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rivwick
05-22-2004, 11:53 PM
Hi, I am new to this group. I have set-up a discus tank recently which is my third tank ( one community and one Malawi Mbuna).
I am Sri Lankan and I live in the middle east in a place called Dubai. Getting good discus is a bit of a problem here.
I have two adult PBs and two Cobalts/BDs (more help from the forum later to identify these required), as well as four cobalt/bd juveniles.

My tank is planted (I know that its against good advise but I can't help loving the plants as well!). I do about 50% water change everyday and keep the floor quite clean. Right now it is summer for us and the temperatures reach 45celcius at its peak. The water temperature is kept at 30celsius. ph is is 7.0 and the tank is fully cycled. I age water in a can in the garden and use a water pump to do the daily WC. My challenge in this process is cooling the water not heating it!! Day in the can in the shade seems to do the trick.

The tank is filtered with an Eheim 2213 and a sponge filter. It is lit for 12 hours controlled by a timer.

Tank size is around 50g.

I feed them freeze dried krill, brine shrimp and tetra discus food. No live food yet.

I also have six neon tetras in the tank. In addition to the above I have two plecos who keep the bottom clean.


The two PBs seem to dominate the tank although they were added at the same time as the BDs. Neons were used to cycle the tank so they remain. All the discus seem to be eating though they don't have the voracious appetite as of my other tanks. My questions are;

1. The two adult BDs seem to be quite shy and hide most of the time. Today morning I noticed one of the PBs chasing them a bit. But they seem to be eating. Is this normal and if so how long should it last (shyness)? ???

2. After adding the discus, my neon tetras are also hiding. Are they afraid of the discus? should I move them to the community tank?

3. Should I add beef heart to their diet now or should I wait for the shyness to disapear?

My apologies for the long post!! :o

Carol_Roberts
05-23-2004, 12:01 AM
Blue diamonds generally are not as hardy as pigeons. It does not surprise me that the PB's are setting themselves up as the bosses of the tank. You may need to put in a divider until everybody settles in - this may take several weeks with adults. Watch to make sure the blues continue eating

In the wild discus eat neons. ;)

United21Soccer
05-23-2004, 12:09 PM
Could you possibly show us some pix of the tank?

I think it might be hard to put in a divider if it is heavily planted!
Also rivwik, are you using CO2?

rivwick
05-23-2004, 11:54 PM
Pic of the tank below. I use a diffuser and CO2 tablets from a company called Junglelabs. It is a kind of a CO2 bell that holds the gas and gradually mixes with water.

Many thanks for your help