Matt

Hi Jen, What dose rate are you using for the Droncit? Cheers, Matt

Excellent thread, good to learn from others mistakes without having to make them yourself . A few of my more memorable ones: 1) Never leave a piece of Airline tubing hanging over the side of tank as it will start self syphoning in the early hours of the morning . You will wonder why you are dreaming of waterfalls and then wake up to the sound of running water . Dehumidifiers 2) Never leave a piece of wood sticking out the top of a tank containing a fancy pleco, as they will climb up the wood and end up dried and stuck to the carpet under your couch. Most expensive mistake yet! 3) Always have a tight fitting lid when you have Siamese Algae Eaters as otherwise they will also end up dried and stuck to the carpet under your couch. Poor fish. 4) Make sure the divider goes all the way up to the cover glass when seperated Apistogramma Panduro's as otherwise the Male will jump the divider and kill the female :evil: :evil: . I am sure there have been a few more but that is all I can think of for now. Cheers, Matt

Thanks BK, good advice there . I will turn the light off at night to give the parents a rest and start hatching BBS. Cheers, Matt

Hi All, Some good news! I have a pair of Marlboro Orange Discus that have been breeding in my community tank every week but the babies were being eaten as soon as they became free swimming. They laid again last Wednesday and the fry were due to become free swimming on Tuesday, so I bought a couple of second hand breeding tanks (thanks Bryan ) on the weekend and set one up on Monday night with a couple of pre cycled sponge filters and water from the community tank. I transferred both parents first and then syphoned the fry and put them in the tank, I was worried they would be eaten but to my surprise both parents started collecting them and placing them on the glass - with a little help from me. Most of the fry are now feeding off the sides of the parents apart from a few hanging out at the surface. I initially had a couple of terracota pots in the tank which I have now removed, I have covered the sponge filters in white filter wool, added a bag of Aragonite and am feeding the parents on Spirulina Flake twice a day and doing a 15% water change at night and syphoning out any waste. I have a light on 24 hours and the temp is 30c. I am planning on hatching some BBS on Saturday so that it is ready to start feeding on Sunday. I also have some Liquifry food which I haven't used yet. Is there anything I am doing wrong or have missed? Any advice appreciated. Pics below: Thanks, Matt

Thanks everyone, The surviving Clown Loach and GBA have made a full recovery, just waiting on insurance payout to get a new tank. Haven't heard if they have caught them yet . Cheers, Matt

Thanks everyone for the replies. The police have been and managed to get a shoe print off my LCD screen which they threw on the floor and stood on :roll: , no fingerprints but at least they got something. The two surviving fish were ok when I checked at lunchtime. Not sure if insurance will cover the tank yet, will find out tomorrow. Cheers, Matt

Well I arrived at work this morning and was greeted by 2 x broken doors and glass everywhere, the first thing I thought of was "Oh No, I hope they haven't smashed my fishtank as well", and then I thought "surely no one would stoop that low"...... but oh yes these scumbags smashed the tank, obviously for their sick pleasure and killed my black Ghost Knifefish and 2 x Clown Loaches, my large clown loach and GBA were still breathing so I now have them at home in another tank, hopefully they survive. Fingers crossed the plants are ok as well, but the tank and possibly the stand is stuffed. Stupid thing is appears to only be vandalism as at this stage as we can't find anything missing. We couldn't do any work this morning as we had to get a carpet cleaner in to get the 215 litres of water out of the carpet. Hopefully Karma gets them and they drown to death slowly like my poor fish :evil: :evil: . My tank on Friday: My tank now:

I use both Daltons Propagating Sand and Brightwater gravel. IMO the brightwater gravel looks better as it is darker and provides a nice contrast against the green plants. The plants like the sand better and it still looks good, but you have to be careful when cleaning the glass so you don't pick up a piece of sand and scratch the glass, especially with the magnetic glass cleaners. Cheers, Matt

Well the Blue Discus eggs didn't even last 24 hours but the Marlboro Orange are still there. The original Blue Female was definitely better at protecting the eggs, hopefully the male sees the light and they kiss and make up :lol: . I will definitely get both pairs there own tank in the near future, just trying to find time with a 6 week old baby boy and playing rugby. Good tip about using computer paper to make the sides of the tank white in another thread Luke. I will definitely use that one. I also read, on another forum, to wrap any black sponge filters in white filter wool so the babies don't mistake them for their parents. Cheers, Matt

