75g Discus display

[REC]

Been in the hobby for about 6 years and finally going to try my hand at Discus. I set up a tank a few years back for discus but had to make a change. This will be a growout tank for about 12- 3" discus i'm ordering from Hans. The tank is getting black vinyl on the bottom and back on monday and will be bare bottom so basically just wood. I have a 150g Tall 48-24-31 that I'll be setting up soon as a permanent home for the group.

[discuspaul]

Great way to start ! 75 gal for the youngsters - from Hans no less - and a 150 gal to take care of them as they grow out & mature. Couldn't get any better than that !
Best of luck.
Paul

[Chunks]

That's a big piece of wood in that tank! How are you gonna clean around that thing?

[REC]

Its actually 4 separate pieces. Being bare bottom will it make it easy to suck the waste out around the wood during water changes. My last 4 tanks I've done have had this same concept (blacked out/bare bottom with just wood) very easy to maintain and imo looks fantastic.

[REC]

Great way to start ! 75 gal for the youngsters - from Hans no less - and a 150 gal to take care of them as they grow out & mature. Couldn't get any better than that !
Best of luck.
Paul

Thanks bro I've had everything from a 29g to a 400g with monsters. I'm really excited about tackling a discus display.

[REC]

What's everyone's opinion on the amount of wood I have in this tank with having (15) 2.5-3" juvies in there. I figured the wood with give them a sense of security but I keep seeing many people keeping younger discus in smaller empty tanks to assure proper feeding.

[Northwoods Discus]

I like the look. The only negative is it will make cleaning tougher and will reduce the overall water volume. It looks like it will take up quite a bit of space. It would be interesting to fill the tank to a mark, pull out the wood and see how much water it takes to refill the tank.
Bill

[Darrell Ward]

Honestly, I think it takes up too much space. I would save it for the 150.

[REC]

I'm going with manzanita in the 150. I wan't to give these little guys a sense of security in the beginning and hope it cuts down on the initial aggression as a pecking order is established. There is a total of four large pieces of wood. I will slowly remove pieces as they grow to give them more room.

[Darrell Ward]

Best of luck with the little ones! :)

[REC]

Best of luck with the little ones! :)

Thank you. I'll be sharing plenty of pictures and video's documenting their growth.

[roundfishross]

ime a black bottom is going to make your juvies really uncomfortable. it's really not a good background color either:(

[TURQ64]

I'm a believer in 'big wood' for display, but along with others, I think it will prove detrimental to raising young fish...Even minute detritus isn't exactly good for them....Gary

[Disgirl]

IMO way too much wood, too much organics will be in your water, hard to keep clean enough, dark bottom and back will cause probs. too. I have and still do, raise small discus to adulthood. BB, light in color, a few pieces of skinny wood, very clean warm water, excellent food, is all you need :):) Good luck! You will love your Hans discus! Just got some too.
Barb

[REC]

ime a black bottom is going to make your juvies really uncomfortable. it's really not a good background color either:(
Please explain........ I'd argue this only because the vinyl has a flat look to it and doesn't give off the reflection that a store bought shiny black piece of film that you stick on the back of the tank.


I'm a believer in 'big wood' for display, but along with others, I think it will prove detrimental to raising young fish...Even minute detritus isn't exactly good for them....Gary Please explain....


IMO way too much wood, too much organics will be in your water, hard to keep clean enough, dark bottom and back will cause probs. too. I have and still do, raise small discus to adulthood. BB, light in color, a few pieces of skinny wood, very clean warm water, excellent food, is all you need :):) Good luck! You will love your Hans discus! Just got some too.

Barb
Please explain.......

If your saying that the wood itself is going to drastically change the chemistry of the aquariums water then please go into further detail. I feel it will be important to give the fish that are lower in the pecking order a sense of security. An open tank will only result in those weaker fish being constantly harrassed with no barrier between them and the bullies of the group ultimately resulting in death. I've seen it happen many many times with keeping young cichlids. The black backround and sides have always worked wonders when I was raising both small and large arowana's who are very skittish. I really don't see how the blue backround will prove to be much better. Being a smal fish amongst many others in a small cramped bare aquarium like at the supplier to me would be much more stressful then what I have planned for them. But again I don't know discus like many of you so I'm willing to change my views if its in the best interest of the fish.

