Roy's 30 Gallon Red Spot Green Discus F1

[Shan_Evolved]

Roy is 10 years old and 70 in dog years.

lmao

[danotaylor]

Thanks Roy, looking forward to watching as you progress and transition to the 75 gal

[Seattle_Aquarist]

Hi @danotaylor, thank you for the kind words. I will probably start doing fish moving in about a month.

[Seattle_Aquarist]

Hi All,

2020-09-28
Another 9 gallon water change today. I siphoned up about 1/4" of the sand substrate at the front of the tank because it was showing little specks of algae and looking "dirty" and replaced it with fresh sand. The fish continue to eat and grow; today I gave them live white worms (Enchytraeus albidus) for the first time. The plants continue to grow including the Rotala H'ra, Ludwigia sp 'Red' (NOT), and the Ludwigia arcuata is looking taller as is the Limnophila sp 'Wavy'.


Notice the watersprite (Ceratopteris thalictroides) growing behind the Microsporum pteropus 'Windelov' (java fern); Ceratopteris are great plants for absorbing nitrates and ammonia.

[peewee1]

Hi @danotaylor, thank you for the kind words. I will probably start doing fish moving in about a month.

Yes, while you are moving fish I suspect you will move one of those beauties to my house by mistake.

[Seattle_Aquarist]

Hi All,

2020-10-12
It's been a few weeks since my last update. The fish are doing fine, eating well (too well?), water changes continue two to three times per week and the plants have been growing. Here is how overgrown the plants looked two weeks ago just before I did a trim and split some of the species to additional locations in the tank.


The last two weeks I've been helping my son-in-law build a 15' X 9' frame shed and although the water changes have continued on schedule my ferts went by the wayside. Today I did my 'big' weekly water change, about 60%, and took water parameter readings:
pH = 6.4
dKH = 2.0
dGH = 1.0
Ca = 10 ppm
Mg = 0.00 ppm
NH3 = 0.00 ppm
NO2 = 0.00 ppm
NO3 = 10.0 ppm

Even without ferts being added the plants continued to grow, the cuttings I planted two weeks ago are starting to reach the top of the tank (again) and other are starting to show up from behind the Microsorum pteropus (java fern) 'Windelov'. The Erio 'Vietnam' continues to suffer so I put two (2) beads of Osmocote Plus in the root zone of the three plants on the left to see if they respond. In addition I added some small pieces of Seachem Root Tabs in the substrate near the Cryptocoryne. I noticed some diatom (brown algae) growth about a month ago. I purchased two (2) Otocinclus affinis at the local aquarium shop and quarantined them for a month. I added them today. Here is a picture of the tank taken this morning.

[pastry]

10, 40, 70... hell, I don't care... I just want to keep watching updates!

PeeWee & Shan, thanks for giving me a brainfart Too many numbers!

[peewee1]

Roy has too many fish per gallon. I stand ready to receive the extras.

[Seattle_Aquarist]

Hi All,


It was pointed out to me that I had not posted an update lately, I apologize. For the last six weeks my son-in-law and I are building a frame 10' X 16' X 12' high shed (from scratch not a kit) in his backyard. It has 4 windows, 2 doors, and lighting with outlets (I think it is a man-cave to hide from my daughter - lol). Truthfully, I have been too tired to do anything but feed my tanks and do water changes.....70 year olds should not have to work this hard! lol

2020-11-04
Anyway, the fish are doing well. Growing, and feeling more and more comfortable in their tank. They get live adult brine shrimp, frozen bloodworms, FD Tubifex worms, and live white worms. They are starting to show some color as well. I added some Cardinal Tetras to the tank as 'dither fish' which seems to be working. The tetras were not from Petsmart or Petco but from a LFS that quarantines and treats all of their fish with Mardel Maracyn, Fritz Paracleanse, and Aquarium Solutions Ich X for one week prior to the fish going into the retail store (don't you wish your LFS did that?).


Here is one of the juvies starting to show some color




And here is a tank shot from this evening showing some of the discus and the Cardinals. The plants will be trimmed and taken to a LFS for store credit later this week.

[peewee1]

I have yet to understand how you get the 30 gallon to appear to be 50 gallons. Mirrors I suspect.

[Seattle_Aquarist]

I have yet to understand how you get the 30 gallon to appear to be 50 gallons. Mirrors I suspect.

LOL peewee1, it's done with smoke and mirrors!

[Seattle_Aquarist]

Hi All,

I hope all of you are well and safe.

It's been three (3) weeks since my last update and no, I didn't fall of the roof of the shed my son-in-law and I are building (I let him to all the roof work, I just handed him material). The seven (7) F1 RSGD are doing well, growing like weeds, and very healthy! Three weeks ago I took the plants to the LFS as I said I would, there where about 8 bunches total of Rotala, Ludwigia, and Oldenlandia for which I got store credit. Today I did my second canister cleaning since setting up the tank (about every 8 weeks with a Marineland Magniflow 220). I replaced the Purigen bag with a recharged & neutralized bag, rinsed the sponges and bio-balls in tank water, and replaced the filter floss. I do everything I can to minimize the possibility of a 'mini-cycle' occurring. Tomorrow is water change day and I will take some water parameter readings at that time.

[Seattle_Aquarist]

Hi All,

I apologize for being lax my wife and I got both our COVID shots and life got much more active.....lol.

