Fish to keep the Tank Clean

[Ogre]

I have 2 questions for the Discus guru's :)

1. What is best kept with them to keep the substrate clean, ie eat left over food ect.

2. How long should they be given to settle into a new enviroment before you start looking at other things. I have 3 larger fish which have been in a week. They are still not eating. I have tried Breeders Blend Flake, HBH Krill, Frozen Bloodworms which they did nibble at and Live Blackworms ( havnt touched them). These were all foods the previous owner said they were eating.

Ph is 6.7
Ammonia is 0
Nitite is 0.1
GH is 80ppm
Temp is 28.1 - 28.6

Tank is 200 litres. I have a 1200lph cannister ( which is doing about 400lph with media ect) with a 9watt UV sterilizer. I also have a small internal filter 350lph with spray bar to break the surface area.

Any advise appriciated

[FishLover]

I'm no expert.
I had three big (6") discus lately and they had the same thing at start. I increased the temp a bit, to 86F, that's about 30? Not sure. And I did WC every 2 days in the 125 g tank. They started to eat after few days. So, I would say increase the temp and up your WCs. That helped mine. Maybe it will work on yours too. Your tank is about 50 g so I would do daily WCs till they start to eat.

I use corys to clean up the Discus leftover.

[Ogre]

How did the Corys go with the Higher temps?

From what I can see they like 23- 25 degrees c.

I will try the water changes as well. Cheers

[FishLover]

I think the corys are fine with the high temp. I set mine most of the time around 86F, sometimes go as high as 89 without any problems with the corys.

I started with 4 corys and lost only one so far (10 months). The one I lost was not doing well to start with anyway. I think my zebra loach was picking on him too. I took out the zebra loach since he was getting aggressive to other fish. After that, the corys don't have damaged fins any more.

I also had 4 ottos about the same timeframe, they kind like the temp a bit lower but still OK so far. I hardly see them other than at WC. There are 3 left (I think). I don't think they are doing that much of clean up algae in the tank anyway. The tank is too big for 3 of them to do a good job. I end up having less light period and clean the glass every week.

[Ogre]

Any 1 else got tips/pointers?

2 days on they are going for the Black worm altho this i sless preffered, it is food at least.

[mcloughlin2]

Large discus can take anywhere up to a month before they will start feeding properly .... Try feeding them some "juicy" foods such as brineshrimp, bloodworms and beefheart.

Discus can survive up to a month or more without food, so don't worry if they don't eat for a few days ...

I would try to keep the tank as untouched as possible (Don't disturb them everyday moving equipment and doing large WC's). Keep all levels in the tank steady ( pH, amonia, temp etc etc)

When you feed them, stand or sit next to the tank. Don't make sudden movements or keep leaning forward. This is so they make the connection between you and food ...

For scavengers, cory's may work or some L number catfish (the temp may be high for some) ... If you need'a get rid of algae, Bristlenose or otto's work best in my opinion .......

HTH

Sam

[nicholas76]

Just my thoughts on this,

It concerns me that your fish have taken some time to settle down. Althought it is a known that some fish can take considerable time I generally find mine settle down almost straight away if not overnight.

again it makes me think is there an issue with your water quality you are not detecting. Or you could have initially spooked them so back off from the tank a bit, no sudden movements dont use lights etc etc that kind of thing.

In relation to keeping your substrate clean , the only thing that will do this is a gravle vac hose and frequent w/c

You can use cat fish , corys or whatever and they will clean and eat left over food or algae but these fish also produce waste and like most cat fish owners know...... they are absolute poop machines.

I have a school of corys in my angel tank which is kept at 29 constant.

I also have orange cap geos that are even better at cleaning substrate ( sand ) however they can be aggressive at times. Large Discus wil cope but i do suggest againts it.


post some pictures mate and good luck!

[goldenpigeon]

mate i think there might be an issue with your water. i know you said all the parameters were correct but when the discus were in my tank they were feeding very well and were very happy. could there be fish in your tank disturbing them? could they have flukes or something?

[Ogre]

Thats what I am trying to establish Dave. They havnt eaten since arriving. I am unsure how long flukes ect tke to attack. I do not want to medicate the tank if it is not a neccessity. There are only a few varieties of Tetras in there with them. Not sure if they carry flukes and what not.

I am starting to think maybe it is the fact it is a decorated tank. Has any 1 ever had this b 4? Discus going from plain tank with a cone to a planted tank with substrate ECT?

Orange Cap Geos? Have not heard of them. Geos been Geophagus or something like that? I will have to check them out

Thanks for advice. Much appriciated.

[goldenpigeon]

yeh it coud be because of the change in enviroment. they have not been in a planted tank before to my knowledge.