Discus Tank

Hi Dirk
I'm new here and I was wondering if you could tell me what plants would work in my discus tank !

Tank size=450L JUWEL Vision 450 canister filter and standered one !
Ph=6.5 - 6.8
Water temp = 30deg
6 large discus = 3 breeding pairs

Do you think my discus will breed ?
Will I need tank dividers ? Whats better Plexi glass or glass ?
And do I need air stones ?

 

Some links to articles that will provide some answers to your question regarding plants. Also some other useful information.


http://www.freshwateraquariumplants.com/amazonbiotope/discus.html

http://aquaticconcepts.thekrib.com/Articles/PAM_Discus.htm

http://www.aquariumplants.com/Warm_Water_Discus_Plants_s/20.htm

Here's quite a nice forum thread on Filipe Oliveira's fight with problems in a planted discus tank. And Filipe's one of the best aquascapers I've seen.

http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/aquascaping/36233-240l-planted-vs-discus.html

 

Thanks Laure ill have a look !

 

Hi Geoff,

Before I can comment I need more information about your discus.

Are these fishes guaranteed pairs, in other words have they bred before, or were these sold to you as a group of 6 saying that they were 3 males and 3 females.

Kind regards,

Dirk

 

Hi Dirk
They where sold to me as 3 pairs that bred before ! One pair looks like Blue Pearl Diamond , Malbro red and Royals !

 

Thanks for the reply Geoff, were these fishes bought locally or did you import them as pairs from overseas, if I may ask again?

Somehow, I am not getting the whole story. Fishes that have a history of good breeding are just simply not sold all that easily and are also normally sold at a considerable price. Often fishes are offered as pairs, inexperienced persons buy them as such, and in actual fact they are not pairs at all. Perhaps you can give a little more background here.

Kind regards,

Dirk

 

Ok no problem !
I had chiclids in my big tank and had some small discus in a smaller tank at work ! So I sold all my chiclids to my local pet shop cause he had a guy that was selling his discus because he was traveling to much to look after them ! I paid about R2000 per Pair ! They each stick together in the tank but the marlbros are very aggressive towards the others ! But they are mostly hinding Iv had them since last week thursday in the tank !

 

Hi Geoff,

A quick reply as I have to do some work....

I understand better now, discus at R2000 are not entirely cheap but then again are also not so expensive if you are going to be able to breed from them, that is if you know how to breed them. I have kept discus for 23 years now and I can tell you that you need a lot of experience and patience before you can get this right. With regard to your first question that you posted on this thread, it is also going to be impossible for me to answer all your questions by mail, I simply will not have the time, and you must please appreciate this. You can read about suitable books that would give you advice on my forum and also about feeding which is critical.

I would be concerned if your discus are still just hiding. Your tank is also much too small for three pairs, you should calculate 60 litres per adult fish. It does not surprise me that the one pair is hammering the others, that pair needs space.

Kind regards,

Dirk

 

Hi Dirk
Thanks for your reply I understand you cant answer all my questions !
I work it out i have 75L per discus as 450L/6=75L !
I got my water tested and it had high levels of amonia so im treating it for that now !
Would you suggest that i make some glass tank dividers to give them there own areas ?
Apparently the previous owner had them in a room that not many people went into !

 

Geoff... if you are having amonia, then your tank has not settled properly.

(1)How long have you had this tank set up?
(2)How do you look after the tank... i.e maintenance
(3)What type of filter are you running, and what is in the filter?
(4)How often do you clean the filter, and HOW do you clean the filter.
(5)Did you perhaps have the tank tested for Nitrites and Nitrates at all?
(6)What experience do you have in fishkeeping, or is this your first tank?

I'm slightly concerned when I hear you are having ammonia in the tank... which either indicates poor maintenance, or a new set up.

Regards

Ashley

 

Hi Geoff,

Ammonia is lethal to all fishes and discus are extremely sensitive to it. If you do not have a filter that is biologically active you are going to kill these fishes, because I would also expect that the nitrite levels would be high and they will rise even more. Are the fishes breathing heavily and are they dark? The Marlboros being pidgeon blood types are unable to go dark, and the blue diamonds cannot go black properly, but what do the Royals look like?

How are you going to filter the tank if you have glass separating sheets? I cannot see how this could work.