Long story short I had hoped to move my discus from the 30 gallon pictured above to my 75 gallon in January but I didn't get the tank broken down and sterilized until February. The rainbowfish in the 75 tank were having an unidentified disease problem so I spent several days draining, cleaning the tank and equipment with a bleach solution, neutralizing the bleach, and setting up the 75 gallon tank. I went with the same HTH Pool Filter sand that I had in the 30 gallon, filtration was increased and and the 75 gallon tank now has two (2) Marineland 350 Magnum filters (350 gph each) plus a new Fluval 307 (300 gph). I put a total of eight (8) size "00" Osmocote Plus root tabs under the sand with was about 2.5" deep. The Marineland filters have only the fiber sleeve filter and the Fluval has the standard sponges for mechanical filtration and each of the other two trays are filled with 2.2 pounds (1 kg) of Biohome Ultimate filter media for biological filtration. I seeded the Fluval Biohome media with mulm from the filter of the 30 gallon to try an 'jump-start' the nitrogen cycle. One of the Marineland filters has an inline CO2 diffuser and inline Hydor 300 watt heater. Tank is set for 86 degrees F.

I had pre-ordered 50 Cardinal Tetras from Aquarium Co-op since they are about 20 miles from me and they quarantine and pre-treat all of their fish for one week with Mardel Maracyn; Fritz Paracleanse; and Aquarium Solutions Ich-X before they are sold. I also picked up a couple of Otocinclus to accompany the 2 Otocinclus, Siamese Algae Eater (Crossocheilus oblongus) and 6 Corydoras sterbai I had in the 30 gallon. All of these fish were added to the 75 gallon on 2/20/21.

After a four days later on 2/24/21 all of the water parameters looked good with ammonia at 0.25 ppm, 0 ppm nitrite, and 0 ppm nitrates. I transferred the seven discus and five (5) Cardinal Tetras from the 30 gallon to the 75 gallon. The transfer was done with care with a large net to avoid the discus from flopping and tearing their fins in the net rested a hand gently on each fish when I moved it the 20 feet from the 30 gallon to the 75 gallon. The transfer went well, no fish showed any sign of injury or major stress although all the fish immediately headed for cover in the plants or behind the hardscape.

On 2/25/21 things started to get interesting real fast. My ammonia jumped from 0.25 ppm to 0.50 ppm. No worries but made a mental note to check it daily. On 2/26/21 the ammonia had jumped to 1.00 ppm so I added some Seachem Prime to de-toxify the ammonia. The next day, on 2/27/21 the ammonia level had jumped to 1.50 ppm and it was time for action. I did a 70% water change and added Seachem Prime and Seachem Stability to help further jump start the nitrogen cycle. On 2/28/21 the ammonia level was back down to 0.50 ppm and I added Seachem Stability. On 2/29/21 the ammonia had climbed again to 1.00 so I did a 50% water change and dosed with Seachem Prime and Seachem Stability. This continued for about a week with the ammonia level jumping between 0.50 to 1.00 but and me doing water changes whenever ammonia levels hit 1.00 and dosing Prime and Stability daily. Finally on March 6th the nitrogen cycle completed and the ammonia level dropped to 0.00 - 0.25. All the discus survived and continued to eat well throughout the ordeal. Now I am doing 2X - 3X per day feedings and 3X per week water changes and the fish continue to do well, look healthy, eat like pigs, and grow.

2021-02-17 Here is the tank empty with sand and hardscape


2021-02-17 Filling the 75 gallon with diffuser and plate on wax paper sheet


2021-02-17 75 gallon after filling with tap water; notice only one filter in place at this time


2021-02-18 Unboxed new Fluval 307, added rinsed Biohome Ultimate


2021-02-20 Added 50 Cardinal Tetras that were treated with Mardel Maracyn; Fritz Paracleanse; and Aquarium Solutions Ich-X. Some of the initial plantings. Right to left Nymphoides hydrophylla, Helanthium bolivianum 'Vesuvius' (previously called Echinodorus 'Vesuvius'), Eriocaulon "Vietnam"; Limnophila rugosa, Nymphaea micrantha 'Gefleckt', Cryptocoryne balanese, Barclaya longifolia 'Red', and Limnophila sp 'Wavy".




On 2/25/21 one day after the seven (7) Symphysodon aequifasciatus (Red Spot Green Discus) juvies. They were no longer in hiding like the first day and eat freeze-dried Tubifex worms with gusto.


And here are the fish about a week ago on 3/27/21, I added a few more Erio, some stems of Ludwigia arcuata x repens, and some Cryptocoryne wendtii 'Red" to the tank but otherwise the plants are the same.

[peewee1]

Thanks for the update, Roy. I often wonder who the Green fish are doing. There should be a GSAS meeting soon. I tried for last month but could not login for some reason but will try again this month.

[Seattle_Aquarist]

Hi Norm,

During COVID GSAS is streaming all of our talks on YouTube, it is open to all and there is no 'sign in'. They are usually up for 2-3 days afterwards as well for those that can see it live. This month is the annual GSAS Home Show. Normally our club videographer, editor / photographer, and judges visit 10 - 12 member homes and do a 'show & tell' about their tanks. This year, with COVID, is going to be a little different but I hear it turned out really well. Second Tuesday of the month at 7:00 pm Pacific time is our normal meeting time during COVID. I will post an announcement when we get closer. Stay safe. -Roy