illumnae's 600 gallon planted tank

[illumnae]

Just beautiful! My upgrade was a 55 gal as a in the early 90’s to a 120 in 2021 to now a 150 gal in 2023. I look forward to seeing the evolution of your tank. In the meantime- I’d love to see your fish room and sump for the 600!

I'll try to get some fish room pictures, but it's nothing special really. It's just a rack with 6 40 gallon tanks on one side and a 9ft countertop workspace with a sink on the other side. The sump is hidden underneath the countertop. Alot of work went into waterproofing and retiling the room, and adding more draining points and taps for convenience, but it doesn't actually look like very much ��

[illumnae]

My discus have been delivered and have now started their quarantine! Just clean water for now while they settle in before I start any medication. I'm going to have to figure out now to convert them over from beefheart to pellets too.

[Second Hand Pat]

My discus have been delivered and have now started their quarantine! Just clean water for now while they settle in before I start any medication. I'm going to have to figure out now to convert them over from beefheart to pellets too.

Sounds like it is picture time
Pat

[illumnae]

Sounds like it is picture time
Pat

Let me get them stable and eating before I take some pictures. I went to buy beefheart today but they aren't eating yet. How many days can they starve before I should start getting worried? When I kept wilds previously they started eating within hours of getting off a 24 hour plane journey

[Second Hand Pat]

You have had them two days now? I would suggest you offer small amounts of food until they eat. Be sure to do WCs during this first week to keep ammonia/nitrite in check. What's the temp in the tank?
Pat

[brewmaster15]

Let me get them stable and eating before I take some pictures. I went to buy beefheart today but they aren't eating yet. How many days can they starve before I should start getting worried? When I kept wilds previously they started eating within hours of getting off a 24 hour plane journey

Its not unusual for them to go days to a week or so when first received. A healthy discus can easily go a week and longer with out food. Its common to not feed them when on vacation.

Al

[illumnae]

You have had them two days now? I would suggest you offer small amounts of food until they eat. Be sure to do WCs during this first week to keep ammonia/nitrite in check. What's the temp in the tank?
Pat

Its not unusual for them to go days to a week or so when first received. A healthy discus can easily go a week and longer with out food. Its common to not feed them when on vacation.

Al

Thank you, I'm not too worried yet as the discus don't seem stressed at the moment. I did add salt today though at the importer's recommendation. I'm currently doing twice daily water changes of about 70% to keep the water fresh. I did go to another seller to buy another slab of beefheart though as I didn't really like the consistency of the current one I have - it seems to have too much gelatin in it and still holds together as a rectangle block after an hour.

The importer suggested keeping them at about 27-28 degrees Celsius. I'm currently keeping them at about 28-28.5

[illumnae]

Some pictures before this morning's water change. Please ignore the reflection of the fat Asian guy in a singlet in the glass - the tank lights are off. I've started a dose of a local brand equivalent of Seachem Paraguard to start dealing with external parasites/bacteria. It'll be part of my quarantine process for all fish that are going into the display tank. The discus have shown no adverse reactions to this medication after 24 hours.

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[brewmaster15]

Wow! Thats one beautiful group of fish! Nice shape and look really well raised !l congratulation!

Al

[danotaylor]

wow! Thats one beautiful group of fish! Nice shape and look really well raised !l congratulation!

al

+1

[Second Hand Pat]

Super nice discus When does the other group arrive?
Pat

[illumnae]

Thank you all very much! I'm super happy with how these fish look as well. Of the 20 fish, only 1 has started eating a very small amount just today, and another one has shown some interest but has not actually eaten anything yet. I hope that they will all start eating soon. Should I start on the first levamisole treatment yet or wait until they are all eating normally before starting? Also, should I keep offering them small portions of beefheart daily (the breeder fed them beefheart exclusively at his facility but not the same formulation as what is available to me locally) or should I go get live brine shrimp or frozen bloodworms just to get them to start eating at all costs?

The next group of discus will be another 20 albino red covers. They are actually already ready for export and I've seen videos of the fish that the breeder has available. However this is a different breeder from my current batch of discus so I didn't want to risk quarantining them in the same fish room at the same time. The local importer is going to pick out my fish for me from the breeder and have them kept separately until this first batch has finished its quarantine and is in the main display tank before he sends the next group over to me. This leaves me with enough quarantine tanks left over to quarantine tankmates at the same time now too which are easier to handle. I can't imagine fretting over 2 groups of discus going through hunger strikes and other "princess" tantrums at the same time

[fishy_jim]

Those are monsters !! Nice fish

[brewmaster15]

Thank you all very much! I'm super happy with how these fish look as well. Of the 20 fish, only 1 has started eating a very small amount just today, and another one has shown some interest but has not actually eaten anything yet. I hope that they will all start eating soon. Should I start on the first levamisole treatment yet or wait until they are all eating normally before starting? Also, should I keep offering them small portions of beefheart daily (the breeder fed them beefheart exclusively at his facility but not the same formulation as what is available to me locally) or should I go get live brine shrimp or frozen bloodworms just to get them to start eating at all costs?

The next group of discus will be another 20 albino red covers. They are actually already ready for export and I've seen videos of the fish that the breeder has available. However this is a different breeder from my current batch of discus so I didn't want to risk quarantining them in the same fish room at the same time. The local importer is going to pick out my fish for me from the breeder and have them kept separately until this first batch has finished its quarantine and is in the main display tank before he sends the next group over to me. This leaves me with enough quarantine tanks left over to quarantine tankmates at the same time now too which are easier to handle. I can't imagine fretting over 2 groups of discus going through hunger strikes and other "princess" tantrums at the same time

I would hold on the levamisole until they are comfortable and eating as it can cause them to stop eating or diminish appetite for a few days.

As for food.. live brine would be an awesome enticement..also if you have access to it try freeze dried blackworms. . I would also reach out to the seller and see if they can send you some of their beefheart that these fish will eat.

[illumnae]

I would hold on the levamisole until they are comfortable and eating as it can cause them to stop eating or diminish appetite for a few days.

As for food.. live brine would be an awesome enticement..also if you have access to it try freeze dried blackworms. . I would also reach out to the seller and see if they can send you some of their beefheart that these fish will eat.

Thanks Al, I can purchase live adult brine shrimp but not conveniently. My concern is that discus being the finicky fish that they are eat the live brine shrimp and then refuse other foods thereafter. Freeze dried blackworms are currently out of stock in my country - our distributor hasn't restocked them recently. I'll try asking the importer about the beefheart but i doubt he'll be able to get it for me as he has to drive to the breeder's facility in a neighboring country to pick the fish (and beefheart) up. He just drove in last week to pick up my fish so I don't think he will go again anytime soon.