ornaments and fake plants with discus?

[cedar]

Hi everyone,
I am just wondering what the general opinion is of silk plants and decorations in a discus tank. I am new to this and have been looking at a lot of your pictures and I see some of both. Are silk plants a problem,? I have a small bit of sand on the bottom for the cory cats and some decorative rocks and silk plants.I also have a background that came with the tank. Is that a problem? I'm not sure about how clean the background needs to be for discus. I do wc everyday. at least 25% from a barrel of aired ro water. I mix some tap in the tank.It is a 90g tall with 13 juveniles.any advice would be appreciated. sue

[DISCUS STU]

Can you send a picture?

[pgrhodes1]

Hi Sue,

I have sand, driftwood, and silk plants in my tank. I wash the plants in bleach then rinse with Prime when needed. Works out GREAT!!

[cedar]

ok, thanks for the info,89469 here is a picture of my discus tank. I have 14 discus less than a year old in my 90g .:)

[cedar]

sorry about the sideways pic...I don't know why it did that,

[Keith Perkins]

I've have driftwood in the occasional tank and I've had silk plants in the past, neither of those is a problem. Personally when my plants needed cleaning I put them in the dishwasher by themselves without any soap and they came out very good. The key there is making sure your spouse isn't home when you do it. :)

[bluelagoon]

Nice background.I'm like Oprah Winfrey when it comes to fake plants.
Personally,I"d take them out.
To me they look odd.

[Altum Nut]

To me it's plain and simple...if what you put in tank is safe which in this case it is and does not interfere with your tank maintenance then go for it. As with maintenance to regularly wipe the inside glass sides, any added artificial ornaments will also require cleaning.

On a different note.....you will need to increase the amount of water your changing to 50% if your planning to grow-out that group to their potential size.
In addition, why are you mixing r/o with your w/c's?

...Ralph

[navarro1950]

Hi cedar, is that back ground in your tank ? It looks like it might back I can't really tell. Anyway if it is in the tank then you don't have 90g of water, not even close. You have too many fish in the tank for a 90g tank. What type of filtration do you have? If it is a sump then you might have brought the amount of water up a few gallons depending on the size. The rule for discus is one discus for every 20g of water. Discus love very clean water so if you have a holding tank for the water you use for your wc's you really should be changing close to 100% with that many fish. It would be much better if you could divide them up.. Good luck with that many and I pray you don't loose any.

[Noranni]

I've have driftwood in the occasional tank and I've had silk plants in the past, neither of those is a problem. Personally when my plants needed cleaning I put them in the dishwasher by themselves without any soap and they came out very good. The key there is making sure your spouse isn't home when you do it. :)

This gave me a chuckle. I like this thread, I'm one of those that can't stand an empty tank but if you can take everything out during tank cleaning to wash it, I think this is brilliant. I have made an attempt to keep a gravel substrate, live plants, and 5 3-4 inch discus. I am contemplating putting the plants in another tank and migrating to finding some pretty silks, rocks, and drift wood. There are some really nice silk plants out there that unless you look close they look like real plants.

[cedar]

thanks everyone, I do have a 30 g sump and am hooking it up right away, I haven't lost any, :) I have increased the w/c to 75%...sometimes twice a day. but everyday for sure. I have an holding tank for it with a python w/c. thank goodness for that!. I have removed some of the plants and they all seem happy and they are growing so I'm glad about that. I have been feeding them fdbw and fdbh and frozen brine shrimp with spirallina and some tetra color pellets. they sure love that fdbw! I feed 4-5 times a day. I am lucky as I work from home so I am able to watch and feed regularily. I don't even watch t.v anymore!

[Second Hand Pat]

Actually the general recommendation is one discus per 10 gallons. You are ok Cedar with your discus being juvies but as the discus grow you might want to consider a reduction in the number of discus at some point. Even with a sump your 90 will get small quick with 13 adult discus.
Pat