How to balance light btwn Plants and Discus

[Planteater]

Hi there,

I have a new Planted discus tank and not sure how to balance the light requirements of the plants with the light shyness of the discus. discus hang out of sight in the shade a lot because i am feeding the plants the light they need. Anyone have any advice, experience?

thanks,

Planteater

[mcloughlin2]

It will never really work to be honest. Discus naturally shy towards darker areas of the tank. Therefore it can't be expected that they will swim at the front of the glass just because you want them to.

If you want to try anyway though what you can do is have some areas of the tank that are shaded. Place some large anubis, swords, lotus or something similiar with broad leaves in sections of the tank where they can retreat to when they want. They will not always shelter there but it can be expected they will spend majority of their time there because that is where they feel comfortable.

[aquafrogstuff]

I agree with mcloughlin2, I have 3x150W MH running part (4hrs) of each day and the fish hide from the bright light. There are a number of areas beneath densely grown plants and driftwood that they can hide. I'm also running flourescents, so the plants get a blast of light during the middle of the day and the discus come out when the MH are off. HTH.