The fact that the previous owner had them in a dark room has very little to do with it, it is the ammonia that is causing the problem.

Kind regards,

Dirk

 

Hi Ashley

Iv had this tank for 4 years now ! But Iv moved it from where it was !
So this tank has been setup for a week now !
I do a weekly water change of about 20% and topup with Bacterlife and A.C.E ammonia chlorine eliminator !
I monitor the Ph daily !
It has the standerd juwel internal filter and a Aqua h2o acf 2000 external canister filter !
The canister filter has that pourus stones and small stone tubes !
I clean the internal filter top first layer every two weeks under tap water !
I havint had it tested for Nitrites and Nitrates !
And the canister filter every 3-4 months ! Iv kept chiclids for 4 years and small discus for about 1 year now !

 

According to what you tell us, the filter actually sounds perfectly ok. Has the filter been running all the time, because if it has I cannot understand that there is an ammonia problem, that makes no sense then. Who did the tests, I mean has this test been done reliably?

I actually hope that the ammonia test result is wrong because if you have a filter that is newly set up then you have a huge problem here.

You are going to have to increase that water change percentage, 20% will not remove accumulating nitrate levels.

What are you feeding?

Kind regards,

Dirk

PS, are the fishes dark as I asked before?

 

The filter was cleaned out when the tank was moved ! The test was done reliably ! what water change percentage should i do ?
No there colours are looking good !
Iv put some aquaclear ammonia remover filter inserts in !
Im feeding them blood worms and tetrabits breeder red !

 

I'm going to leave the discus question's for the Professor to answer, because he is obviously qualified to answer them with 23yrs of discus keeping under his belt. I haven't even considered buying a discus. But I am just helping fill in a lot of the gaps here, as I know what type of questions the Professor is going to ask etc.

Ok, this answers the ammonia problem. The tank is basically re-cycling... (Please read up on the nitrogen cycle to understand this if you don't already). I am hoping you kept the old filter medium, which should help speed up the cycling. I would suggest you do a lot of mini water changes over the next few weeks (once every 2 to 3 days), as ammonia as well as nitrite can be deadly to fish. After the ammonia spike, you will start going through the nitrite spike soon. The Professor and confirm (or correct) my advice here

NEVER NEVER NEVER use tap water to clean filter material. When you do your water change, keep a bucket of the tank water aside, and clean the filter material in this. Tap water contains chlorine, which kills the beneficial bacteria in your filter. (Again, the nitrogen cycle will explain all the bacteria to you)

I would highly recommend you to get yourself a "combo" test kit. Please don't waste your time with the 4-in-1, or 5-in-1 test strips. These are substandard in my opinion at the best of times. I would rather advise you to get the test kits where you add chemicals to a "test-tube" and compare the colour changes to a chart. API Masters make a brilliant kit that will test for Ammonia, Nitrites, Nitrates and pH. I've had mine for about 16months now, and I've only recently run out of the Nitrate test. To give an indication... I use to test every second day for the first 2 months, then once a week for the past 14 months. So it may feel like a huge investment when you buy it, but it is definately worth the money.

Again, don't clean any of this stuff in tap water.

 

OK, if you fish are not black then you cannot have an ammonia problem, because with elevated ammonia levels your fishes will not look good and will certainly be black. I do not believe that the ammonia test is accurate.

You must remember that if you do a 20% water change then you are only removing 20% of the nitrate. This means that the nitrate levels will just steadily go up, if you nitrate production is higher than the 20% that you want to remove and I would think that your nitrate production would be higher than this. To be able to get the increasing nitrate problem under control you must use a nitrate test kit to check what the levels are and if they are going up. Then you would have to do higher percentage water changes, remember also the lower the nitrate levels the better it is for discus.

Bloodworms and tetra bits are a completely deficient diet. Please read my recommendations on feeding or else you will run into all sorts of problems rapidly and if your fish are not fed properly they cannot breed.

I am in agreement with what Zoom has also suggested.

Kind regards,

Dirk

 

Thanks guys for your help ill try to get hold of a test kit !

 

Dirk where can i get the food you make ?

 

where are you located? I have been meaning to order from Prof but have been hectically busy. I will however be mailing my order this weekend. I'm in pta

 

Im located in Pietermaritzburg ! But im going to Santon on the 19th of july !