[Disgirl]

Well, from my perspective, all that wood is way too much since wood leaches tannins, grows algae on it, can become slimy with bacterial growth, uneaten food will hide in, under and on it, and rot, discus eat a whole lot when young, making lots of waste in the water and on the bottom of tank, you need to keep it very clean, all the wood gets in the way of that. Other cichlids are different than discus in many ways. You can have a little wood for your discus to "hide" in and dress up the tank a bit. As far as color, a dark bottom and back will make your fish turn dark, trying to blend in with the darkness. I have experience with exactly this. My turq. discus were grey with a black painted glass bottom. When I changed to tan, they became turq. in a matter of minutes!
Barb

[REC]

Well, from my perspective, all that wood is way too much since wood leaches tannins, grows algae on it, can become slimy with bacterial growth, uneaten food will hide in, under and on it, and rot, discus eat a whole lot when young, making lots of waste in the water and on the bottom of tank, you need to keep it very clean, all the wood gets in the way of that. Other cichlids are different than discus in many ways. You can have a little wood for your discus to "hide" in and dress up the tank a bit. As far as color, a dark bottom and back will make your fish turn dark, trying to blend in with the darkness. I have experience with exactly this. My turq. discus were grey with a black painted glass bottom. When I changed to tan, they became turq. in a matter of minutes!
Barb

First off thank you for your time. The wood that's in the tank has been moved around from several tanks including my own for many many years and no longer discolor the water. I planned on getting a few pleco's and a group of cory's to pick off any uneaten food either on the bottom or on the wood but as you said waste particals could become an issue getting in the cracks. Syphoning the waste off the bottom will be easy but as you said getting trapped in the wood could occur. As far as the black bottom and backround go this isn't an option. Although this is a growout tank its still a display tank in my office and a bare bottom tank with an open bottom looks like **** imo and same goes for having no backround exposing all the cords and blue just looks so cheesy. I have a 48" dual strip LED fixture which puts off a ton of light so hopefully that helps in keeping these guys from trying to blend in with the backround as you said but I'll just have to wait and see. I've seen young fish do this in the past but as they grew comfortable with their surroundings they lightened up. I'm not really seeing the wood becoming a problem considering I'm doing large daily wc's. I'll just have to make sure i'm going over everything which will be easy on a 75g. A 5ft. deep 400g that I use to have was a pain in the arse.

[REC]

Moved the wood around to give more room up front and around the top. Everything cosmetic is done and filling it up tomorrow to start a 2 week cycle with Hagen cycle/Seachem Stability. Both excellent products that I've used in the past. Pictures from my phone which look kinda dark but in person the tank is very bright. Loving the new Led's. Completed my order today with Hans and will have a total of (15) 2.5-3" to grow out in here. Can't wait to get started.

[ExReefer]

What's everyone's opinion on the amount of wood I have in this tank with having (15) 2.5-3" juvies in there. I figured the wood with give them a sense of security but I keep seeing many people keeping younger discus in smaller empty tanks to assure proper feeding.

The wood is for you, the fish don't need it. Just to give you an example, I've kept my wild discus in a BB tank with no decor and had them eating FDBW's from my hand. Again, these fish came from the wild. I only keep adults in show tanks with decor. My grow outs are in BB tanks, no decor.

As for aggression, it's just part of keeping discus. There's no way around it, even with the wood as cover. So if a weaker fish hides all the time by the wood to avoid aggression, tell me how it's going to eat properly to grow out?

You've already done the right thing by purchasing a large school of similar sized discus. That method spreads out the aggression as best as possible in captivity.

[REC]

The wood is for you, the fish don't need it. Just to give you an example, I've kept my wild discus in a BB tank with no decor and had them eating FDBW's from my hand. Again, these fish came from the wild. I only keep adults in show tanks with decor. My grow outs are in BB tanks, no decor.

As for aggression, it's just part of keeping discus. There's no way around it, even with the wood as cover. So if a weaker fish hides all the time by the wood to avoid aggression, tell me how it's going to eat properly to grow out?

You've already done the right thing by purchasing a large school of similar sized discus. That method spreads out the aggression as best as possible in captivity.

I'll just roll with it and see how it goes. If it causes an issue I'll remove some or all of it. And yes the wood is more for me and my customers but I'm sure the discus will enjoy a bit of a landscape rather then a boring empty tank.

[ExReefer]

I'm sure the discus will enjoy a bit of a landscape rather then a boring empty tank.

If your getting fish from Hans, then they've already likely lived their entire life in a "boring empty tank". I know where your coming from though. You'll find photos of my tanks on Simply with wood in the BB set up. I eventually went with no decor for ease of maintenance. If your willing to constantly move the wood around to get all the debris on the bottom, your fish will do great with daily WC's. Good luck and post photos of your progress. We love progress photos on Simply.

