JWCarlson's first discus tank

[Willie]

Great job. Keeping discus can be so easy with just big water changes and beef heart. These fish are on their way to becoming monsters!

I've given up on rummy nose tetras with my discus for two reasons: 1 - they don't seem to handle big water changes well, 2 - they don't get very much color in a bare bottom tank. Their red eyes seem to pick up color from tank decorations: plants, gravel, rocks, etc. The ones I've been keeping with good success in bare bottom tanks recently are red eye tetras and lemon tetras. I can find both for ~$2@ around here.

[jwcarlson]

Thanks for the compliments, Willie and Brian.

I processed the rest of the 60# box of beef heart yesterday. In total it yielded 26# of feed (43% of my $110, 60# box - so about $4.25/pound). There's probably 23# in the deep freezer, which I am guessing is PLENTY for quite some time. Hopefully it keeps OK.
In about two months I've gone through approximately three pounds of beef heart (feeding other stuff along the way as well, of course). I wish I had a frame of reference for if I am feeding too much or too little. I'm finding that the big ones eat anything at any time. One of the runty ones (turq) has also kind of joined them, so I'm thinking he'll eventually get going (even if he won't ever reach the potential of the bigger ones). The one that has kind of joined him (flachen) will pick around at stuff, but won't join the fray when the others are eating. Since I have no frame of reference, I don't know what's normal. He is doing the same thing as the turq before he snapped out of it. In any event, if I keep a bit of vibra bites or sinking pellets in the water fairly frequently, he will eat them (and so will all the others, even if they just ate beef heart or black worms).
I'm hoping if I keep a bit of that available most times, that he will at least limp along and not look grotesque in a year.

I did a round of levamisole at the schedule of "Al's QT", but the second round would have hit during the disaster in which I lost one (or shortly thereafter), so I waited.
So I'm thinking I should probably to two rounds of that again. I occasionally vacuum up a small white glob which I kept contributing to a small piece of fat or vessel that I missed in the beef heart, but I'm starting to wonder if it's the flachen pooping every few days. Not sure what the right move there is.

Interesting with regards to the rummynose. I wonder if they're just not particularly happy about being in warmer water? The ones in my community tank have very nicely colored noses, but like you're saying it's got river rock gravel, driftwood, and a black background. Part of me just wants to see them in a longer tank because they school so well. I (likely) remain too scared to add any fish to the tank, if I'm honest. I had someone suggest that when they added some dither fish that their discus seemed to calm down. Mine are pretty calm, but occasionally something will catch them just right and send them flipping. In any event, I am probably too chicken to add anything anyway. I do like lemon tetras though, yellow would be a nice addition to the mix. I'll have to think about that. They're about $4 locally, I think.

[jwcarlson]

Two levamisole treatments trying to get these two non-eaters rolling makes this month feel like a loss almost. Coupled with a big scare on Friday the 13th with what is apparently chloramines and a fish keeper forgetting to use prime (on aged water).
Overall a lot less food consumed mostly because of levamisole. I hadn't noticed much of a decrease in food consumption, but with the two treatments two weeks apart it has shown itself quite a bit. Still two non-eaters, we'll see if they kick off here in the next week.

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Most of them are back to lightly snacking, at least. I haven't measured any at three months, I might give that a shot during tonight's water change. But I'll probably wait until month four because they've dealt with enough the last few weeks if I'm honest. I do think I'm finally going to punt on these two non-eaters and move them to QT and see if they'll get going.

[jwcarlson]

I did measure the bigger checkerboard tonight and he's right at 4.5". He might not be the biggest anymore there's four others who look very similar, maybe a bit bigger. So I guess they gained more than I'd thought. Are there any rules of thumb for age vs size? Just wondering.

[jwcarlson]

Four months now...
Finally lost the non-eater. Last ditch effort was a 12 day course of metro. The good news is that the one other non-eater (the flachen/solid turquoise in one of the group pics) has remained ravenous and is growing quite well. Levamisole non-eating seems to be mostly "gone" now, but it sure did affect them for a very long time. Three weeks quite a bit and it still isn't quite back to normal, I don't think. In any event, they didn't grow much this month because of all these factors. But hopefully month five is less... eventful. There are bigger fish in the tank, but the checkerboard I have been measuring is a bit over 4.5" now, less than 4.75". I don't take much time or flattening when I measure them, just trying to get a general idea. He's the only one I measured. There's at least two in the tank that are bigger than him, I think. Water changes have increased to 90%+ daily. Turns out my "55 gallon" pickle barrel is much larger than that. Which makes sense because it's quite larger than any 55 gallon barrel I have ever seen!
Pics are right after a water change and me chasing a couple around to get pictures of in-hand, so they're not particularly well colored.