Well it has been another interesting 24 hours in my tank . I got home last night to see the father from the last spawn and another Blue discus (which is almost identical to the original female he spawned with just a bit bigger) finishing off laying about 100 eggs about 10cm away from where he spawned with the original female, who by the way is still hanging out where they originally spawned looking for their babies. This morning when I checked the tank they were still guarding about 50 eggs plus a pair of Marlboro Orange Discus have now layed on a rock 30cm away from the other pair. I will try and get a pic of both pairs guarding there eggs tonight :bounce: . Does anyone in Auckland have any suitably sized tanks/setups to house a breeding pair for sale? Cheers, Matt

Great, thanks Cichlid7.

Ok, so what are the ideal dimensions for a Discus breeding tank? I have read 20 and/or 29 gallons, but does anyone know what dimensions they are talking about? Thanks, Matt

Babies were all gone by the time I got home last night and the parents were very mad at each other and scrapping constantly. They seem better this morning - possibly due to the lights being turned off last night for the first time in 3 days. Hopefully I don't have to seperate them, you can actually see the bite marks in the sides of each of them . Another Discus is trying to pair up with one of them now, my tank is worse than Jerry Springer at the moment :lol: . Rather than buying another tank that I don't have room for I am going to divide my 250 litre and use a reduced water level to give them their own tank - if they get over their disagreement that is :lol: . Cheers, Matt

Fry are now free swimming and feeding off the parents, only problem is they try to feed off the other blue coloured discus when they swim past and get eaten . There was about 40+ this morning and at lunch time I could count 10, some could have been on the other side of the parent though. A couple more pics from: I think I am going to have to buy another tank to put these two in as my existing tanks aren't suitable, hmmmm MTS :roll: Cheers, Matt

Thanks Cichlid7 for the great link

Well I got home from work last night, and the eggs were gone.......and in there place was a bunch of wrigglers being staunchly protected by the parents. I left one of the lights on last night and they are still there this morning :bounce: . Any advice on what to do next? Do I try and move them or just leave them in the community tank? When should I start hatching Brine Shrimp? Can anyone point me to any good articles online? Sorry for all the questions . Pics to come later. Cheers, Matt

Mum and Dad are doing a great job and the eggs are still there this morning. I did a 20% water change last night to keep the water nice and clean, normally I would change 40% once or twice a week. What is the ideal size tank for keeping and breeding a pair of Discus in? I have a spare 100Lx50Wx50H cm 250 litre tank with 4 small GBA's in it and I have a smaller 60Lx30Wx45H cm which I could set up if needed. I am thinking that I could keep the pair in the smaller tank and then move the babies to the bigger tank once they outgrow the smaller one. Cheers, Matt

Thanks everyone, the eggs are still there this morning :bounce: .

The best looking and biggest of my Discus which I got from Freshwest , have spawned for the first time in my 450 litre Community Tank. So far they are doing an excellent job of protecting their eggs. They spawned yesterday and the eggs are still there this morning, I am not holding out much hope of them surviving with 7 other Discus, 20+ tetras, 3 Cory's and 2 bristlenose's in with them. Fingers crossed though, I will be moving the pair in to their own tank soon if this batch gets eaten. See pics below. Mum and Dad

Hi Devon, Are you sure that they are getting enough food? It just seems weird that they have stopped breeding and one has a sunken in stomach :-? . Mine get Zucchini, Pleco Chips, lettuce and silverbeet plus lots of water changes to remove all the waste and have nice fat bellies. Plus they also have driftwood that they munch on constantly. It may be that the female with the sunken in stomach is the least aggressive and is missing out at feeding time Just my opinion, hope it helps. Cheers, Matt

What a brilliant idea Alan :bounce: .

Wow, nice Discus Firenzenz. Where did you get them from? Cheers, Matt

Here are my Discus in my 450 Litre Planted tank, the Blue Turquoise and Snakeskin are from Freshwest and the Marlboro's are from Origin Aquatics.

I had the same problem in Auckland, I managed to find it in Palmers. The Warehouse apparently sells it as well but they never had it in stock whenever I tried.

Thanks guys, I will try Palmers and Bunnings otherwise I might have to drive to Matamata .