Bare Bottom VS Planted VS Potted Tanks

[Marco164]

Hey I was just wondering which one people would use over the other and why/benifits to them....I'll be getting 3" discus....Is the Planted tank going to pose a problem? or should i put them into my 33gal for the time being bare bottom with the 75 gal's Pump and just use aged water/ 50% daily water changes Like Carol's....i think i might be freakin out to much here lol. Worried about loosing my fishies!!! :(

[Carol_Roberts]

I always reccommend bare bottom for juveniles. You only have a short period of time to get optimum growth.

[Howie_W]

Hi Marco,

I love keeping my adults in planted tanks. With juveniles, I recommend going bare bottom...much easier with heavy feeding and big water changes. Also keep in mind the your 33 gallon is too small for housing Discus.

HTH

Howie

[Terrybo]

I had always raised juveniles in a planted tank, but after meeting Dan of Gulf Coast Discus and seeing that his fish were much better looking than what I had raised in a planted tank, as well as reading Carol's posts here, I decided to go with adults in my planted tank, and fry in a BB. So far, BB seems like the way to go with fry - the fry can find food a lot easier in a BB and it is much easier to keep water quality high. There is no way I could have kept gravel clean with such frequent feedings. I've only had the fry for 3 weeks (they were about 3-4 weeks old when I got them), and I see pretty dramatic growth already. I still love planted tanks, and may move them to one after they are grown, but it's really satisfying to see them develop in optimal conditions.

I would recommend starting with BB, and then after a few months, if everything goes well - no diseases, deaths, stunting, etc., go ahead and add a couple of potted plants if you still don't like the look of a bare bottom tank. (Or try the Anubias/Java Fern/Java Moss tied to driftwood look).

JMO

Terry