Hello All!

[Webby]

Hi All, I have been keeping fish for the last 15 years or so, all types of varieties with varying success. I recently (2 months ago) decided to change my African Cichlid tank to a planted Discus tank and it is going well but would like to talk to like minded people about issues I have and share my stories/knowledge.

My current set up is:

6ft tanks 250Lts
Canister filter
2 x 200w heaters , etc

std gravel, planted with crypts, vallis and a tonne of drift wood.

2 Wild Heckel
2 Leopard Skin
2 Checkered Board
1 Pigeon Blood

1 Peppermint Bristlenose (left)
1 Longfin Bristlenose (left)
2 Julii Corydoras

10 Rummynose Tetra's


To get the ball rolling I note i only have 2 bristlenose left, started with 5 and have lost 3 and I was wondering if the Discus are attacking them as I notice that of the two I have left they have nice chunks of dorsal fin missing??? Does anyone have any insight??

[BobbyBruce]

Hi Webby and welcome,

In regards to your bristlenose problem I don't think it is likely that the discus have anything to do with that. The more likely problem with b'nose and discus is the b'nose like to snack on the discus slime coat. If the b'nose are both males and mature they may be having a go at each other.

In regards to your tank at 6' and only 250 ltr it is probably shallow and narrow, at 6x1.5x1.5i calculate 360 ltr (approx). A standard 4' is approx 200 ltr. With sand and wood you are probably down to not much more than 220 ltr.

Keepers of discus generally recommend a minimum of 40 ltr of water per fish. With your setup and numbers you have around 30 per fish then the others on top of that. Not that you have a whole lot extra though fully grown b'nose require plenty of room also.

What temp are you maintaining in the tank? Discus like 28+ but the b'nose prefer much cooler water, as do the julii, 22-25.5. Julii also prefer groups of 4+.

Many keepers also do not keep wilds with domestic strains as many of the wilds do not cope well with the pathogens carried by tank bred varieties.

Regards,

Bob

[Webby]

Thanks for the reply Bob.

The tank is very shallow, 6x1.5x1.2. Which is why this tank setup is to test my skills at keeping discus again, when I was younger I pumped a load of money onto a smaller setup and it was not good. So when I told my wife that I was changing the tank to a planted discus tank - alarm bells started ringing. IF we can keep this up for 6 month or more I will install a much larger setup, would you recommend any particular size or brand?

We are going well I think, I do a 20% change every week including a gravel clean and clean out the canister filter every month. The level are maintaining but I have noticed in the past fortnight that the bio load has increased a lot. I think this is due to me solving my problem with the bristle nose. I figured they were "hungry" I have since started to feed them a catfish algae disc every other day and they are so much more active.

I think I will add a couple more Cory's so they have some company as per you comment about them "Julii also prefer groups of 4+.".

But all in all I am stoked with how the Discus are going, they all get on together and even the smallest one is getting good amounts of food and looking healthier than when I put him in.

I will post some pics shortly. My avatar is one of my checkerboard's

Cheers

Webby

[Merrilyn]

Welcome Webby. Nice looking fish. Increase your waterchange to 50% at least once a week and try to keep your nitrates below 10. Discus just love their clean water :)

[Webby]

Thanks, will increase the water changes.