TimB
02-01-2018, 05:44 PM
Hi there, this is my first post here and I sincerely hope that I have put it in the right category!
My situation is as follows:
Yesterday I have bought 10 young red turq Stendkers (5cm / 2inch) at a local certified dealer near my city. As i have some experience with discus, I know that they will be skittish and will have to adjust to their new environment. However yesterday they were already swimming (a bit cautious though) around the tank.
Now I had set up the tank with a piece of wood, some anubias and about 0,5 cm (0,2 inch) of sand which has grains with a diameter of about 2mm (0,08 inch), so you can say it is somewhere in between sand and gravel.
However, after doing a bit more research, I found that raising juvies in a bare bottom tank is the way to go. So when I was doing my daily waterchange (I am currently doing 50% WC a day), I siphoned away half of the sand and am planning to do the rest tomorrow.
Now the problem: since I have taken away half of the sand on one side of the tank, they are more skittish than yesterday and dash under the filter as soon as I walk in the room. 2 times even, they panicked so much, they were bouncing on the walls of the tank. They do not seem to avoid the part that is bare bottom and have been eating fine, even though being mostly positioned behind the wood or under my filter.
I am wondering if it is wise to take away the sand for the fish's wellbeing, but the dealer also had them in bare bottom tanks so I see no reason why not. Then my question here: Should I make the tank bare bottom and just hope for them to become more comfortable, or keep a small amount of sand in it and risk bacteria pockets and stunted growth?
Some specs:
Tank: about 300 liter (80 gallons) Juwel tank with internal filter
I have added an external filter on top of this
standard juwel dark imitation cork background
temp: 29-30C (84,2-86F)
in the tank there is a large 110cm (about 3,5 feet) piece of wood with anubias and some moss
The Stendkers share the tank with 20 Cardinals (from the same dealer). I bought them since Joey (the King of DYI) suggested that bringing in fish like these make the discus less cautious and make them feel safer, so they'll come out more.
If it would help I can post some pictures tomorrow. The tank light has already turned off at the moment...
I could use some advise since I want to really give my fish the best environment they can get!
My situation is as follows:
Yesterday I have bought 10 young red turq Stendkers (5cm / 2inch) at a local certified dealer near my city. As i have some experience with discus, I know that they will be skittish and will have to adjust to their new environment. However yesterday they were already swimming (a bit cautious though) around the tank.
Now I had set up the tank with a piece of wood, some anubias and about 0,5 cm (0,2 inch) of sand which has grains with a diameter of about 2mm (0,08 inch), so you can say it is somewhere in between sand and gravel.
However, after doing a bit more research, I found that raising juvies in a bare bottom tank is the way to go. So when I was doing my daily waterchange (I am currently doing 50% WC a day), I siphoned away half of the sand and am planning to do the rest tomorrow.
Now the problem: since I have taken away half of the sand on one side of the tank, they are more skittish than yesterday and dash under the filter as soon as I walk in the room. 2 times even, they panicked so much, they were bouncing on the walls of the tank. They do not seem to avoid the part that is bare bottom and have been eating fine, even though being mostly positioned behind the wood or under my filter.
I am wondering if it is wise to take away the sand for the fish's wellbeing, but the dealer also had them in bare bottom tanks so I see no reason why not. Then my question here: Should I make the tank bare bottom and just hope for them to become more comfortable, or keep a small amount of sand in it and risk bacteria pockets and stunted growth?
Some specs:
Tank: about 300 liter (80 gallons) Juwel tank with internal filter
I have added an external filter on top of this
standard juwel dark imitation cork background
temp: 29-30C (84,2-86F)
in the tank there is a large 110cm (about 3,5 feet) piece of wood with anubias and some moss
The Stendkers share the tank with 20 Cardinals (from the same dealer). I bought them since Joey (the King of DYI) suggested that bringing in fish like these make the discus less cautious and make them feel safer, so they'll come out more.
If it would help I can post some pictures tomorrow. The tank light has already turned off at the moment...
I could use some advise since I want to really give my fish the best environment they can get!