'The Full Monty' Has Left The Building last photos

[ADA]

What about a lighting controller? The more shade they have the less likely they'll come out in the open.

 

[Edvet]

I think they will come out in the open when they know they have a safe spot to retract too. Eventually they will get used to the "open" tank (most breeders have them in bare tanks, but at less light). Mine where in the open most of the time except when something was different, they "ran"to cover then and peeked out from it.
28833708_Pb290683 by Edvet, on Flickr

 

[Vazkez]

Hi Steve,

I was always thinking about something loke this :

http://tropica.com/en/inspiration/layout/Layout10/4851

Can't wait for the pictures btw

EDIT :

Nice tank Edvet

 

[REDSTEVEO]

Hi Steve,

I was always thinking about something loke this :

http://tropica.com/en/inspiration/layout/Layout10/4851

Can't wait for the pictures btw

Wow what a greta link to a site with really good suggestions on layout. I am going to have to have a think about this.

EDIT :

Nice tank Edvet

 

[REDSTEVEO]

What about a lighting controller? The more shade they have the less likely they'll come out in the open.

I have got 4 x 54 watt T5 tubes on timers, but at the moment I am leaving them switched off during the day and only switching two of them on for a few hours in the evening, so I am not sure a lighting controller would do me any good. Is it some kind of dimmer switch because I am not sure these work on tubes?

Cheers,

Steve.

 

[REDSTEVEO]

Sorry guys that there has been no updates lately. I am having a few issues getting the discus settled in to their new environment!

They have all come from sterile bare bottomed low light slow moving water in tanks at 30 degrees temperature with no other tank mates and are now having to get used to:

1. A totally planted aquarium
2. Co2
3. High flow rates of water
4. Increased lighting
5. CSM+ and KNO3 Dosing
6. Loads of other fish, shrimps
7. Unfamiliar food
8. 28 degree water temperature

As you might have guessed one or two of the Red Curipea discus are not settling in as well because of their previous diet of almost exclusively beef heart.

I am trying everything possible to get them to eat other foods but they are proving to be stubborn. The Blue Diamonds and the two Blue snakeskins seem to have adapted and are eating quite well, I thought the others would have followed their example by now but they don't seem to recognise anything else as food even when it is right in front of their noses.

The increased bio mass has also tipped my water parameters and led to an algae break out which Clive is helping me with.
I have added kattappa leaves and alder cones, plus various discus water improvers and now just have to wait and see what happnes.

Cheers,

Steve.

So the long and short of it is I have not taken any new photographs until such time as things have stabilised and things are looking better.

 

[ADA]

Why are you against beef heart?

 

[REDSTEVEO]

I have nothing against beef heart in a situation where you are breeding discus and trying to grow them on quickly in a sterile glass bottomed tank, easy to clean and maintain etc. but I have seen the mess discus can make with beef heart in a planted tank and it isn't good. Besides discus don't eat beef heart in the wild so why should they be fed on it in captivity?

 

[NC10]

....but they do eat flake and pellets?

 

[REDSTEVEO]

Yes I take your point, but the flake and pellets I am trying to feed them on are made up from ingredients that they would expect to find in the wild such as small shrimp and crustaceans etc

 

[NC10]

I think really it's just a cheap high quality protein source. I don't know exactly, but like you've mentioned crustaceans and small shrimp, I'm guessing 80% of their diet in the wild consists of high protein food with the odd vegetable snack thrown in.

You can easily and cheaply make your own beefheart mix, that's what I do. It includes prawns, garlic, spinach, oats, regular flakes and of couse beefheart. Just freeze it and you have quite a few months supply of high quality food.

I don't what you mean by the mess it creates in a planted tank, but I've been fine and I suppose that would come down to you and how much you throw in.

Let me know if you want the recipe anyway.

 

[ADA]

Feed them bloodworm then? The tetra will struggle to gobble that down before the discus do, I can see this having problem after problem. Feed them what they want to eat, they are going to out grow your tank whether you feed them flake or frozen but the flake will stunt them longer. Discus are big fish, drop the numbers to 7, feed well, stick to one other species of schooling fish like cardinals and they'll settle, discus look to cardinals as an early warning.

 

[REDSTEVEO]

I think really it's just a cheap high quality protein source. I don't know exactly, but like you've mentioned crustaceans and small shrimp, I'm guessing 80% of their diet in the wild consists of high protein food with the odd vegetable snack thrown in.

