Saying "Hi" w/planted tank pics - Kahuna's Revenge

[scolley]

poconogal - Thank you very much!

Marinemom - Thanks you Diane!

Kindredspirit - And thanks Marie!


And for everyone that has been so kind with your remarks, I should mention that I've been waiting to give the tank a trim a bit. And I got to do that yesterday. So I'll do what I can to snap off a few decent fish pics. Hopefully you will enjoy them! And thanks again for the encouragement!



lhforbes12 - Thanks for the tip on feeding the otos. They've been getting so many discus food leftovers that I've not fed them for a while. But I'm disappointed to report that last night I dropped in a few wafer thin slices of blanched zucchini and cucumber for them. I only saw 2 otos go near it, and this morning there are not visible signs of having been eaten. Before I got the discus, these loaches would eat half of what I tossed in overnight.

No, I'm afraid these guys are showing signs of being well fed now. But I'll keep trying.


Ed13 - I hear you about the loaches Ed. But these are b. striata, one of the best tempered loaches to be found IMO. Definately not your average loach temperament - pretty peaceful, if busy. And they stay less than 3". I've had this particular trio for a couple of years in a community tank and I've never seen them harass any fish (other than each other!) in any way. Except maybe to wiggle up and eat food right under their noses. So I'll keep my eye out for that behavior with the discus.

[scolley]

OK, I've been waiting more than a month to do a real trim in this tank, and I was able to do it last nite. And I had a bit of free time this afternoon, and I wanted to use it trying to improve my tank photography skills. I'm sure better pics can be taken, but without a detachable flash, or lights, I think this is about as good as I'm going to be able to get with my little Canon A95.

So here is a whole slew of pics. The first is the tank itself, because I kind of hate looking a any tank, planted, discus or otherwise, without understanding what it looks like in its true setting. After that are just pics of the fish. A bunch of them... I hope that's OK?

All of these pics are "clickable", as in clicking it will pull up a larger shot.

I hope you enjoy them. I know I do. (The fish I mean!)

















































The tank is a bit more crowded than I'd like. But I've never kept discus before, and between the open top and my lack of experience, I figure it's highly possible that this population of 7 turns into a bit less crowded 6 or 5 eventually. And I can always find a home for a few if needed.

The runts (there's a couple) don't get much food, so the difference between their size (almost 4") and the bigger ones (5"+) is getting bigger all the time. If that keeps up, maybe I'll put them up for adoption, thinning the tank out that way.

But for the moment, the fish seem fine. Algae is under control. And I'm just tickled pink to have a planted discus tank at last!

[Ed13]

But for the moment, the fish seem fine. Algae is under control. And I'm just tickled pink to have a planted discus tank at last!

And it turn out beautiful! Once it matures a bit more, it will be really impressive
As for the discus their really good, won't you miss them if you part with any? How about when they start pairing, won't you be interested in a pair?

[marilyn1998]

Scolley,

I love the tank and the discus. 6 is a good number, they do well in a group of that size.
I love the use of your anubias as not just a front plant, but all throughout the tank. Are those coffeefolias? or barteri??

I wish someone could come and rescape my tank. I have the plants, but cant get the design. ahhhh, well.

[White Worm]

Nice pictures. How did you load them on simply? I like the way they are large enough to see, not thumbnails and you can still click to see them bigger. What program did you use?

[scolley]

And it turn out beautiful! Once it matures a bit more, it will be really impressive
As for the discus their really good, won't you miss them if you part with any? How about when they start pairing, won't you be interested in a pair?

Thanks Ed. And yes! I would absolutely hate to give up a discus or two. But if they keep growing (and the ARE growing big time!), then I'll feel awful if they are too crowded. If that happened, the loss of a fish or two would be more than offset by my happiness that they weren't so crowded.

As for pairing, I'd LOVE that! In fact I'd swear that first picture is of a couple pair bonding now. I can't tell sex, and don't know how to identify spawning behavior (I've tried to read up on it though). But I do know those are the largest two, most dominant fish. But they never take that aggression out on each other. They spend most of their time side by side. Even if it is food fight time - they never fight with each other, but jointly defend the food.

