scenario since you just purchased all your fish from the same supplier. The fish look happy, healthy, and active so that's a good sign. Hopefully the tetras and other tank mates didn't bring anything with them. I love the blue floor. The tank would also look beautiful with a thin, thin layer of pool sand. Love your scape!

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