JOBBER's 75 gallon - South American Amazon Basin Theme - Wild Discus
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Pretty obvious eh? Well, here were some quick pics taken from my phone acclimatizing them. Didn't want the one snoozing and end up losing, pick them up while they're still available.
Bad picture, but posting it anyways.
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After lowering my pH to 6.0 and 30 minutes acclimatized, released these guys into the tank. within 30 minutes of so of exploring the tank, started losing their stress bars. Of course the stress bars were back. Fed some freeze-dried blackworms and they tasted it but didn't eat ...yet.
As I watch them now by my computer side, they've completed calmed down and very gracefully swimming in a nice pack. Hoping to find them some more friends in the coming weeks.
Bad picture, but posting it anyways.
After lowering my pH to 6.0 and 30 minutes acclimatized, released these guys into the tank. within 30 minutes of so of exploring the tank, started losing their stress bars. Of course the stress bars were back. Fed some freeze-dried blackworms and they tasted it but didn't eat ...yet.
As I watch them now by my computer side, they've completed calmed down and very gracefully swimming in a nice pack. Hoping to find them some more friends in the coming weeks.
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Thanks John. I still have a bit of work to do. i did make more room by getting rid of the rocks. You ask and you shall receive. Short clips though...teaser videos for now. I'll try to get some better quality video up later. My tank water is extremly tannic. It's straight oolong tea colour.
Now you see why I wanted to pick up that container
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Love the tighter schooling effect. The first day when the discus were in the tank, the other fish in the tank were freaking out. They have the right to be but eventually every fish calmed down. The only fish that don't seem to care much are the brochis cories. They do their own things and are less bit fearful of the discus.Nice!
Tetras schooling a lot tighter now...
Thanks buddy. Indeed I did get them. Held out for two weeks, stay tuned, more to come
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It's now been about 2 weeks since the setup was filled. Since then I've cycled the tank with some new additions of tetras and cories. I've been patient waiting to piece together the supplies and furnishings, low and behold J&L Aquatics calls to let me know my sand has arrived. Unfortunately, supplier dropped the ball and I only received one bag. Not that big of an issue, just be patient and piece together slowly, the best part of a new setup. Here's some pictures of the tank before placing the sand into the tank. Can notice that the rocks are taken out to clear up space.
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Here's the sand. I placed a white napkin to contrast the colour. Luke78 originally had this same colour scheme for his 100 gallon tank. Really liked the muddy brown look. Try something a bit different since my other buddies have white sand.
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Once I put the sand into the tank, obviously clouded the water very bad. Along with the tanic water and the cloudiness, gave a good simulated visual effect on what the water may look like in the discus' natural environment as seen in some of those videos. The fish loved this murky water. Not even 6" visibility.
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Here's a video:
I've since placed a filter floss and tied it to the intake pipe strainer and the water has cleared up 50% after 5 hours. Thereafter, I decided to do a 25% water change to see how the discus will react. First water change went good, discus were still exploring the tank and looking at the python tube.
This is my first time keeping discus. My experience so far has been to ask local hobbyists for their pH, temperature, feeding regime, water change regime, what they dose, what has worked for them, and any advice. I'm very greatful that the people and friends i've met on BCA have helped me make this tank transition and discus venture so far extremely smooth. So thanks to Joseph, Gary, Tony, Mike, Luke78, April, and a few other fellows locally and on Simply Discus. There's a lot of information and a lot of "Hobby Experts who think what's worked for them IS THE ONLY WAY" information, I just found that whether it's a guppy or a discus, you really need to absorb the information and use what caters and works best for your tank. I'm even borrowing some books to get original and basic information from the late '90's and not rely on current "Hobby Expert" information that has saturated the forums on the web.
Upcoming plans:
-load up on fish food (colour bits and whatever bits, only the best for my fish)
-tend my colony of red wrigglers feeding them carrots and red beets in the summertime
-upgrade the powerhead
-ordered Dan's freeze dried blackworms as treats
-waiting for my manzanita wood to arrive
-working towards another pack of TBA to build up the school
-continue reading my discus books I've borrowed from the Burnaby Public Library(BPL) (**If you need to borrow discus books, go with the copies from the BPL and not the VPL)
Here's the sand. I placed a white napkin to contrast the colour. Luke78 originally had this same colour scheme for his 100 gallon tank. Really liked the muddy brown look. Try something a bit different since my other buddies have white sand.
Once I put the sand into the tank, obviously clouded the water very bad. Along with the tanic water and the cloudiness, gave a good simulated visual effect on what the water may look like in the discus' natural environment as seen in some of those videos. The fish loved this murky water. Not even 6" visibility.
Here's a video:
I've since placed a filter floss and tied it to the intake pipe strainer and the water has cleared up 50% after 5 hours. Thereafter, I decided to do a 25% water change to see how the discus will react. First water change went good, discus were still exploring the tank and looking at the python tube.
This is my first time keeping discus. My experience so far has been to ask local hobbyists for their pH, temperature, feeding regime, water change regime, what they dose, what has worked for them, and any advice. I'm very greatful that the people and friends i've met on BCA have helped me make this tank transition and discus venture so far extremely smooth. So thanks to Joseph, Gary, Tony, Mike, Luke78, April, and a few other fellows locally and on Simply Discus. There's a lot of information and a lot of "Hobby Experts who think what's worked for them IS THE ONLY WAY" information, I just found that whether it's a guppy or a discus, you really need to absorb the information and use what caters and works best for your tank. I'm even borrowing some books to get original and basic information from the late '90's and not rely on current "Hobby Expert" information that has saturated the forums on the web.
