Environmental Awareness ?

[Cosmo]

My curent group of Discus spent their initial months with me in a tank with an underground filter that used Eheim substrat in place of gravel. I slowly changed that around to a BB tank over the course of several months but found my Discus to seem less social, hiding more and staying closer together. Last week I added 3 liters of Eheim substrat Pro to the bottom of the tank, and they immediately went back to their old ways - free swimming and interacting as they had before. Appears as through they were not taking to the BB so well (an alien evironment for them) and once they had a more familiar landscape they reverted to their old selves. :grin:

[Kyla]

Did u paint the bottom of the BB tank?

[brewmaster15]

Did u paint the bottom of the BB tank?
My question too! If it was clear it can freak them out!

al

[Cosmo]

No, but it's an acrylic tank so the entire bottome of the tank sits on a stained piece of mahagony. It's not like a glass tank who's stand only surrounds the edges and leaves an infinity drop off in the center. Have kept fish raised from juvies in this tank for years with no ill effects - my current fish however were raised in the tank with the eheim substrate. Note 3 litres of eheim substrate does not completely cover the bottom of the tank, but does provide the same color and texture as the tank bottom they had grown used to.

[dillct]

Could also try dimming the lights some, reflecting light from the bottom might spook them.

[Cosmo]

Could also try dimming the lights some, reflecting light from the bottom might spook them.

I have LED lights that I keep turned almost all the way down, never did believe in bright lights on a Discus tank :) Fish are not stressed, point I was trying to make is that they seemed to remember the environment they were in before I briefly changed it to completely BB - they just seem much more relaxed now that there is some familiar substrat loosly covering the bottom

[Ryan925]

I have LED lights that I keep turned almost all the way down, never did believe in bright lights on a Discus tank :) Fish are not stressed, point I was trying to make is that they seemed to remember the environment they were in before I briefly changed it to completely BB - they just seem much more relaxed now that there is some familiar substrat loosly covering the bottom

Question... Why the bio media as substrate? For bb purposes ?

[Cosmo]

Question... Why the bio media as substrate? For bb purposes ?


Question...Why not? lol I had used biomedia as substrat when I had the UGF and it worked great, so, I figured I'd put a small amount (less than 1 layer deep on full bottom of tank) cause I like the looks, and, with the thin layer water current from the filters should also insure a thriving biocommunity adding to filtration capapcity. Besides, I had it on hand :D

[Ryan925]

Question...Why not? lol I had used biomedia as substrat when I had the UGF and it worked great, so, I figured I'd put a small amount (less than 1 layer deep on full bottom of tank) cause I like the looks, and, with the thin layer water current from the filters should also insure a thriving biocommunity adding to filtration capapcity. Besides, I had it on hand :D

Does it trap debris? I really like the substrat pro in my filter

[Cosmo]

Does it trap debris? I really like the substrat pro in my filter

Actually it does a great job of trapping uneaten FDBW, and when use my syphon to clean they come right up, which is a nice change from having any uneaten floating around until the mechanical filter can grab them. When I syphon the bottom the detritus comes right up. The only problem is if I don't pay enough attention ocassionally a piece of the round substrat pro will get up into the opening of the syphon tube and plug it up, which is a PITA lol Takes only a couple of minutes to clean the substrat then I just leave the tube in to drain the tank to where I want it and turn on the fill pump. Works out pretty nicely actually. TBH, I think the fish were happier the the UGF but it took over half an hour to syphon all the substrat back then :(