Tropical Fish Forum
Tropical Fish Keeping => Gallery Showcase => Topic started by: Don on June 14, 2013, 10:28:41 AM
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Hi. Been quite a while since ive been on here. My discus have been taken up all my time to the point where i now only have one tank. There very rewarding but have been hard work. So here are some pics of my discus. Also tried taking some pics of my german ram fry but they keep hiding them.
(http://i1180.photobucket.com/albums/x417/bartofdarkness/IMAG0227_zps3b783dcf.jpg)
(http://i1180.photobucket.com/albums/x417/bartofdarkness/IMAG0226_zps3aa24f45.jpg)
(http://i1180.photobucket.com/albums/x417/bartofdarkness/IMAG0221_zpse36e92e1.jpg)
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They are amazing looking fish Don - worth the effort i reckon! :-)
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Wow....they're lovely!
Thanks for the pics.
Resa
:)
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Hi Don, nice to see you again. We've been wondering what has happened to the old-forum members ;D
Those discus are gorgeous. I wish I could have some, but I don't have a tank big enough.
Are your german rams in the same tank? I know they can be kept together as they have the same water requirements.
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Lovely fish!
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Thanks all. Yes the discus have definetly sucked my time. Yes they are funny watching them quarrel with the discus especialy when they have fry which seems constant.
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Here are some pics of the female ram, you can just see her breeding tube starting to protrude.
(http://i1180.photobucket.com/albums/x417/bartofdarkness/IMAG0213_zps6f5d015f.jpg)
(http://i1180.photobucket.com/albums/x417/bartofdarkness/IMAG0212_zps16f6ec1c.jpg)
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Hi Don,
Your fish are absolutely stunning, what gorgeous colours. :)
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Brilliant!
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Hi Don :)
Good to hear you're OK. Amazing pics of beautiful, healthy fish as always! Awesome :)
You now only have one tank - Is that the corner tank by any chance? Do you still have those incredibly gorgeous angels?
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The corner tanks was the one to go. Once i got the discus i just found i had no time. Plus i didnt no what to put in there and after a while i needed the filter for my discus tank, yes the discus tank has 2 aqua on 1250 on a 250ltr tank. The angels had to go too, the male turned on the female after she stopped laying. I gave them to someone who had spare tanks to reintroduce them. Will try and get some pics of the licorice gouramis when i can.
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Absolutely fantastic fish. Sounds like they are hard work but glad theyre worth it!
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Shame about the Angels Don. They were just totally stunning fish. I remember you saying they had fallen out and you were dubious about re-introducing them. Did you keep your LEDs? ???
Look forward to the gourami pics. I love seeing your photos - you have such lovely healthy tanks and inhabitants :)
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yep i still have the grobeams from the other tank. I did love those angels they were awsome and it was a shame getting rid of them but the discus are not that different in personality.
here are some pics of the licorice gouramis. sorry about the poor quality they are buggers to photograph
(http://i1180.photobucket.com/albums/x417/bartofdarkness/IMAG0255_zpsc4c98e47.jpg) (http://s1180.photobucket.com/user/bartofdarkness/media/IMAG0255_zpsc4c98e47.jpg.html)
(http://i1180.photobucket.com/albums/x417/bartofdarkness/IMAG0260_zpsaa1db83f.jpg) (http://s1180.photobucket.com/user/bartofdarkness/media/IMAG0260_zpsaa1db83f.jpg.html)
(http://i1180.photobucket.com/albums/x417/bartofdarkness/IMAG0263_zps5e7c7fea.jpg) (http://s1180.photobucket.com/user/bartofdarkness/media/IMAG0263_zps5e7c7fea.jpg.html)
(http://i1180.photobucket.com/albums/x417/bartofdarkness/IMAG0265_zpsdf0aba45.jpg) (http://s1180.photobucket.com/user/bartofdarkness/media/IMAG0265_zpsdf0aba45.jpg.html)
(http://i1180.photobucket.com/albums/x417/bartofdarkness/IMAG0268_zps489a8301.jpg) (http://s1180.photobucket.com/user/bartofdarkness/media/IMAG0268_zps489a8301.jpg.html)
(http://i1180.photobucket.com/albums/x417/bartofdarkness/IMAG0269_zps4144daae.jpg) (http://s1180.photobucket.com/user/bartofdarkness/media/IMAG0269_zps4144daae.jpg.html)
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I was trying to get rid of the bush algae but stopped as the ram fry use it as cover and seem to eat anything small caught in it and the biofilm on it.
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Awwww........ little humbugs! They remind me of Sues pencilfish. Though if I remember rightly, the pencilfish are more slender-like......... like a pencil perhaps?
Your "poor quality" photos are better than my good pics ;D
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Ye love them. There not quite as social as pencils, can be little buggers to each other when they want to be. i would love to be able to put up some pics of my l260 queen arabesque plecs, but seeing them is on a once a month basis, not even sure where there hiding out at the mo.
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Why cant i see these pics?
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your discus look fantastic :D
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Why cant i see these pics?
I don't know. Perhaps your glasses have steamed up :) If you give us a clue as to what happens when you try, perhaps we could help. It would also help if you let us know what software you are using. Include as much detail as possible. "It's broken" won't get you any help I'm afraid
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haha maybe screen steamy for some reason working today and i agree with the rest very nice fish. If i manage to keep my current fish for a year then iv promised myself a bigger 260l juwel vision and discus are top of the shopping list.
Hobo
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Hi Don,
You're making me nervous now, all this talk about, how much time your discus take up.
I was all set to get 6 little'ns 2 or 3 months ago.... then my external filter packed in and needed replacing, there went my discus fish fund.
