My Tanks

Discussion in 'Members Systems' started by BoelderBeestie, Oct 4, 2016.

  1. prajayn

    prajayn

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    Very cool.
     
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  3. Waterboy

    Waterboy

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    Nice Boelder. Hope you have stacks of babies soon.
     
  4. OP
    BoelderBeestie

    BoelderBeestie

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    Thanks guys. Had to go to work just after I saw them, the suspense sitting at the office is killing me.....
     
  5. OP
    BoelderBeestie

    BoelderBeestie

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    Eggs are gone. Lets see if they'll try again.
     
  6. Saturn

    Saturn

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    Awesome setup.
     
  7. OP
    BoelderBeestie

    BoelderBeestie

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    Thanks @Saturn, they seem to have lost interest now. They are still young. Also think the tank is to busy. Going to setup my spare 100l and cycle it for later.
     
  8. OP
    BoelderBeestie

    BoelderBeestie

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    Upgraded my CRS tank to a 100L. They are doing much better. I went and did something different. Got tired of the same old dark sand look.
    IMG_20161227_155146.jpg
    IMG_20161227_155206.jpg

    Their color is coming back, they where going almost transparent in the nano tank. The reds and blacks was almost totally gone.
    I only have 6 left.
    IMG_20161227_155215.jpg
     
    Saturn and Rainstorm like this.
  9. BadgerBadger

    BadgerBadger

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    Honest question, but do Aro's not like a tank with and hardscape or plants etc? Or is it just a maintenance consideration?
     
  10. OP
    BoelderBeestie

    BoelderBeestie

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    @BadgerBadger not really no, I had some wood and plants in there and his behavior was the same. They like open water near the surface it seems, always cruising just below the surface, prowling. They seem to give more attention to what goes on above than below. Where they come from the water isn't clear, it has a green tint to it and has a sandy bottom with overhanging vegetation on the banks. So they can't see far underneath them in the wild anyway. The plants that was in the tank was all the way to the surface and it seemed to bother him rather than calm him as he avoided that area of the tank. It was in the corner to cover the filter intakes on the wall's side.

    Sand also bothers him when he misses a strike and has to pick up the food from the bottom, he was always shaking his head and blowing sand out of his gills after a pickup and even a dart now and then. He is actually very low maintenance considering his size. His feces is small compared to a full grown Oscar. I do a bottom vac on Wednesdays, this removes about 20% of the water and another over a weekend but then I dump 50%. Tank smells great, like wet ground after a rainy spell. When I was away a while back the tank was left for a week without a WC, it had a fish smell when I got back. The same smell a bass has after being caught, that sweet musky smell.

    I will keep all my future aro's this way as it keeps the fish in good health and not much that can go wrong in the long run. In the end all they want is good food to be "happy". I wouldn't run this empty even with my discus, as both my discus and baby oscar where very skittish while in an empty setup. The discus has one piece of upright driftwood now to hide behind and hold cover if they want and my oscar babies seems much better off in the planted tank after the quarantine and swim and hold position behind cover and swim in between the plants. In an empty tank both these species did nothing, they just hovered, cowered in a corner and got spooked easily, now they aren't bothered to what goes on outside their tanks.

    It was weird to see oscars cowering I must say...
     
  11. BadgerBadger

    BadgerBadger

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    Awesome, makes sense. Thanks man
     
  12. Pezulu

    Pezulu

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    I have never tried Aro's, and the prices seem a bit high as well.
    There is one in a LFS that I saw going for about 28k.
     
  13. OP
    BoelderBeestie

    BoelderBeestie

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    Those are the Asian aro's, can't affort them atm myself. Mine is a silver, they are not expensive comparing. Babies go for between R600-R1000 depending on where you buy. There's one on gumtree for R1000 now thats 30cm without dropeye and in excellent condition, I think its a very good buy. If you house him properly, meaning that you make the tank jump proof and foam all the sharp edges he will be a beauty in a year or two. Drop eye really does a number on their resell value. I really like the silvers, there body shape just screams power and speed.

    The way they bond with their owner is also unmatched. They become like dogs, likes to be touched and have there bedonerde moods some days, love them. They are a bit touchy to water quality when so any nitrite and moderate nitrate is to be avoided, they go off food when in those conditions. The proper way to raise one is in a tank that's not to big at first and upgrade as you go along. They are skittish in bigger tanks when small and hurt themselves when spooked.

    So you can start one off in a 250 and work your way up to a 3m over the years. They start banging on the glass with there heads if the tank is to small, then you upgrade. a Kiddie pool of around 2000-3000L is a good investment for when trouble hits, so you can transfer the fish into it while you get the bigger tank ready. Mine was doing fine in a 350 till he hit around 45-50 cm, then all hell broke loose and he even cracked a piece of glass on one of the build in light boxes. It's only 2mm glass but siliconed in really good, I have to take pliers to it to crack it, can't do it by hand I tried.

    If I where told to get rid of everything and only keep one fish it would be my aro. Drop eye and all. They are the true "pets" of the fish world in my opinion.

    Oh yes, you get some colorful swear words when friends and family see them for the first time which I won't hint at here, you also hear holish!t a lot hahaahaaaa. My brother saw mine yesterday for the first time, I should have recorded it...
     