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[JustaG0ldfish]

Four months now...
Finally lost the non-eater. Last ditch effort was a 12 day course of metro. The good news is that the one other non-eater (the flachen/solid turquoise in one of the group pics) has remained ravenous and is growing quite well. Levamisole non-eating seems to be mostly "gone" now, but it sure did affect them for a very long time. Three weeks quite a bit and it still isn't quite back to normal, I don't think. In any event, they didn't grow much this month because of all these factors. But hopefully month five is less... eventful. There are bigger fish in the tank, but the checkerboard I have been measuring is a bit over 4.5" now, less than 4.75". I don't take much time or flattening when I measure them, just trying to get a general idea. He's the only one I measured. There's at least two in the tank that are bigger than him, I think. Water changes have increased to 90%+ daily. Turns out my "55 gallon" pickle barrel is much larger than that. Which makes sense because it's quite larger than any 55 gallon barrel I have ever seen!
Pics are right after a water change and me chasing a couple around to get pictures of in-hand, so they're not particularly well colored.

Thank you for sharing your experience. I've been lurking posts that mention Hi PH. Happy to hear your discus are doing good!

[jwcarlson]

Thank you for sharing your experience. I've been lurking posts that mention Hi PH. Happy to hear your discus are doing good!

You're welcome, I've found the discus quite interesting. A shame on the two I've lost. I have been kicking around the idea of getting a second set to grow out and selling or giving away the ones I have. But I'm unlikely to do that, honestly.

[jwcarlson]

Five months now. Biggest ones are somewhere near 5.25". The smallest Flachen is growing quite nicely. Appetite much improved over the previous month with metro and apparently levamisole hangover.

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[JustaG0ldfish]

Wow! They're looking great. I showed me co-workers. They're in awe! I'll be buying some Discus within the next 2 months. Thank you for the updated photos!

[jwcarlson]

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Sitting here thinking it's not a "monthly update" and then realizing it happens to be six months today. So I should have measured a couple. Oh well... The plant was given to me by Iminit (Tom) and have also added six lemon tetras, but would like to add more. Or I might decide to move my rummynose from community tank over. Remains to be seen.

[Iminit]

Tank and discus look great! Nice first plants . I’ve got rummies in my 180. First time having them and they are a great schooling fish. Always in a group or sometimes the group splits for a bit. Strong fish too. I keep finding one or 2 in my overflow. Always look exhausted but look great once back in the tank. Have yet to lose one!

[jwcarlson]

Yes, I really like the schooling from the rummys, I think they'd be really fun to watch in a longer tank. I made the mistake of buying a 37 (or 38?) gallon abomination that's tall, but not wide. I should have bought a 40 breeder. I hate the footprint and the lid isn't a standard size. The discus seem a little more "bold" with the tetras in there. Not sure if it's just perception or what, but they've been less spooked (though it's only been a couple days).

Thanks for the kind words, Tom!

[Iminit]

I’ve found that the constant moving of dither fish releases the stress from discus. Very little jumping or dashing in my tanks.

Also with the small tetras from the store. This is another reason to put them in qt. This gives them time to grow. Most of your lfs fish don’t eat till they get to the store. So they could be days in transit. The store also isn’t wasting money on fish food they’re just looking to sell them. When you get them home they are stressed and some close to death already. Qt will keep many alive. This is why the quality discus sellers qt their incoming discus. They give them a couple of weeks before they move them on.

[jwcarlson]

These tetras were >1", but I know when he gets cardinals and neons in they are EXTREMELY small. So assuming that these come in similarly sized, they'd absolutely need to be grown up a bit. If/when I get another batch of them they'll likely spend some time in QT growing out some. I am really really thinking hard about putting the rummy nose in the discus tank though. I think they'd be an interesting addition. Though I'm not sure if I'd like two types of dithers or just one bigger school of one kind. That said, it seems like most schooling fish will at least school *sometimes* with different types. So maybe the lemons and rummys would spend a decent amount of time together. Even the sterbai corydoras like to swim with the rummys sometimes.

[GeauxDiscus]

WOW, Jacob - GREAT job on this grow-out! You have really committed to it!