diegote
05-11-2016, 08:41 AM
I have a ~180lt tank, 5 juvies (3” ~ 4”) along with a few cardinal tetras and panda corys. Ammonia and nitrites are always 0 and nitrate typically are below 10ppm. The tank has a thin layer of sand, no plants and just a couple of rocks. Ph 7 ~ 7.4
I do 50% water changes every 2/3 days and during weekends I clean glasses, syphon the sand (every other week or so I’d remove it by sucking it with the hose, rinse and get it back). I also open the canister (~1000 lt/hr) and clean it thoroughly using tank water to ensure I get rid of all the stuff it accumulates. I age my water for those 2/3 days between WCs with good aeration.
I typically feed dried food (once a day) with the exception of some artemia occasionally.
As opposed to the posted videos I see here and there, my discus don’t come to the front when I feed. I’d see two of them more active and the other three would hide every time I get close to the tank behind the rocks (which are rather small so really not much hiding…). If I move fast these two go dash away too.
For the remaining three I don’t see them eat at all, I assume they do otherwise they would be dead already…
I know that all the cleaning and WCing is stressful for them, I’d put hoses, get my hands in the tanks, move them when cleaning the glass, etc. I wonder if this is too intrusive for them and now every time they see me they go ‘here comes the bad guy’ even when I just open the lid for feeding.
I don’t see too much pecking either, there is one that’s more territorial but the rest are just chilling.
Is this normal, should I do something differently? How do you guys go about cleaning your tanks? (can’t think of a less intrusive way to do it though...). What should I do to see them being more active and not hiding?
One thing worth mentioning is that I used an automatic feeder (Eheim) for a couple of months while I was in the house to test it. Maybe these guys dissociated me from feeding…? It’s been 2 weeks since then and things didn’t change. Before using it they weren’t too interested in seeing me either. The tank is in a very quiet room, I’d get in there a few times after work but other than that the fish don’t see movement at all during the day.
I do 50% water changes every 2/3 days and during weekends I clean glasses, syphon the sand (every other week or so I’d remove it by sucking it with the hose, rinse and get it back). I also open the canister (~1000 lt/hr) and clean it thoroughly using tank water to ensure I get rid of all the stuff it accumulates. I age my water for those 2/3 days between WCs with good aeration.
I typically feed dried food (once a day) with the exception of some artemia occasionally.
As opposed to the posted videos I see here and there, my discus don’t come to the front when I feed. I’d see two of them more active and the other three would hide every time I get close to the tank behind the rocks (which are rather small so really not much hiding…). If I move fast these two go dash away too.
For the remaining three I don’t see them eat at all, I assume they do otherwise they would be dead already…
I know that all the cleaning and WCing is stressful for them, I’d put hoses, get my hands in the tanks, move them when cleaning the glass, etc. I wonder if this is too intrusive for them and now every time they see me they go ‘here comes the bad guy’ even when I just open the lid for feeding.
I don’t see too much pecking either, there is one that’s more territorial but the rest are just chilling.
Is this normal, should I do something differently? How do you guys go about cleaning your tanks? (can’t think of a less intrusive way to do it though...). What should I do to see them being more active and not hiding?
One thing worth mentioning is that I used an automatic feeder (Eheim) for a couple of months while I was in the house to test it. Maybe these guys dissociated me from feeding…? It’s been 2 weeks since then and things didn’t change. Before using it they weren’t too interested in seeing me either. The tank is in a very quiet room, I’d get in there a few times after work but other than that the fish don’t see movement at all during the day.