[roundfishross]

black bottom and back grounds are a bad idea! the fish will act lethargic, turn dark. I'm not saying go plain they dont really like that either. but you should consider a light blue or another color the fish will thank you for it.

[REC]

black bottom and back grounds are a bad idea! the fish will act lethargic, turn dark. I'm not saying go plain they dont really like that either. but you should consider a light blue or another color the fish will thank you for it.

Doesn't seem to be effecting these guys.
http://youtu.be/I_3qk_pbJ6w

[Larry Bugg]

I will add that my experience is the black background and bottom will difinitely affect some discus and especially pigeon bloods. When I first started keeping discus I was coming from a planted tank background. All my tanks had black backgrounds because it made the plants stand out. My first discus (Blue Diamonds and Red Melons) went into tanks with black. It wasn't long before I was doing research to find out why my fish were turning very dark, nearly black. Research told me it was probably the black. I took the black off and painted a pastel color. Within days my discus were back to their normal colors. Discus have a tendancy to try to blend in with their surroundings. Will all discus turn dark, no some don't. Just my experience for what it is worth.

[REC]

I will add that my experience is the black background and bottom will difinitely affect some discus and especially pigeon bloods. When I first started keeping discus I was coming from a planted tank background. All my tanks had black backgrounds because it made the plants stand out. My first discus (Blue Diamonds and Red Melons) went into tanks with black. It wasn't long before I was doing research to find out why my fish were turning very dark, nearly black. Research told me it was probably the black. I took the black off and painted a pastel color. Within days my discus were back to their normal colors. Discus have a tendancy to try to blend in with their surroundings. Will all discus turn dark, no some don't. Just my experience for what it is worth.

I'm really starting to have my doubts now. I painted the bottom so its staying black unless I run substrate which I definately don't wan't to do. I'm wondering if the the amount of wood I'm running will help since its lighter in color. I absolutely hate blue backrounds and would rather run nothing and see all the cords then run blue. Like I said earlier at this point all I can do is trial and error and hope for the best. If I remove the wood there will be too much black I think. Wish me luck lol :) Thanks everyone for your experiences.

[Larry Bugg]

I'm really starting to have my doubts now. I painted the bottom so its staying black unless I run substrate which I definately don't wan't to do. I'm wondering if the the amount of wood I'm running will help since its lighter in color. I absolutely hate blue backrounds and would rather run nothing and see all the cords then run blue. Like I said earlier at this point all I can do is trial and error and hope for the best. If I remove the wood there will be too much black I think. Wish me luck lol :) Thanks everyone for your experiences.

I have painted and re-painted enough tanks, 75 included, that I can tell you it really isn't that difficult changing you mind later and changing the color. Put the discus in a rubbermaid tote with a airstone or filter off the tank. Barebottom so you just have to drain it. Paint comes off VERY easily, repaint and fill it back up. I can do one in half a day. Try the black since you really want it. Keep an eye on the fish. They start turning dark then pull it down and change it up. As far as the bottom goes a lot of us use a thin layer of pool filter sand on the bottoms. I have tanks with it and without it. It actually looks pretty good and the discus will like it. Will definitely lighten up the tank. Again, if for some reason you decide you don't like it then pull it out. You can get it pretty cheap at a pool supply store.

[REC]

I have painted and re-painted enough tanks, 75 included, that I can tell you it really isn't that difficult changing you mind later and changing the color. Put the discus in a rubbermaid tote with a airstone or filter off the tank. Barebottom so you just have to drain it. Paint comes off VERY easily, repaint and fill it back up. I can do one in half a day. Try the black since you really want it. Keep an eye on the fish. They start turning dark then pull it down and change it up. As far as the bottom goes a lot of us use a thin layer of pool filter sand on the bottoms. I have tanks with it and without it. It actually looks pretty good and the discus will like it. Will definitely lighten up the tank. Again, if for some reason you decide you don't like it then pull it out. You can get it pretty cheap at a pool supply store.

The bottom is paint but the back is vinyl but I'll keep an eye on it and hope for the best. Here's a few more examples of it working.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyAZOkvGBSU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NYiTWTYUsQo

[REC]

Well I decided to take everyone's advice and get rid of the black bottom and back and lighten up the wood. Had the bottom and back done in blue vinyl and added one nice piece of wood. Also including a pic of my 150 I'm working on which will be the permanent home for the group.

[Disgirl]

Much better, your fish will do well in there now.
Barb:)

[Darrell Ward]

You should enjoy that 150. I have one of the same tank.