Discusguru

Hi, Bought 2 pleco and 4 clown loaches for my newly set up planted tank. Tank have been set up 2 1/2 weeks ago. more photo as tank progress cheers, ron

How old is your pair, especially the male? It might be too young and inexperience. Using mainly rain water may be the cause of it. (no mineral and might be polluted) How big is the tank they're in? What type of filteration are you using? Are they in a tank of their own? ron

I have the 2200 set up in my planted tank for 3 weeks now. Yes the hose are massive. It is really easy to start. No mouth on the hose, just push the pump a few time and the water pour into the filter filling it. Switch it on and away she goes. Very quiet too. Goo value for money. Ron

Looking good Reef! Time to put in the discus and it'll look awesome. ron

If it's to prevent the eggs from fungus, methelene blue will do the job. Luke, I would get rid of the plants in the breeding tank. All you need is the filter and the heater . Ron

Congrats Luke! Hope all the eggs are fertilised and the parents will raise them. Keep up the good work. Ron

You can buy lead flashings from any plumbing place, bunning, mitre ten, place makers....... Ron

Just set up a 700ltrs planted and I stuck a Aqua One Aquis 2200 filter in it. Of all the filters that I have used before this is the easiest one to start. It's got a massive round pump on top and all you do is give it 3-4 pump and you can hear the water filling the filter until it shoots out of the outlet. Plug it on and away she goes. Might ne a bit too strong for the tank. With regards to Aqua one and Jebo they are pretty much the same so i'll go for the one that is the cheepest. I got 10 aqua one and they does a good job. Ron

How big is the fish? What did the person you got it from tell you what it is? With so many crossed breed discus nowadays it's hard to know the true strains. To take a step in the dark i'll probably guess it's similar to a rosered or a turk cross. ron

Yesss..., finally got around to setting up the 1500mm x 700 x 700 planted tank. took me ages to wash the gravel and florite (sp). lol Ron

Hi Lorrainel, I have heaps of small amazon sword if you're after some. How's the discus getting on? Ron

Thanks evil, They look to have settle in quite nicely. Ron

It is the same med under a different name in nz.

Hi Al, good on you. Yes you can transfer the leaf and the pair to a breeding tank but 10 gal is a bit small. Try to get a 20gal instead. I usually transfer them when the eggs are hatch and 9 out of 10 times it work for me. Make sure you fill the tank with water from your com tank. Keep up the good work and Merry Christmas to you. Ron

Very nice pattern on the turk Notorious! Ron

They are definately much more harder to keep than tank bred discus. But they good for crossing if you can get them to breed :bounce: Ron

Neon is probably the wrong tetra to be in with discus. Cardinal and rummynoses will be a better choice. If the fish is not rubbing itself against any object it's probably not fluke. Is the fish eating at all and is the fish passing white fluffy poop? I would keep it isolated to prevent it getting pick on and spreading whatever it's carrying. Consult the guy/shop you got the discus from for advise and see what he says. He might have something to treat the discus. Cheers, Ron

Hi, Discus are best kept by themselve or with tetras(not neon) that can handle the high temp(28-30) that discus trive on. PH of 7.4 is alright for discus as long as its stable (not fluctuating all the time) Discus need very clean water condition so more regular water changes is required(at least 25%every 2nd day). why do you dose it with blue circle when there is no sign of white spot and the salt bath probably won't help. Better stop going to that lfs for advice. Where do you get the discus from and what is the size . What other fish have you got in the tank with them. Is it a planted tank? Can you post a photo of the tank so we have a better picture of whats wrong. Adding all sorts of medition without actually knowing the cause will make things worst instead of helping. I would do a big waterchange(>50%) to begin with. Ron

Nice tefe green and heckel. How many did you get? Are you the guy that rang me the other day? Good luck with your new discus. Ronnie

You can buy the ox heart from your butcher or supermarket. You have to trim off all the fat and put it through a mincer. Things you can add to it are Raw prawns, spirulinar powder, multi mineral and vitamins powder, garlic. Mix them all together and put them in a zip lock bag (thin layer so you can break it to feed the fish) and freeze them. If you prefer you can freeze the clean ox heart and use a cheese grater to grate them into thin strip and feed them to the fish without adding any of the above . Do not over feed and any uneaten food should be remove to stop it polluting the water. Best to feed an hour before you do WC. Ron

I would put them in the biggest tank you can get. Wouldn't bother about the plants at all. If you're not going to do WC for 2 weeks DO NOT feed any frozen food cause they'll pollute the water. Feed a small amount of food (colorbit) once a day. That way when you get back from holidays your discus will be still there. Make sure you have a cycled filter in the tank. Do a big WC (>50%) before you go. Happy holidays, Ron

I wouldn't use peat to soften the water when growing small discus. They grow best in hard water. NZ water is already very soft unless you're using ground water. There is no point trying to alter the water to match the natural wild condition (unless you're keeping wild caught discus) because almost all of the discus are domestically bred. You can use peat as a last resort to get them to breed if you desperate, otherwise I would recommend the KISS way of keeping fish. Ron

First of all, i'll move the discus to a Barebottom tank and treat them with Furan2. Small discus don't do well in planted tank cos they need alot of food to grow thus producing aloy of waste which in turn needs alot of waterchanges in order to keep the water quality in top condition. You will not be able to acheive this in a planted tank. Best way to spread the aggression is to grow them in a group of 8-10 discus. After you have treated them, put them in a BB tank to grow them up with 6-8 feeding a day if you can.Feed a variety of food. Best food to grow them up is home made ox heart mix. Do a daily 25% waterchange. Keep the temp at 29-30 degree. When buying discus try to go for discus that are no smaller than 50mm in size. They might be more expensive But will save you a lot of trouble. Always buy from a reputable breeder or seller that are willing to help you out if you encounter any problem down the line with the fish. The most important thing is ALWAYS QUARANTINE your new fish AND TRY TO GET YOUR FISH FROM ONE SOURCE. Hope that help. Ronnie

Agree that there is no tank that's too big. If it can't fit in the house it's the house that's too small. ron

Hey Chin, thanks for sharing the photos of those beautiful discus. I was fortunate enough to view them in person. They look heaps more nicer . All the winners in both the competition are fantastic. Luke, .. to clarify how they judge the fish... There is about 10 different things they look for when judging the discus and there is a maximum of 10 points in each of them. It's not only base on shape of the discus. Most of the fish score an average of 6 points for body shape out of 10. All the points from the different judges are posted on the board for everyone to see how the discus score. In the Malaysian Aquafair there is also competition on the Fancy Goldfish, Guppy, Bettas, and Arowana. The quality of those fishes are amazing. Cheers, Ron