crappi3fish
01-16-2024, 04:00 PM
Hello!
One hell of a ride. Started keeping discus about a year and a half ago and learned so much in that span of time. My babies are now big'ish and approaching 7"! Had 1 death so far due to bullying which is kinda sad. A couple paired off and they started to stress my biggest, most passive, friendly fish. I blame my inexperience - should've separated these 2 at the earliest sign and did have plenty of time since the bullying started a few months ago. I thought being the biggest meant that the bullying wouldn't really stress him out).
Back to the topic: I want to do a little experiment but in need of an opinion(s)! I separated these 2 before they can kill another fish. They are currently in my old 36g (30x18x18) tank. And since I am NOT really trying to breed them, I am thinking a biotope set up for the pair, which I wanted to do at the very start which was never quite realized.
Tank: 30 x 18 x 18
* Setup: blackwater with leaf litter (indian almond/catapa and oak leaves). Tannin to be replenished by rooibos tea
* Filtration: 2 pcs canisters each rated for 250 gph
* Maintenance: 2x 60% water changes per week. Every 3rd week I do a 90% water change and a 50%.
* Substrate: caribsea white sand
* Decors: Lots of big spare blackwood / saba wood.
* Tankmates: I added 6 sterbais (down to 5. When I added the sterbai shoal the discus pair sadly killed one. They no longer bother the other 5 since they figure that even if they did kill another it cant fit in their mouths). There is also a pair of Apistogramma macmasteri here.
Questions:
1. Given the current stock levels (5 sterbai, discus pair, A. macmasteri pair), filtration, tank size, do I still have room for dither fish? Say 7 silver hatchfishes to help clean out floating food in corners discus cant reach or fit into. Discus would want 10 gallon of water each per fish. So that leaves me with 16 gallons to spare on other fish. I wanted marbled hatchets but they are smaller than silvers and given the history of this pair Ill just end up buying more marbled hatchets. They also eat rummynoses, cardinals etc. so I am staying away from those.
2. So assuming all is set, the tank is tea-colored, and there are beautiful rotten leaves at the bottom, how do you go about vacuuming the bottom? I cant quite find articles about biotope cleaning. They all say they only change the water, but makes no mention of substrate maintenance and they just ignore mulm build up, or at least ignore what they cant siphon out.
I think those are pretty much my questions. Trying out new things always has to start somewhere. It is only via trial and error that we learn what to do, and what not to do. But its always good to ask people who might have had the same unpublished experience in the past.
Thank you!
One hell of a ride. Started keeping discus about a year and a half ago and learned so much in that span of time. My babies are now big'ish and approaching 7"! Had 1 death so far due to bullying which is kinda sad. A couple paired off and they started to stress my biggest, most passive, friendly fish. I blame my inexperience - should've separated these 2 at the earliest sign and did have plenty of time since the bullying started a few months ago. I thought being the biggest meant that the bullying wouldn't really stress him out).
Back to the topic: I want to do a little experiment but in need of an opinion(s)! I separated these 2 before they can kill another fish. They are currently in my old 36g (30x18x18) tank. And since I am NOT really trying to breed them, I am thinking a biotope set up for the pair, which I wanted to do at the very start which was never quite realized.
Tank: 30 x 18 x 18
* Setup: blackwater with leaf litter (indian almond/catapa and oak leaves). Tannin to be replenished by rooibos tea
* Filtration: 2 pcs canisters each rated for 250 gph
* Maintenance: 2x 60% water changes per week. Every 3rd week I do a 90% water change and a 50%.
* Substrate: caribsea white sand
* Decors: Lots of big spare blackwood / saba wood.
* Tankmates: I added 6 sterbais (down to 5. When I added the sterbai shoal the discus pair sadly killed one. They no longer bother the other 5 since they figure that even if they did kill another it cant fit in their mouths). There is also a pair of Apistogramma macmasteri here.
Questions:
1. Given the current stock levels (5 sterbai, discus pair, A. macmasteri pair), filtration, tank size, do I still have room for dither fish? Say 7 silver hatchfishes to help clean out floating food in corners discus cant reach or fit into. Discus would want 10 gallon of water each per fish. So that leaves me with 16 gallons to spare on other fish. I wanted marbled hatchets but they are smaller than silvers and given the history of this pair Ill just end up buying more marbled hatchets. They also eat rummynoses, cardinals etc. so I am staying away from those.
2. So assuming all is set, the tank is tea-colored, and there are beautiful rotten leaves at the bottom, how do you go about vacuuming the bottom? I cant quite find articles about biotope cleaning. They all say they only change the water, but makes no mention of substrate maintenance and they just ignore mulm build up, or at least ignore what they cant siphon out.
I think those are pretty much my questions. Trying out new things always has to start somewhere. It is only via trial and error that we learn what to do, and what not to do. But its always good to ask people who might have had the same unpublished experience in the past.
Thank you!