120 gallon planted Discus tank project

[GTApuffgal]

Full tank shot w/ Discus PLEASE!!!

Kathy

[magicmagni]

Sorry no more full tank shots for now. I took a few shots of the Apistogrammas, but the Discus are starting to freek out when they see the camera so I decided to stop shooting. It's amazing how observant and interactive Discus are. Probably the smartest fish I've ever owned. I mean they know the difference when I go up to the tank with or without a camera! All the other fish could care less- or they are too dumb to care.

Anyways here is the male Apistogramma Pandurini


and the female...


And my older pair of Rams

[magicmagni]

I'm glad you all like the Discus. I get all of my fish at Ocean Aquarium in SF- including the Dwarf chichlids pic'ed above. The prices were very reasonable considering the quality of care enjoyed by all of the fish there and the knowledgeable consultation you receive when shopping. All the fish I've purchased from there always eat the same day I put them in are I've yet to loose a single one. I think this is mainly due to the fact that the PH in my tanks and his tanks are almost the same, but a lot of it has to do with the fact that the fish are all well fed quality foods and kept in a natural planted tank when you buy then. I'm always impressed when I go in that place.

Right now the Discus are 5-6" in size so they are probably getting close to full grown although I know some can get as large as 7-8"...and the way they are eating they may grow that big. They are getting fed 2-3 times a day. They go crazy for Live California Black Worms, but are also taking frozen foods in the morning when they are really hungry. I have two feeding cones- one for each fish, but one of them (the slightly larger one) likes to hoard both of them and chases the other away until he has his full, but this usually only happens with the CBW. I suppose that when I get more fish the aggression level will not be as bad. I currently have my eye on some Lake Tefe greens, but they are still in quarantine so it will be a while until they are ready to be put in my tank.

The substrate is a mix of Flourite/ eco-complete in the back and play sand in the front. Unfortunately I can't remember what brand it was. I did look at the RMC stuff, but It seemed a little too fine so I decided to use this other brand of play sand instead. It was purchased at the Home Depot, but I would recommend that anyone interested in getting sand to evaluate it for yourself since the same brand named product varies from Region to Region as I have found that it is quarried locally and not shipped from one central location.

As far as the plants go- they are growing OK. No major algae issues so that is good. The moss I put in the tank has been dying off, but now is starting to grow back in. The crypts all melted, but I know better now to touch them. I'm sure they'll be coming back strong in a month or so if I just leave them alone. The Anubis are getting a little bit of yellow growth in the leaves, but was probably because I was using carbon in the filter while the tank was cycling. New growth seems healthier since the carbon was removed. The sag is spreading and the chain sword is getting nice and thick and sending out all kinds of runners as well.

To prep the wood for the tank it was first blasted with a stream of water to get any dirt and debris out of it and then soaked in a large garbage can. I sterilized it with Hydrogen peroxide and then rinsed it with hot water. I would have liked to boil it, but there was just no way. It still adds tannins to the water which are more noticeable toward the end of the week, but then when I do my 50% water change it clears right up. It may always do this, but it actually makes for a more natural environment for the fish which tend to come from this type of water so I'm fine with that.

Bye ;-)

[Fat Guy]

so cool. well done with the wood.

[magicmagni]

Sorry to keep you all hanging. I've been having some issues with my camera, but got it sorted out so here are some more pics of the tank.


Here's an over view of the tank. I made a few changes. Went ahead and put some Java fern on the stump since the African Bolbitus wasn't growing so well. I also put some moss on the top of the stump as well. I'm hoping to get it to cover the whole top and go over the sides. Went ahead and took out the Crypts and replaced them with more sag. They all melted and I knew they'd come back, but I was finding that when the discus went in that area they got much darker then normal and didn't look as colorful. With the brighter green sag the Discus look much better. This area just need to fill in more I think. Speaking of filling in the chain sword on the right has got quite thick. I'm currently letting it grow its way up the "hill" to meet and blend into the Sag.


Here's the large wild I just picked up. He's almost 8" and needless to say he calls the shots. Beside him is another wild I added as well. He's starting to show some nice colors and is one of my favorites. Unfortunately he is usually the one everyone else picks on so he doesn't show these nice colors all the time.


And a pic of the male Ap. cacatuoides. A great fish BTW. No problems at all with the Discus so far unlike the Ap. Pandurini, which had to go. They started breeding and the females especially were very aggressively defending their eggs. After killing a rummynose and then chasing the discus away they had to go. It was actually quite a sight though seeing this little 1"fish go after these large discus, but the discus only took so much of that until they started chasing them back! That little fish had heart!

[bharada]

Love the tank. The stump is going to look perfect once the moss/fern grows in to hide the top.

If you don't mind me asking, what does an adult wild go for at Ocean? Seeing your's and Sha's discus tanks is making me contemplate a conversion of occupants for my 125. Now if there was a strain of discus that would eat guppies I would be in heaven!!

[shalu]

Originally Posted by bharada

If you don't mind me asking, what does an adult wild go for at Ocean?

so those are from Ocean. I will pay more attention to the discus there next time I go.

[Silent Running]

WOW! That is really looking amazing!

I'm going to be in the Bay Area (primarily San Jose) this summer sometime, where is "Ocean"?

[bharada]

Ocean Aquarium
120 Cedar Street
San Francisco, CA 94109

[Silent Running]

Thanks Bill, I'll have to find something in the area to appeal to the wife and then "just stumble upon" Ocean Aquarium . "Isn't this great honey? Wow, look an aquarium store, mind if we pop in there for a minute?"

[bharada]

Japan Town is about 4 blocks west and Union Square is about 8 blocks east...although it's not a particularly scenic walk from Ocean Aquarium to Union Square.

[GTApuffgal]

Absolutely lovely - those Discus are stunning!!!

[Silent Running]

Originally Posted by bharada

Japan Town is about 4 blocks west and Union Square is about 8 blocks east...although it's not a particularly scenic walk from Ocean Aquarium to Union Square.

In my best Montgomery Burns.... Exxxxcellent....

[Ibn]

Beautiful new additions to the tank, Jeff. Looking forward to see it fill in.

[magicmagni]

Yeah I can't wait for it to fill in either. It's taking a little longer then I wanted to. I was having a problem with the Anubis leaves turning yellow and new growth kinda small -nothing was growing well. I started messing with the micros thinking that the UV sterilizer was frying them, but then I tested the water and it seemed that I let the macros get too low I was actually expecting the bioload to provide more Nitrate then it was. Had a bit of hair algae show its ugly head as well as some BGA, but added some Amanos yesterday and almost all the hair algae is gone. The BGA is very minimal and in my experience has disappeared on it's own when the ferts are in check so I'm gonna wait it out. Currently dosing the macros much more often then I did on my 4.7wpg higher light 55gallon, but seems to be working out on this lower WPG tank. The tank consumes about 5ppm of Nitrate and almost 1 ppm phosphate every 4 days so it's just a matter of staying on top of it until the bio load kicks in.