My tank of discus

[henward]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jx48HDBFrUA

1200Litres
planted tank with mega filtration!
currently there is 14 discus.

unfortunately, when i bought some discus, i was duped by some rather annoying breeders, told that i purchased 5 month old discus, now i believe thats not true.

but none thje less, they are nice discus and nice colours!
i dont think they will get bigger tough.

but, learning my lesson, decided to spend more per fish so its large already to avoid a small sized discus for life!

hope my albino turq gets big though! would be nice when big!

[henward]

not in that vid, here is two massive cobalt blue pair.

in fact the biggest i have seen in terms of dicus fish!

the picture shows a checkerboard, not full grown yet, colours still developing, that is 14 cm tip to tip.
the cobalt male beside it is way way bigger, measured it at literally about 20 cms tip to tip!!!

http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q163/henwardphotos/IMG_4576.jpg
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q163/henwardphotos/IMG_4577.jpg
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q163/henwardphotos/IMG_4582.jpg

[Eddie]

Nice addition, the cobalt is thick.

Eddie

[henward]

man
when i saw it, it was given up by a breeder who could not sell it due to size on internet sites.

i went to the lfs, and it was there, just got in 2 days prior
it is literally the biggest and thickest discus i have ever seen!!! i know thre must be bigger ones out there, but here, its the biggest, and im confident most hobbyist in NZ would say similar sentiments lol

so i bought it! only $150 each fish!

it dwarfs my other ones, even the ones i got cos they were a good size, makes them look extremely small!
sad but funny

in a 1200L
how many discus can you put in there?
i really want a big school
also found that now i have 14, aggression is almost gone! they do a quick chase, but never harassment.

[Dan]

1200 liters would be about 317 gallons. if you go by the 10gal per fish rule..31 discus could fit in there, i wouldn't put that many in there though..15-20 at the least.

what are the dimentions on that tank? doesn't look quite that big in the video.

[henward]

dimension is 240cm length, 62 high, 82 wide.
so 15 to 20 is a ok number in there?
the end of the day, nitrate and filtration is NEVER a problem.
do they over crowd or is the problem the waste they produce?.

[vera]

20 cm !!-thats huge
nice buy and beautiful tank
Best of luck!

[henward]

yeah, im not exxagerating too!
i mean i saw this monster and wow!
its thick! the forehead is thick!

i want to add more.

rising sun
blue diamond
leopard
leopard snakeskin
but i want adults.

small ones are too risky to be stunted and never growing big!
frustrating.
i have a tiny blue diamond, i th ink its screwed.

and a panang eruption and leopard both medium, shaped like a football and really i think they wont grow much more.

[vera]

small ones are too risky to be stunted and never growing big!
frustrating.
i have a tiny blue diamond, i th ink its screwed.

and a panang eruption and leopard both medium, shaped like a football and really i think they wont grow much more.

most probably u r right , its better in such tank to have a group of adults mostly same size to stand a chance to get as much food as needed to support that balk

[Dan]

most probably u r right , its better in such tank to have a group of adults mostly same size to stand a chance to get as much food as needed to support that balk

i agree

i would setup another tank for the smaller discus, maybe a 55gal-75gal, bare bottom and see what you can do with them, daily WCs, frequent feedings with quality foods..etc. use it as a learning experience, that way you can feel confident buying smaller discus(from reputable sources) and learn the proper ways to grow them as big as that blue bahemoth.

i suggested 15-20 in this tank only because to me, 31 adult discus would look very cramped. it's a personal preferance though.

[henward]

in my observation, i find that the smaller to medium discus tend to eat more than the adults to large ones.

the largest discus have not fullys ettled yet.

they were fed JBL brand food.
they are going for floating cichlid gold, but i want them to eat discus bio gold.
they are looking at it, smalling it but not eating y et, i think 2 to 4 more days, they will eat it.

the male albino, probably 3 to 4th largest never ate off the ground, but today it started eating like everyone else. it used to only CHASE falling food, now its eating off the ground.

the others will im sure follow suit.

has anyone heard of shanda discus food?

[henward]

ahhh
fair enough, i see what you mean.
i find that when they settle, they are starting now, when i come up to the tank, they know its feeding time. they all swarm, well most of them, in time they will ALL swarm.
its coolt o have a big school lol.

the smallest discus does not miss out on food, in fact, NOTHING chases it, probablyc os it isnt a threat or competition - smallest blue diamond always has a fat belly.

i dont have a spare tank - thats the problem.
probably why i feel uneasy getting smaller discus, also id ont trust most discus breeders in this country anymore.
i feel ripped off from previous experience, rather big ones:(

[mmorris]

Nice tank! I'd love to have one that size. I HIGHLY recommend you get a 20 gallon tank or so for two reasons: firstly, you need to quarantine your new additions. An outbreak in a tank that size would not be a pretty sight. Secondly, at some point in the future you will need to medicate, if only to treat one that is bloated with epsom salts. You cannot reasonably medicate in that tank.

[henward]

fair enough, i do have spare tanks, can set up a med tank i guess