So in my ignorance, I'm assuming that is pair behavior in that making.

Scolley,

I love the tank and the discus. 6 is a good number, they do well in a group of that size.
I love the use of your anubias as not just a front plant, but all throughout the tank. Are those coffeefolias? or barteri??

I wish someone could come and rescape my tank. I have the plants, but cant get the design. ahhhh, well.

Thanks Marilyn. Go take a look at my first post. I list all the anubias. But bottom line, it's just three different sizes of A. barteri, including var. nana and var. nana petite.

I wish I could take credit for using anubias all throughout tank. But I saw it in an ADA magazine back issue, and thought it was a great idea. I'll tell you this... it's magnificently low maintenance for a planted tank! Gotta love that.

Nice pictures. How did you load them on simply? I like the way they are large enough to see, not thumbnails and you can still click to see them bigger. What program did you use?

Thanks. You can use what ever photo editing software you want to make them what ever size you want. In my case I used MS Picture Manager that comes with MS office. But whatever tool you use, create two pics of everything - a bit one and a small one.

Then you have to put both pictures on some server that will "server up" the photos. I gather Photobucket will do that. I have my own domain and web/ftp service, so I used that. If you don't have that, check into Photobucket.

Once you have a place to put the pics (notice I DID NOT use Simply to host the pics - that's essential!) then use the following syntax in your post:

(URL=gttp://www.xyz.com/picture_filename.jpg)(IMG)gttp://www.xyz.com/small_picture_filename.jpg(/IMG)(/URL)

Please note, so that I could even display that syntax in a post, I had to change the braces "[]" to parenthesis "()". For this to work, you need to put braces everywhere I have parin's. And obviously you need to put the server name instead of my "www.xyz.com" and real jpeg filenames where I put the two bogus filenames. And in order to make this syntax display in a post, I had to chage the "http" statements to "gttp". You'll need to fix that too!

If you need help, shoot me a pm. Happy to help if I can.

[tpl*co]

Wow,

I like the fact you only have about 1.5 watts per gallon in that tank and everything is growing and healthy! (is it 3 months yet for the plants?) LOL. Here I was using much more wattage in my bow for medium wattage plants and was agonizing how I was going to do it in my larger tank. I really love the effect you have there (so much so I went and got some driftwood similar to yours on Ebay, I already have some anubias and moss, waiting like a kid waiting for Christmas for some clippings of the ground cover . If I follow your lead, I would have a far easier time fitting the lights in my canopy.


Tina

[fishmama]

Gorgeous pics and amazing tank...you have done a superb job.

I also enjoy being able to enlarge the pics. Thanks for the inspiration!

Fishmama

[GulfCoastDiscus]

Impressive Steve. You did a fine job on them discus. Take good care of them.

Dan

[scolley]

I like the fact you only have about 1.5 watts per gallon in that tank and everything is growing and healthy!

Well it is a very well reflected T5 Tina, so that light is a good bit brighter per watt then your run-of-the-mill T12 or T8. But I'm hoping to inch up the watts slowly, right now it's low to keep the algae in check as the tank establishes itself. The discus look better with more light, and they come out more, and show their color better (lighten up) in brighter light. So I'll be inching it up some over time.

Gorgeous pics and amazing tank... Thanks for the inspiration!

Thanks Fishmama! My pleasure!

Impressive Steve. You did a fine job on them discus. Take good care of them.

Dan

They are your fish Dan! If they are decent fish, that's because, well... you sold me good fish! My job is just to keep them happy and healthy, if possible. But you started me off on the right foot. Not just with good stock, but with the great advice that you provided! Thanks!

Now I suppose it's up to me to not mess up the nice fish!

[GrillMaster]

Hi Ya neighbor!! Glad to see ya finally came over and posted your pics...

You have the best of both worlds for sure! A gorgeous planted tank, an some fine turks to accent it..(or is it the other way around?)

I know for sure you will be an asset here for the planted tank info, an there isn't a better place be for taking care of discus than here!!

