Vid of my new discus in heavily-planted scape

Beautiful fish and tank! How's the extra feeding affecting typical planted tank maintenance?

Stunning!! That is really great. I love that orange and black discus. Is there a name for that color morph??

Thanks for sharing that

nice! you got a like on the vid.

Beautiful planted tank set-up.

Suggest though, that you keep a close eye on those Otos - it's quite evident they're attempting to get at the discus' slime coats as part of their diet.
As they get larger and more aggressive, they'll likely succeed - particularly at night.
It's happened to me more than once. I won't keep Otos nor SAE's with discus anymore, for that very reason - if nothing else, it gets stressful for the discus continually trying to brush them off.

BraveBuc said:

Beautiful fish and tank! How's the extra feeding affecting typical planted tank maintenance?

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Thanks. When I put them in the extra bioload threw things out of whack. I got a lot of algae, partially I think because all my Amano shrimp went into hiding.

So, I got a few SAEs. The Amanos gradually emerged. I now have a (mostly) algae-free tank again. The balance has been restored.

Other than that, maintenance as usual. WC once a week. Everyone is happy.

Duck5003 said:

Stunning!! That is really great. I love that orange and black discus. Is there a name for that color morph??



Thanks for sharing that

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Fish store guy said he (?) was a red melon, although looking on the Internet most other red melons seem to be red and white instead of red and black.

discuspaul said:

Beautiful planted tank set-up.



Suggest though, that you keep a close eye on those Otos - it's quite evident they're attempting to get at the discus' slime coats as part of their diet.

As they get larger and more aggressive, they'll likely succeed - particularly at night.

It's happened to me more than once. I won't keep Otos nor SAE's with discus anymore, for that very reason - if nothing else, it gets stressful for the discus continually trying to brush them off.

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Those are SAEs, not Otos. It's distressing to hear they may be bad for the Discus, though, especially because they have done such a good job keeping the tank algae-free with the extra bioload.

Is there anything in particular I should watch out for in terms of deciding the SAE just have to go?

zachawry said:

Those are SAEs, not Otos. It's distressing to hear they may be bad for the Discus, though, especially because they have done such a good job keeping the tank algae-free with the extra bioload.

Is there anything in particular I should watch out for in terms of deciding the SAE just have to go?

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Sorry -You're right - got the names mixed up between SAE's & Otos - but both species are not good tank-mates for discus - same as with most Plecos (Except BNP's). They all love the protein in the discus' slime coats.

What you should watch out for is evident right in your video - just re-watch the behavior of the SAE's near the discus @ these specific points in the video: seconds....27-43-49-1.24-1.34, and you should be able to clearly see the intention of the SAE's.
And some day, you'll see the marks left by the sucking activity on the discus' bodies - probably occur at night when the discus are resting/napping.

zachawry said:

Fish store guy said he (?) was a red melon, although looking on the Internet most other red melons seem to be red and white instead of red and black.

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Looks like a pigeon blood...a "dirty" one at that, which is why it has so much black on it. Melons, are much more red and with a white face.

That tank is sick. Very impressive.

Omg. That's awesome. Are you running co2?

Also did I spy a checkerboard cichlid ?

Carrie.a.gordon said:

Omg. That's awesome. Are you running co2?

Also did I spy a checkerboard cichlid ?

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Thanks. Yeah, I'm running pressurized CO2. Pain in the neck in Japan, because you need a special license to get a decent-sized CO2 tank, so people like me use these tiny little ones that need changing every few weeks.

And those are checkerboards in there. My favorite!