You can easily and cheaply make your own beefheart mix, that's what I do. It includes prawns, garlic, spinach, oats, regular flakes and of couse beefheart. Just freeze it and you have quite a few months supply of high quality food.

I don't what you mean by the mess it creates in a planted tank, but I've been fine and I suppose that would come down to you and how much you throw in.

Let me know if you want the recipe anyway.

Yes please pm me the recipe or post it here if you don't mind everyone seeing your recipe, I think if I have to use it I would rather mix it myself than order it on line, at least then I know exactly what is in it, and it won't have defrosted while in the post.

Cheers,

Steve.

Feed them bloodworm then? The tetra will struggle to gobble that down before the discus do, I can see this having problem after problem. Feed them what they want to eat, they are going to out grow your tank whether you feed them flake or frozen but the flake will stunt them longer. Discus are big fish, drop the numbers to 7, feed well, stick to one other species of schooling fish like cardinals and they'll settle, discus look to cardinals as an early warning.

Again, I am sorry but I have never been a massive fan of bloodworm either, particularly the frozen variety. I have raed loads of articles on the net about the pathogens and bacteria that come with live bloodworm, so if I was going to use it I would probably give them a soaking in a mild solution of Myxazin or similar to kill the bacteria.

Years ago I used to add vitamin powder to a water solution and let the bloodworm swim around in that for an hour to ingest the vitamins and then feed them to the discus. They used to go mad for it, trouble is, if you are not careful you can get to the stage where they refuse to eat anything else.

Apparently a diet with as much variey in it is the best way forward so i try to stick to that if I can.

Cheers,

Steve.

 

[Edvet]

Live food live food live food Live food live food live food Live food live food live foodLive food live food live food

 

[REDSTEVEO]

Live food live food live food Live food live food live food Live food live food live foodLive food live food live food

Hi Edvet,

I would like to feed the discus on as much live food as I can get my hands on honestly. Trouble is most of the places near where I live only get it in once a week and unless you get it fresh on the day it comes in most of it is dead in the bag a few days later, especially the brine shrimp. The bloodworm and the daphnia are 55 pence a bag and the brineshrimp is £1.10 per bag and you are lucky if there are more than 30 or 40 brine shrimp in the bag!

I have looked at buying a white worm starter culture off eBay and starting my own lot off. I have looked at garden worm farms,you name it.

So if you or anyone else knows somewhere on the internet you can buy cheaply in bulk I am all ears!

Thanks,

Steve.

 

[Edvet]

Set up a white worm and grindal worm culture, not that hard to do and good food.
Alternate with some Assellus and or Hyalella, or some hacked garden worms, (I've always thought a lot of bowel problems in fish stem from not enough roughage/ dietairy fiber. A lot of the white droppings can be cleared with good foodstuffs.)
Give black,white and red mosquito larvea (frozen or fresh if you can get them) and some algea wafers and you're done

 

[REDSTEVEO]

Cheers Edvet,

I will probably give the white worm culture a try, I know I can get live red mosquito larvae, not sure about black or white ones though. I have been trying with freeze dried californian blackworms which I have soaked in garlic slices and they seem to be going for that at the moment.

The next lot of live food comes in on Wednesday at my local TFS so I will probably buy a load then.

Assellus and or Hyalella

Not sure what these are.

I have just finished taking a load of pictures of the tank and waiting now for them to upload on to Photobucket. I will post them up for everyone to see later.

Cheers,

Steve.

 

[NC10]

I'm not at home at the moment but I'll post the recipe as soon as I can.

 

[REDSTEVEO]

I'm not at home at the moment but I'll post the recipe as soon as I can.

Thanks NC10 I look forward to it.

 

[REDSTEVEO]

Well here finally are some new photographs...as you can see I have added a few things to make the discus feel more at home...a few Amazon sword plants, some kattappa leaves, some Alder cones and some floating Frogbit which will give it a slightly more discus type biotope I think. The Manzanita wood is from Mr Manzanita, bought from eBay for a reasonable price for two quality pieces.

Sorry about the lighting for this photograph, I need to find the right settings for the camera (again)

And finally the discus decide to come out and have their photographs taken...

Cheers,

Steve.