South American (ish) 880l planted mixed Discus tank

[s1chris]

Ok so the planted tank title is a bit of a stretch at the minute. It’s a tank and has plants.

I can’t abide bare bottom Discus tanks, even though I know why people do it. It’s always been a dream of mine to have a fully scape and planted Discus tank featuring other fish from the region.

Still early days and am on month 4 of this being set up. 80 rummy nose, 6 Sterbai corrys, 4 Ottos, 2 German blue rams, and the 12 Discus went in two weeks ago. Oh and few cherry shrimp.

I’ve selected so far from limited choices at the local LFS’ what plants they have that will take the 30+ Celsius temp of the tank.

That’s the starting point, the tank had been in the house and dry for 12 months whilst building works were ongoing and just needed to get it kicked off.

I’ll brake down what’s been done so far and what the future plans are in some follow up posts. For now, here’s a shot of the tank at night (it’s in wall so best photos are in the dark when you can’t see through to the other side).

 

[castle]

Nice looking tank, my immediate thought is that they (discs) may get hurt from the sharper ends of the sticks, but I don’t think the scale of them is very accurate by photo, as they’re in a big big tank I bet they’re much bigger than they look.

Tummy nose were expensive food imo 😬 and for plants, hygrophila does well at higher temps 👍

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

I’ve selected so far from limited choices at the local LFS’ what plants they have that will take the 30+ Celsius temp of the tank.

I'd add a <"floating plant">, many of them are <"biotope appropriate"> and they are <"adapted to warm temperatures">.

I'm an <"Amazon Frogbit (Limnobium laevigatum) obsessive"> (and <"Salvinia auriculata group"> would also do), but Water Lettuce (Pistia stratiotes) would be my preferred option, because it has the <"best roots">.

cheers Darrel

 

[s1chris]

Nice looking tank, my immediate thought is that they (discs) may get hurt from the sharper ends of the sticks, but I don’t think the scale of them is very accurate by photo, as they’re in a big big tank I bet they’re much bigger than they look.

Tummy nose were expensive food imo 😬 and for plants, hygrophila does well at higher temps 👍

Thank you 👍🏼

To be fair although it’s early days the tank is in between the living and dining room and high traffic. The Discus just sit waiting for you to feed them and don’t startle, so hopefully they shouldn’t crash into the branches. They are thicker than what the photo depicts and there is room to pass either side or through the middle.

I’m a long way off the Rummies fitting in their mouths but they do co-exist just fine. I think the key is keeping their bellies full.

I’ll have a read back through the labels I kept and pull together a list of plants that are in there so far. Plenty of scope to add a lot more over time.

 

[s1chris]

Hi all,

I'd add a <"floating plant">, many of them are <"biotope appropriate"> and they are <"adapted to warm temperatures">.

I'm an <"Amazon Frogbit (Limnobium laevigatum) obsessive"> (and <"Salvinia auriculata group"> would also do), but Water Lettuce (Pistia stratiotes) would be my preferred option, because it has the <"best roots">.

View attachment 213682

cheers Darrel

Floating plants are on my want to buy list 100%. Would like some Phyllanthus Fluitans but the problem is the surface flow return from the sump is quite high to keep the flow out of the main body of water and try not to disrupt the Discus too much. That and due to their heavy feeding I need to keep the flow through the filter fairly high.

I’m aiming for the flooded forest look hence the branches appearing to grow out of the ground as if the remnants of an old terrestrial plant.