    Last edited: Jan 6, 2017
  14. OP
    BoelderBeestie

    BoelderBeestie

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    @WadeSmith OK here's my discus tank. I've tried decor and plants but this is what I found works best for me to keep water quality good and maintenance easy. My first 3 I got January last year and the second 3 in May. Tank is at 29c and I use a barrel to age my water 24 hours and heat it to 30c. This way when cleaning and topping up the tank it stays at 29c. Bio filtration is very important as discus won't tolerate nitrites, that's why I use a pre filter sponge on the intake. it's to keep my canister free of uneaten food and feces so I don't have a build up of rot that I can't see. You are cleaning everyday so particles and nitrate isn't a problem. I also covered the back and side with white vinyl stuck on with Velcro strips. This keeps ambient light coming in from the sides and back on the tank, they hate ambient light. The 250L 1.2m is doing the job but a 350L 1.5m would have been better. They don't seem to be bothered by the size though, clean water is the most important by what I can tell.

    In the left corner I have the heater, filter intake with pre filter sponge and a surface skimmer.
    20170113_191325.jpg

    20170113_191330.jpg

    At the right side there's the filter inlet at the top and a airstone.
    20170113_191334.jpg

    Glass lids.
    20170113_191340.jpg

    Lighting is a LED strip glued to a light cover I made from a piece of an old plastic tank lid.
    20170113_191414.jpg

    When sucking out the gunk I take out this amount of water daily and top up. Sometime over a weekend I'll dump 80-90%.
    20170113_192222.jpg

    And some random pics.
    IMG_20170113_225750.jpg
    IMG_20170113_225729.jpg
    20170113_225943.jpg

    20170113_191354.jpg
     
  15. WadeSmith

    WadeSmith

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    @BoelderBeestie Thanks for sharing all of this with me, your discus look very nice and looking at this makes me want to get discus even more badly haha. Will see sometime this weekend if i can maybe get.
     
  16. Gnl Jakes

    Gnl Jakes

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    Tagging
     
  17. Discusnut

    Discusnut

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    Yeah I also used to keep discus in 4ft for sum time.there not much space for decor and crud gets trapped under. Also had babies get stuck under wood.got more and bigger tanks now and happy.fish cruise around more

    Sent from my Halona using Tapatalk
     
  18. OP
    BoelderBeestie

    BoelderBeestie

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    Will go bigger. I want to get a wide 1.5m later. This tank was great for growing them out as it was quick to clean. Want to use it for a growout if I ever get a successful spawn. A bigger tank takes longer when filling and is more work to maintain. Smaller is less tedious.

    When growing them out you also feed very hard. You have to feed more so there is always left over for everyone to to eat properly. The dominat fish will eat first and will keep the rest off the food until full. I had 3 fish that only took food when the other bigger 3 had their fill. So the smaller tank helped cut time alot as you have to siphon the left overs and feces out every day when feeding like this and I fed to little so next time I will be feeding even more.

    I can't see myself cleaning a bigger tank so often. My oscar tank is a 350 and takes almost twice as long. Tanks size (within reason) is secondary with discus.

    Here's a reference.
     
    Last edited: Jan 14, 2017
  19. OP
    BoelderBeestie

    BoelderBeestie

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    Ok, this time I think its on! a Very weird thing happened on Wednesday. The two that always try to spawn was at it again, its two females as both where laying eggs this time and I could see it properly, then out of nowhere my big male came from across the tank and hit the biggest of the two as hard as he could, shoved it to the other side of the tank and joined the remaining female with the spawn. They where moving in rhythm, first the female would lay and then he follows her up, both where shaking like crazy. The eggs should turn into wigglers soon if they where fertilized. They didn't turn white like the other batches so things are looking good so far. Here's the pics. They where taken yesterday, so about 24 hours in.

    Taking turns fanning and blowing.
    20170119_152817.jpg

    Some egg pics. He left the other female's eggs on the pipe and are caring for them too.
    There's a lot, it goes around to the other side of the pipe as well but can't be seen from this angle.
    20170119_152823.jpg
    20170119_152827.jpg
    20170119_152832.jpg

    And they are taking turns to eat. Here's the male holding guard and blowing while the female got something to eat.
    20170119_152837.jpg

    He is super aggressive towards the other fish in the tank and nothing can come close to the eggs without taking a beating. He's not doing damage
    luckily as he attacks and goes back to the nest immediately. I'm glad this guy manned up as he's the main fish in the tank and I doubt that he will
    let the other fish harm his fry.

    I'm sticking to my cleaning schedule this time as there was a few eggs last time that got fungus. This time it looks fungus free and they don't seem to mind me fiddling in the tank, they just flat ignore me, even when I siphon right underneath them. You can already see the feces buildup after just a few hours after a siphoning in the pics. I'm not going to separate them because its his first time and don't want to stress any fish unnecessarily if he shot blanks. Will wait for success before I do.

    Any tips would be greatly appreciated right about now.

    @WadeSmith you can be my shipping guinea pig If its a successful grow out, just pay for the shipping and I'll send you your 3 extra discus babies, how does that sound?
     
  20. Pezulu

    Pezulu

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    That looks stunning.
    Holding thumbs that everything turns out ok, and you have some wrigglers soon.
     
  21. Adhil

    Adhil

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    Well done man, hope all goes well. If they do workout will you sell me some babies?


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
     

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