Why no flow when they come from a river ?

[NeiMan]

As above - being a discus virgin, can someone explain why s fish that comes from a river requires very little flow in our tanks ?

Cheers
Neil

[DJW]

In the Amazon the fish have a choice, to be in the faster flow (avg 2.2 feet/second) or to be in the slower water at the edges or in eddies and slow tributaries.

In a glass cage there need to be places where the fish can be at rest, while providing enough flow for filtration and some circulation for oxygen transfer at the surface. Most tanks have filters that turn between 3 and 10 times the tank volume per hour, and the flow can be managed so that the fish are not stressed.

[NeiMan]

Thanks for the reply, so a mixture of speeds would be the ideal ? As long as there are plenty of slack flow areas.


In the Amazon the fish have a choice, to be in the faster flow (avg 2.2 feet/second) or to be in the slower water at the edges or in eddies and slow tributaries.

In a glass cage there need to be places where the fish can be at rest, while providing enough flow for filtration and some circulation for oxygen transfer at the surface. Most tanks have filters that turn between 3 and 10 times the tank volume per hour, and the flow can be managed so that the fish are not stressed.

[Willie]

There's not much slack until you get to a pretty good size tank. I put a wave maker in a 110 gallon tank and it worked great with my albums. The same pump was too much in a 75 for 5 inch discus. The 6+ inch discus seem to enjoy a powerhead though.

Willie

[NeiMan]

I've got a Deltec Eflow-10 pump, it's a powerful pump but it's got 10 settings on, once the head heights taken into account I think the lowest setting will be fine, also I won't put duck bills on the outlets - I'll just have 32mm pipe which will defuse it as well. I have read some peoples threads that they actually like flow ? So I guess I'll just have to wait and see ! !
Cheers for the reply Willie


There's not much slack until you get to a pretty good size tank. I put a wave maker in a 110 gallon tank and it worked great with my albums. The same pump was too much in a 75 for 5 inch discus. The 6+ inch discus seem to enjoy a powerhead though.

Willie

[gators111]

There are a number of youtube videos of discus in the wild. You'll notice the tend to school around fallen tree logs and roots, hanging out in the slipstream behind structure. When the rivers flood, they move up into the flooded forested areas to breed where there is very little current, if any. Hence, why temperature, ph, and food changes induce spawning.