Now I'm just about ready again, but I'm going to upgrade my tank first :)
I'm going from my 4ft 180 litre to a 4ft 300 litre. :) :) :)
I'm thinking about going for a bare bottom tank with the back, bottom and sides black. I'm hoping it will really make the discus' colours pop. Not to mention the bare bottom making it so much easier to keep clean. What do you think?
With my wood collection, Amazon frogbit floating plants, and a tank full of tannins and oak leaves, It should make a nice Amazonian biotope.
All and any advice would be, as always, appreciated.
Stuart.
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Hi Stuart.
The 300 littre should be perfect for 6 discus.
With regards to water chemistry it depends on what discus you want and where you get them from. If you are going for a amazon biotope with soft water then either get your discus from a soft water supplier or get wild discus. What is yourtap water perameters? Are you planning on using ro water or hma filter? Best thing is to match discus to you water.
If you are happy with a bare bottom tank then go for it. Discus are supper messy so you are spot on it will keep things much easier and cleaner. Any uneaten food and poo will be easily removed. I have sand but have corries and shrimp to clean up and eat the food missed.
I currently do a 25 % water change once a week using a hma filter to refil the tank because my water is very soft. Wild discus need this and rare aquatics is a brilliant place to get them as there water matches mine.
They willbe skitesh and is always good to have some octozin on hand incase they go of there food or sulk at the back. Also get some fluke solve from either devotedly discus or plymouth discus as of you get wilds it is easier to fluke them once a month and this may also be easier for tank breds.
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I am planning on getting my Discus from Chens.
His water parameters are 180-200 ppm and 7.2 ph.
I have started to ro filter my own water which comes out as 75 ppm and 6.8 ph.
I have been told not to worry too much about the change in ph but what do you think about the hardness? My main concern is, will my water be so soft that the ph will fluctuate? Will adding more minerals help harden the water or should I go for crushed coral? If I use crushed coral, are you meant to take it out when the water reaches a certain hardness or will it stabalise itself?
I didn't realise you could keep shrimp with discus. I've never had fish that could be kept with them before but I've often fancied it. Not that they would fit in very well with my biotope. lol
I have also thought about getting the best of both worlds. I have some small glass sheets which I could place in the bottom of my tank. The idea being to place aquarium glue on the sheets, spread it out reasonably thin with a damp cloth and then cover the glue with sand. Hopefully this will look nicer than a bare bottom, be more realistic but I wont keep syphoning out the sand when cleaning or doing water changes.
Stuart.
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Sorry for the late reply. The ph dofference shouldnt be too much of a problem neither should the hardness the discus should aclimatize. I would drip introduce them and have octozin and some wormer on standby as a precaution. The low tdh and gh can be a problem if youbdont keep up ob your water changes. The best thing to do is when you set it all up get a good liquid ph test kit preferably on that test broad range and the a narrow range so you can get a good idea of the drop in ph over the week.
If the bulk of the tds is calcium carbonate then you should be okay as this is what buffers the water and limits ph drop. If its not then adding some coral gravel in a bag is a good way of buffering the water. Again if this is required its best to add a small amount when you clean the filter and do a water change then test the ph over the week to see by what value it drops. The adding more or less if neccesary.
I like the glass idea would make the tank look natural with the ease of cleaning. I would not add small shrimp but ammanos seem fine there far to big to be eaten by my discus
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Hi Don, after talking to a few people on bidka I found that using "re-min tropic" helps raise carbonate hardness so I got some. I have now found the right dose that gives me (as near to damn it) the same water as Chens.
I hadn't heard of Octozin but I have now looked it up.
I now have 8 small ones in my tank with a few guppys, a neon tetra and 4 rummy nose tetras (left over from my last tank). I also have 5 Ammanos and 3 Cherry Shrimp (the Cherry's are small and I might be down to 1 now!)
I have 6 turqs and 2 red melons.
1 of the red melons does hide away at the back at times and is reluctant to feed from frozen food. I brought some live food the other day and it had some of that though, although not as much as the others. I know it isn't bullied out of the food because eventually the frozen and live food covers my tank, as if it's snowing and it still isn't bothered. It is getting visibly smaller than the other fish and it's poo is usually white and stringy. Any ideas?
I never seem to have a problem with uneaten food though with the other fish and shrimps in there.
I'm about to post some pictures of my new tank and Discus. Unlike your modest claims of poor pictures mine really aren't that good and by no means do my fish justice.
BTW. I ended up just using sand on the bottom of my tank. As someone pointed out the bags of play sand are only £2.99 from Homebase. If I suck out too much it is easier just to top it up. The sand didn't stick to the glue very well either.
Stuart.
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(http://i1180.photobucket.com/albums/x417/bartofdarkness/Discus%20Tank/IMAG0339_zpss8rkifs7.jpg) (http://s1180.photobucket.com/user/bartofdarkness/media/Discus%20Tank/IMAG0339_zpss8rkifs7.jpg.html)
(http://i1180.photobucket.com/albums/x417/bartofdarkness/Discus%20Tank/IMAG0336_zpskk3dszex.jpg) (http://s1180.photobucket.com/user/bartofdarkness/media/Discus%20Tank/IMAG0336_zpskk3dszex.jpg.html)
(http://i1180.photobucket.com/albums/x417/bartofdarkness/Discus%20Tank/IMAG0332_zpsv1kcatwg.jpg) (http://s1180.photobucket.com/user/bartofdarkness/media/Discus%20Tank/IMAG0332_zpsv1kcatwg.jpg.html)
They are shortly about to get a brand new 300ltr tank. Going to be decorated with big root sections and rivwr rocks leaf littre and some anubis up near the surface