Angus

i have no problems with my discus taking a whole range of foods; colourbits, spirulina flake, tetrabits, bloodworms, discus tucker..... greedy guts really thanks for the info guys - not sure if its enough though to make me want to risk seven healthy discus...... :roll:

Watched a mate feed his banded kokopu and bullies on live earthworms on the weekend and it was amazing...... ...and so, having previously read that discus will accept live earthworms, but being extremely nervous about doing so, but wanting to watch discus go for 'live' food, i want to know if discus keepers here have feed their discus earthworms. And if so, what tips you might have eg thorough rinsing etc

Hey Kat We kept some for a while. I bought three, and things went fine for a while. We fed them fruitflies while they were small (little bigger than a thumbnail) and then moved onto houseflies (can buy both from petshops as unhatched) once they were bigger. Then one day we came home, and three had become two and one didn't eat for a long time after and grew alot larger than the other one :roll: ........ and then two became one not long after that :roll: We couldn't find any mention of cannabalism in any information, so it kinda remains a semi unsolved mystery.... but........ The last one lived on for about a year afterwards (we were too scared to put any new friends in). HTH Angus

Hey DiverJohn I went to Lamp Specialists in Mt Smart, looking at compact fluorescents. The guy directed me to the Phillips 55W, which i found out is 5300k - hence the inquiry. Can you tell me a bit about the Osrams? Are they compact fluoros? That good source sounds promising.....

Just to save me trolling around, can you experts tell me if 5300k is suitable for aquarium plant growth? A single memory cell fires and says ~6000k is daylight temperature and is ideal??

how can i refuse a plea like that the largest pups have leaves about 8cm long. i'm not sure what the minimum size is the best to transport them though - any ideas? if you'd like one or two now no problem

i remember it looking spectacular in your three sided thanks for the offer too misnoma

Hi Caryl Thank you very much for the offer. Eon has kindly offered me some Rotala and Hygrophilia so i feel obliged to wait for him to come around. And Plantman has told me he has ocelot swords for sale too. It amazes me how generous people are in this forum (and speedy too!!!).

Hi all (not sure if this should be in the trade section) I would be very interested in obtaining some Rotala rotundifolia, Hygrophilia polysperma and maybe an ozelot sword. :lol: I only have alot of Ambulia to trade with just at this time. I have half a dozen Echinodorus bleheri (i think) pups that are a couple of months away. Equally i would be happy to pay for cuttings, pups etc. Can anybody help? Cheers Angus

woops yeah sorry - doh! :oops: credit where credit is due - awesome thunderstorm :lol:

Hiya Tanksman That tank is truely awesome!!! I have a smaller (280l) version but not with the sort of big piece of wood that looks amazing in your setup. I agree about the ambulia. I have what i'd call low light levels (1.3W/g)and hence the ambulia grows long and stringy (long internodes) but it still grows more than 10 cm in a week - amazing stuff. Thanks for the pics! Cheers Angus

Hi all Thanks heaps for replying. Looks like the consensus is that they can live together no problem. lfs here i come!!! Cheers Angus

Hi Blue I read it in a book by Jack Wattley. It also said not to keep clown loaches with discus, again because they are nocturnal and will keep the poor wee discus awake at night But i've had my four loaches with my discus for close to two years and all are happy..... by and large the loaches tend to leave the discus alone during the night Hence my question really Thanks for the reply Cheers Angus

Hi guys Does anybody have any experience keeping bristlenose with discus? From what i've read, bristlenose are nocturnal and hence shouldn't be kept with discus. Does anybody have any stories which suggest otherwise? I've never kept b/n before :lol: Cheers Angus

Hi Misnoma Can I please trouble you for some Riccia aswell? (i'm Auckland based) I am interested in doing the shadecloth/carpet option, as I don't have a huge amount light (1.3W/G) and anything floating will cut down even more light i'm thinking..... Do you want me to PM you? Thanks to Dubbie too Cheers Angus

boy - if i get to the stage of pulling handfuls of plants out each week, i'll be ecstatic!! (he says that now) i guess i could check the phosphate level of the fertilizer myself by mixing and testing, but i don't go crazy on the stuff, only a small dose once every fortnight or so sidetracking a bit - feeding the co2 into the intake wont affect the biological filtration at all? the reactor i've got planned is cool though - very diy i'll keep testing, changing water, using your advice etc and let you know. cheers angus

cheers suphew i realised the co2 aint much good a little while back - i have parts for a diy reactor coming soon (i hope) And just yesterday i replaced the old tubes and bought another tube so have 90W in total (low still i know but with a 4 foot total length 120W is the max i can cram in - is this true?) i am feeding a range of rinsed bloodworm, rinsed discus tucker, flake (<1.5% PO4), colourbits (<1.5%), and greens (can't remember the name i'm at work). The amount is now so small, that all is consumed now in under two minutes and with clown loaches hovering underneath, i'm hoping leftover and waste is negligable. Still, i will do as you suggest, stop feeding to try and eliminate that side of things. i have added a fertilizer but there aren't any phosphates listed. Nothing added to the substrate. It is plain old river gravel about 13 months old from the lfs. I wouldn't have thought it would break down and leach phosphates???? I'm happy to buy a bag of phos-sorb if it'll fit into the eheim 2215 and other methods don't help.... Once again thanks for your advice :lol:

Hi all I'm new to the forum and i have had my 70G discus tank for ~13 months or so. A question for you experts: My phosphate levels are through the roof (>5.0mg/L) which i discovered three weeks ago since buying a testkit. I have been doing larger water changes (50-70%) since then, thorough vacuuming etc and reducing the amount of food (i now realise i have been overfeeding in the past). Despite this, i have not been able to lower the reading (the testkit scale's highest reading is 5mg/L). A month or so before the discovery, I added discus buffer (what was i thinking!). Could this be the cause of the continued high levels? Will continued large water changes and cleaning eventually reduce the phosphate levels? There are no phosphates in the water supply. All the fish are healthy and happy but i'm wary of a large algae outbreak (i have a small brown algae problem which i attribute to this and old bulbs in a small W/G ratio) I usually do ~35% water changes weekly with gravel and tank clean, and filter cleans every second week. Medium to low planted tank 8 discus 4 clown loaches (i know i know but everbody is happy :lol: ) 6 rummy nose tetra 3 cardinals ph 7.2 kh 5.5 nitrites 0 nitrates ~5mg/L DIY CO2 injection with no reactor yet Your help/suggestions would be much appreciated Cheers Angus