Upcoming plans:
-load up on fish food (colour bits and whatever bits, only the best for my fish)
-tend my colony of red wrigglers feeding them carrots and red beets in the summertime
-upgrade the powerhead
-ordered Dan's freeze dried blackworms as treats
-waiting for my manzanita wood to arrive
-working towards another pack of TBA to build up the school
-continue reading my discus books I've borrowed from the Burnaby Public Library(BPL) (**If you need to borrow discus books, go with the copies from the BPL and not the VPL)
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lol that brings back memories of when I added the play sand to my 75. I thought the same thing....looks more natural than a clear tank, just hard to see the fish lol In the end , the look was worth a few days of cloudiness. I might have to look into that sand for my 125, like the look of it.![]()
You should borrow my log for a couple days if ya really wanna boost those tannins lol If I have to keep a bag of purigen in the filter to keep it from looking like blackwater.
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Great job with the set up Ming. Good Score with those greens. They're beautiful. I can't wait to see them when they have settled in..
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It's very hard in this hobby not to detail oriented. This is the joy of the whole process. But the hardest part is not to make the tank too cluttered. I still have some manzanita branches coming and hoping that I can scape it well enough to provide some shelter for these RSG's. They'll be some friends these guys will have...hopefully in the near future. These guys still have a long ways to go to settling in and feeding out of my hands but they've been very good so far, even though at times, So far been great admiring their peculiar behaviour up close.
Just need those pieces of wood! Don't know how some of you guys show so much patience piecing together a talk over the course of months. Thx again for the supplies and tips. Surface agitation indeed is way under-rated but has indeed worked well so far. Adjusted the powerhead higher and made a big difference. Can't wait for the upgrade.
So I'm not the only one to experience this murky water phenomenon. I'll have this same experience in a few week's time when the other bag of sand arrives. It is quite the sight though. Truly reminiscent of the videos of them in nature (ie. http://www.bcaquaria.com/forum/aqua-lounge-7/south-american-fish-their-natural-environment-36373/). I can't believe the water cleared up within 20 hours or so; but did place a filter floss pre-filter in the intake strainer to expedite clearing the water.
With the number of almond leaves (10) and almond bark (15+) I have scattered along the floor of the tank, there's a lot of tanins. The water is yellow. I was thinking of getting some peat granules and just putting it into the canister but I got to utilize my hundreds of almond leaves in stock
We'll keep in touch and let me know when you're setting up the 125g. I"ll send you a PM.
It was nice running into you and finally meet you. You scored the bigger one, but glad you did, I wanted these smaller ones to slowly grow out a bit more. If you weren't there picking that one up, I wouldn't have jumped on these guys a few days later. Glad I did as these guys have quite the character even when still getting use to the tank.
Appreciate the compliments. Going to get as much videos up on youtube as possible....helps feed the fish with the monetarized videos. I think the fish liked the murky water, they were curious and exploring. I used a flashlight and they'd go chasing after the light. I think I'm going to be the few that will try to keep the tank stained and natural looking as possible. Just something different for the time being. Hard part is not having plants in the tank; just can't seem to not have plants. Glad I kept the Echino. Amazonicus.
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A day or so later, water clears up and no more murky water. It was neat to see the water murky as in nature. Fish have finally eaten. Trying to condition them onto pellets slowly as they were spoiled while in at Fantasy. Just want to thank the LFS for helping me out in acquiring these flat guys. I've fed them NLS bits but they didn't take the first few days. They would peck and spit back out freeze dried blackworms. Picky eaters...until I picked up some frozen bloodworms at Fantasy and these guys went to town on them fast. The next feeding i gave them, I threw some NLS in with the frozen bloodworms. They would nibble and pick at both the NLS and bloodworms.
I'm in the process of getting together a variety of pellet foods for them as a staple. Look forward to seeing them feast on them.
I also did a 25% a day before and they took it well. Water straight from the tap, kept the water lukewarm, warmer is better. Every other fish is doing well. Brochis splendens starting to show a nice green sheen as well as getting fatter. Crenicara Punctulata (old school checkerboard cichlid sp.) getting extremely pudgy. Took out the rocks and the L134's are out and about more often than hiding in vrevices. Tetras...well, they're schooling very nicely in a close pack when the discus are on the move. Overall I'm happy with the inhabitants and the numbers, for now.
The RSG discus are starting to show more of the red spots while the stress bars are less frequent. Thought they do at times hover in the corners, still understandable considering it's only been a few days since acquisition. I'm certain these guys will be more lively in the coming weeks especially once some friends are added. I think that once the tank is furnished with some underhanging manzanita's that they'll feel a lot more secure.
Not really the 'best' picture taken per se, but it is what it is with a phone camera.
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Video of them eating for the first time.
I'm in the process of getting together a variety of pellet foods for them as a staple. Look forward to seeing them feast on them.
I also did a 25% a day before and they took it well. Water straight from the tap, kept the water lukewarm, warmer is better. Every other fish is doing well. Brochis splendens starting to show a nice green sheen as well as getting fatter. Crenicara Punctulata (old school checkerboard cichlid sp.) getting extremely pudgy. Took out the rocks and the L134's are out and about more often than hiding in vrevices. Tetras...well, they're schooling very nicely in a close pack when the discus are on the move. Overall I'm happy with the inhabitants and the numbers, for now.
The RSG discus are starting to show more of the red spots while the stress bars are less frequent. Thought they do at times hover in the corners, still understandable considering it's only been a few days since acquisition. I'm certain these guys will be more lively in the coming weeks especially once some friends are added. I think that once the tank is furnished with some underhanging manzanita's that they'll feel a lot more secure.
Not really the 'best' picture taken per se, but it is what it is with a phone camera.
Video of them eating for the first time.
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