Incredible plants and growth,
That aside, just remember that with discus that small, they will need a lot of food and a lot of clean water in the form of water changes. Also after a month or three they will be too big for a 30g tank.
Hi All,
2020-07-30
Well it has been a week since the last update. The fish are doing fine as are the plants. The tanks is clear and the PAR level increased to PAR@50 now that the cloudiness is gone. I did a 33% water change this week, dosed 4.5 ml of Seachem Comprehensive twice and glutaradehyde (Excel strength) Initial Dose (4 tsp) once. The water parameters after the water change were:
pH = 7.6
dKH = 2.0
dGH = 2.0
Ca = 15 ppm
Mg = 0 ppm
NH3 = 0.25 ppm
NO2 = 0.0 ppm
NO3 = 0.0 - 5.0 ppm
I don't know why my pH climbed this week, my CO2 is actually higher (about 40 ppm) is it possible the HTH sand is not totally inert? I added 2.0 ml of Muriatic Acid to the tank and that dropped the pH to 6.4 after 24 hours. I will monitor the pH for the next couple of weeks and see if it creeps back up. The fish didn't show any signs of distress.
It looks like the species fish will be arriving soon. In the meantime the plants seem to have settled in fine. The Persicaria sp. 'Kawagoeanum' has a couple of new leaves showing good color. The Myriophyllum sp. 'Guyana' seems to be a slow grower but there is one new leaf and it seems to be larger than the emersed grown leaves. I added some Eleocharis sp (possibly robbinsii?) to the tank that was growing submerged in my 75 gallon and I trimmed down. The other emersed grown stems I added a week or so ago are also showing new growth and looking healthy. The Ludwigia sp. 'Red' isn't showing any red coloration but with PAR@50 it may not show color until it gets very near the surface (if at all).
Incredible plants and growth,
That aside, just remember that with discus that small, they will need a lot of food and a lot of clean water in the form of water changes. Also after a month or three they will be too big for a 30g tank.
Amateur discuskeeper, Professional doofus
Hi @Shan_Evolved,
I've certainly learned that, they are like small eating machines! Water changes at least twice a week.
Hi All,
2020-08-03
I know it is not time for my weekly update on how the tank is progressing however the species arrived yesterday afternoon with a few friends. I drip acclimated them for about an hour, waited an additional 1/2 hour, and the introduced them into the tank. They even brought some friends with them that they grew up with, three (3) Corydoras sterbai. For the first couple of hours they huddled together in a corner and then they started to explore the tank. I lightly fed them some frozen bloodworms about an hour before 'lights out' and they all seemed to eat.
Today they are much more active and bravely exploring the tank so I grabbed this picture. I know that the 30 gallon is just temporary for these seven fish and in the future they will become the inhabitants of my 75 gallon. -Roy
Last edited by Seattle_Aquarist; 08-20-2020 at 11:13 PM.
Hi All,
2020-08-03
Here they are eating their third (3rd) cube of FB Tubifex Worms!
Hi All,
Here is what has been happening in the tank since I added the discus.
2020/08/11
This last week I increased the PAR from PAR@20 to PAR@40 on Tuesday and then on Saturday I increased it from PAR@40 to PAR@70 (all measured at the substrate level).
I did a 50% water change yesterday making sure to match within 5 degrees the new water with the tank water. I added 3/8 tsp CaSO4 (3 ppm Ca / 0.4 dGH); 3/16 tsp MgSO4 (1.04 ppm Mg / 0.25 dGH); 3/16 tsp K2SO4 (7.5 ppm K)
The water parameters today are:
pH = 7,2
dKH = 2.0
dGH = 4.0
NH3 = 0.25 ppm
NO2 = 0.25 ppm
NO3 = 10 ppm
The ammonia level remains stable and I attribute the not before seen levels of nitrite and nitrates to the addition of the discus and the large amounts of food they consume. I will likely do a second water change on Friday and check the water parameters again.
Here is an overall view of the 30 gallon
The Trident Java Fern (Microsporum pteropus 'Trident') is doing well and looking good. The Cryptocoryne wendtii 'Green Gecko' has put out more leaves in the last couple of weeks than it did in the previous 3 months, I think the substrate feeding is having a positive effect.
Here is an overall view of the center of the tank. The Eriocaulon sp 'Vietnam' is growing although slowly with no signs of algae on the leaves. In fact, I haven't seen any algae whatsoever on the glass or plants since they were planted.
Here is a shot of some of the plants I am experimenting with along the back glass. These all come from my emersed plant bank and were planted July 30th so they have been in place about 11 days. This picture shows the Myriophyllum 'Mini' and the Bacopa colorata. Note the top leaves are noticeably larger on the 'Mini' compared with the lower leaves that were grown emersed. The same is true of the B. colorata but it is difficult to see in the picture. Also notice the top leaves are starting to show some pinkish coloration.