Now I have to get a half dozen or so for my 75G.

Now when are we gonna have that beer??

[brewmaster15]

Now when are we gonna have that beer??

Hey since I am half way...you two should meet here.


Steve,
That tank looks Great! The discus stand out in it ...and its not over planted.. It may get a little crowded as they grow...But I'll tell you right now they look great and so does the whole set up.


How long have the discus been in it? and what are you feeding them?

I don't know if you posted it but what kind of filtration are you using?

Nice to have another CT discus nut on board!

-al

[tpl*co]

Hey since I am half way...you two should meet here.


Steve,
That tank looks Great! The discus stand out in it ...and its not over planted.. It may get a little crowded as they grow...But I'll tell you right now they look great and so does the whole set up.


How long have the discus been in it? and what are you feeding them?

I don't know if you posted it but what kind of filtration are you using?

Nice to have another CT discus nut on board!

-al

Yeah, let's see what's going on under the tank!

Tina

[scolley]

Hi Ya neighbor!! Glad to see ya finally came over and posted your pics... Now when are we gonna have that beer??

Thank Mark! So, looking at the good brewmasters quote here, send me a PM, and we'll figure out a day and time. Somewhere near Al's, maybe we can all say hi!

Hey since I am half way...you two should meet here.

... The discus stand out in it ...and its not over planted.. It may get a little crowded as they grow...But I'll tell you right now they look great and so does the whole set up.

How long have the discus been in it? and what are you feeding them?

I don't know if you posted it but what kind of filtration are you using?

Gee Al, you might get roped into a beer with Mark (whom I've never met either BTW - but lots of conversations over at Planted tank.)

I appreciate the "not over planted comment". Heavily planted, few fish, little algae is easy. Lightly planted with lots of fish poop and little algae is hard. So I'm kinda looking at this tank as a measure of what I've learned (or not! Stay tuned for updates. ). Also, I wanted to lay it out in a way that would encourage the fish to congregate either in the open area in the middle (hard to see), in the open area to the right, or line up against the glass in front, showing off their lovely sides. I've never done this before, but from observation of some excellent discus tank pictures - Jeff Senske's come to mind - it seemed clear that the tank layout can go a long way to influencing where the fish were, and which way they were oriented with respect to people observing the tank.

Little did I know that all you had to do to get discus out in front was walk in the room! "Look! It's Mr. Food again!"

Technically the tank has been running for 4 months, but the first month was just nitrogen cycle and biofilter break-in. The plants have been in for 3 months. The shrimp and otos between 2 and 3 months. The school of green neons for 2 months, and the discus went in 1 month ago today. Yaahoo!

For food they get a light breakfast of FBW, Tetra color bits a few times during the day (bulk of their food really), and a light FBW feed at nite. I'm trying California bloodworms next week as a suppliment to their diet, and have some frozen Mysis shrimp that I'm gonna see if I can sneak in too.

The filtration is a simple Eheim 2026. But all the other in-line stuff is pretty aggressive; UV, pressurized CO2, separate peristaltic micro and macro fert injectors, heaters, temp and pH probes, and more. But filtration... nothing to it. Obviously having a good bio-filter helps. And IMO not having stem plants reduces the muck in the tank. Normally that's not a problem with little fish, but I was afraid the typical drop of lower leaves on stem plants, combined with big fish, would just kick up too much stuff that should normally be quietly decomposing on the bottom. So I think the plant choice (for a discus tank) helps keep the water clear too.

Yeah, let's see what's going on under the tank!

I'll do that Tina. But you might be afraid you asked!

[tpl*co]

Hey Steve,

You're my inspiration for my new tank . OK, with the space I've got in my canopy to configure the lights. If I put 2- 96 watt PC's on the door (but will get blinded when I open the door if on and will need slack in the power cord) and 2-48" T5's on either side of the door, that'll give me about 2.3 watts per gallon in my 130 gallon tank. Would that be enough considering the tank is 27" deep? Will I need fans?


Hmmm, I see another tank to the right with plants and an Orbit USA power compact on it, what's in that tank? LOL

Tina