There is nothing as fascinating as watching adult discus serenely gliding by with fry clinging to their sides. Hope you reach this stage soon Staplez. Can't help wth advice as I have never kept discus.
They are slow to grow and I understand they are not as nutritious when older. Most just use newly hatched ones to feed fry.
Mine just grew in a container of salt water.
I too have sat a short fluoro economy bulb on the glass lid and covered it with a length of plastic guttering lined with aluminium foil. Works well and looks good.
Lurk around a building site and chat up one of the builders. They are bound to have some offcuts for free
I would suspect a 'what' rather than a 'who'. I think the damage seen may have been done after they died. Any chance of looking at guts and stuff under a microscope?
Was there body damage as well? I would assume if they had been attacked by another fish they would show more damage rather than just missing fins.
Welcome to the fishroom and NZ. Yes, The Pet Warehouse is where to go to find out about the local club as they have their meetings there
Marty (southern_man) is a member of the Dunedin club and can help you there too.
Depends on the plant and how much light the room gets as to whether you use any light at all but you certainly don't need uv. I use plain white fluoros (get the short economy type fluoros from the supermarket)
Welcome to the fishroom Bruce. You will have to join the Hawkes Bay Aquarium Society!
You might be interested to know you are the second Bruce from Napier in here The other one owns Deco City Pets.