The Limnophila rugosa has put out several new leaves and is starting to look 'bushy'. The Ludwigia sp 'Red' has gone crazy (arrow) it must have 10 new nodes and the new submerged leaves are 5X the size of the emersed leaves. The leaves are green likely due to the low PAR level I have been using but the stems are growing toward the top and with the higher PAR I would expect to start seeing some normal color.
How in heck do you get so much plants into a 30 gallon, Roy? Very nice scaping.
Hi Luiz @Losago1980
The HTH Pool Filter sand is definitely white. It is not "too fine", not as fine as beach sand and has a good weight. The plants seem to be doing fine, roots are growing, with all the water changes there are basically no nutrients in the water column and with my very soft water here in Seattle the low calcium and magnesium levels are causing some issues. But, this is a discus tank and the primary focus are the discus, plants are a secondary consideration that is why I am trying several species to see what does well in the conditions that are best for the fish. -Roy
Hi All,
Time for another weekly installment!
2020/08/13
Today I did a 6 gallon water change on the tank.
2020/08/16
I took ammonia, nitrite and nitrate readings again today, they were:
NH3 = 0.25 ppm
NO2 = 0.00 ppm
NO3 = 10 - 20 ppm
2020/08/17
Today is water change day. I changed 50% of the water in the tank (approximately 12 gallons) and did a light vacuum of the substrate in the front to remove detritus and the top layer of sand was looking a little dingy. I added 3/8 tsp of CaSO4 for 3 ppm of calcium, 3/16 tsp of MgSO4 for 1.0 ppm of Mg, and 3/16 tsp of K2SO4 for 7.5 ppm of potassium. I also added 15 ml of Excel/glutaraldehyde for carbon molecules. The fish all ate well about an hour afterwards on San Francisco Bay Brand freeze dried tubifex worms (FDTW). I took some pictures of the tank as well, here they are:
The full view
The C. wendtii 'Green Gecko' added another leaf this week. The 'Trident' is doing well
The Persicaria sp. 'Kawagoeanum' is not doing well, the leaves are small and not well formed and the growth has slowed. On the other hand the Myriophyllum sp. 'Guyana' continues to grow well with about 4 nodes (1") of new leaves.
Another shot of the Red Spot Green Discus (RSGD), they are almost always schooling
Not much noteworthy on the rest of the plants other than the three small sprigs of Ludwigia arcuata are showing new submerged growth and the Limnophila rugosa is branching at the bottom.
Lastly, the Ludwigia sp. 'Red' continues to grow quickly, however PAR@75 at the substrate and PAR@120 at the tip of the tall stem is not yet creating red coloration, however the stem is starting to branch.
Hi All,
2020-08-25
Added 4.5 ml of Seachem Flourish Comprehensive
2020-08-26
Based upon recommendations from folks on the forums I have upped my water changes. I will be doing three a week on this 30 gallon tank (24 gallon water volume) with 12 gallons done on Monday, 9 gallons done on Wednesday, and 9 gallons done on Friday. This will be the equivalent of 1.33 complete water changes per week. I did a 9 gallon water change today, did a light vac of the substrate in the front, noticed some green spot algae (GSA) along the front glass just below the substrate line and cleaned that up. Magic Erasers (aka melamine foam) are great glass cleaners (be sure to get the ones with no detergent etc).
After the water change I added 3/4 tsp of CaSO4*2H2O for 6 ppm of Ca (hardness increase approx 0.8 dGH); 3/8 tsp of MgSO4*7H2O for 2.1 ppm of Mg (harness increase 0.5 dGH); 3/8 tsp of K2SO4 for 11.8 ppm of K; and 3/64 tsp of KH2PO4 for 2.0 ppm of P to hopefully reduce the GSA. I also added 4.5 ml of Seachem Flourish Comprehensive.
2020-08-29
I did a 9 gallon water change (approx 33%+) today. Also picked up some live adult brine shrimp to give them a little treat. Here they are 1/2 hour after feeding still looking for any BS they may have missed.
Also here is a picture of the big brothers and sisters of the fry I have, notice how the nice coloration is starting to emerge.
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Roy, the brother/sisters are the parents of your fish?
Hi @peewee1,
No, the second photo is of the first batch of fry from the wild parents. The discus I have are from the 2nd batch of fry from the same wild parents. The ones in the 2nd photo are probably about 2/3 the size of the parents at this point and less than a year old.
Here are the parents, sorry about the background glare.
They look great Roy!
So I'm a little confused though, your signature is on all of the photos you have posted...but the parents and first generation aren't yours, correct?