fishplants

Yeah, my Juwel 400 has quite a lot of driftwood in it, hence lots of tannin, and the 'Nature' tube (6800k from memory) really shows off the tannins well. The other tube I have found really good in a tannin setup is the Hagen Aqua Glo, it gives the best look for a blackwater setup IMO. Even though the Aqua Glo is listed as 18,000K (same as the Powerglo!?!?), it produces an exceptionally pleasant light in a blackwater setup.

Cool, thanks for that. So fish have a nervous system similiar to humans (maybe less developed or acute?), and humans don't feel pain as they freeze to death. And a human freezing to death is much slower in the less conductive atmosphere than in highly conductive water. A tropical fishes comfort temperature is around the 25 degrees celsius mark (depending on species), so it takes very little drop in temperature (ie time) for the fishes metabolism to slow down to almost nothing. I have accidentally left the heater unplugged all night in a 30 litre QT in winter, the temperature dropped to 16 degrees celsius (from 28) by the next morning. The Discus were sitting upright on the bottom, exhibiting no signs of pain or discomfort (ie dashing around, rubbing themselves against the tank sides, etc). I could touch them and move them around the tank with virtually no response to my touch at all. That is, their nervous system was in an almost non reactive state - and this was at a relatively warm 16 degrees celcius, not in a freezer where the temperature dropped from the mid 20's to just above zero in well less than an hour. I have seen fish culled by clove oil, and the mad dash they do when the oil is added doesn't look like they are enjoying it. cheers

I agree with Flosty, Hex is the most common reason for discus not eating, and metronidazole is very good for treating this. Prescription only from the vet. However, it can be a sensible idea to do all three.

How so?

For culling large numbers of small fry, I prefer to place them in an ice cream container with tank water and put in the freezer for an hour. Their metabolism slows down such that they do not feel any pain. After all, this is the legal method for preparing Rock Lobster for cooking. If I have only a couple to cull or large fish I use a knife to sever the spinal column just behind the head. Quick but messy.

Hey Joe, no new photos of it's growth. In fact, if I showed you a photo of the exact same plant 10 years apart it would look identical in each photo! :slfg: It most definitely is not a pup of any crypt, the photos are of an adult plant that is many years old. I plan on putting more effort into this crypt over the next year or two, and have just planted 4 pups that I hope are this crypt. I always knew this plant was special, but only recently have I given it more serious thought. Loaches are the enemy of this plant, they either dig it up or bury it, in their inquisitive way. Would be happy to send some plants out once I have got a few more, I don't have many now and would hate to lose one in the post! &c:ry

Nice fish! I think the; 1st photo is a nice fish tank 2nd photo is a Leopard Cactus 3rd photo is a Royal plec 4th photo looks like a Sunshine plec. :slfg:

Hi all, I am hoping that someone out there may be able to identify this plant (see photos). It is extremely slow growing, and has got no bigger in the 11 years I have had it. I have grown it in a variety of tanks and it remains exactly the same - from very low light tank (only natural light, with a couple of hours every second day of a 30w T8), to a moderately high light tank with 4 x 54w T5 tubes on every day. It has a growth habit similiar to crypts, that is, it multiplies via thick roots running, as opposed to val and chain swords that send out a very fine runner (hopefully you will understand the distinction - I can't seem to word it any better!) It partially melts when moved into a different tank. The leaves are maximum length of 25mm, although typically around 15-20mm. The leaves have a tendency to grow horizontally. The colour difference in the photos is due to the lighting environment where the photo was taken. Older plants develop a 'tuber/rhizome' very similiar to crypts. Thanks

Nice fish Vervo. Will be very interesting to see colour of the juvies at an older age. Quite clearly they aren't going to be Cobalt Blues! What age/size are the juvies now?

Hi Si, my pick would be wild type Royal Blue, and probably wild caught, although I won't hazard a guess as to locale! Despite most peoples belief that wild discus are 'boring' and 'plain', there are some absolutely stunning wild fish available....overseas. Put the keywords 'Diskus Wildfänge' into google and look for fish labelled 'Royal Blue', and drool.......

Thanks all. I am absolutely rapt with them. I took my 4 year old son to Organism just for a look, and couldn't believe it when I saw all 3 variants of Gold Nuggets! They had a Sunshine Plec too, but it was a stretch to get these three! They are all in the same QT at the moment. The food I am putting in is disappearing rapidly, but I am not certain that all three are eating yet. I want to be sure all are eating before introducing into the main tank. I will probably move one into another QT by itself to test if it is eating, and repeat that again. I was very lucky with the photos, the individual photos were taken a few minutes after putting them in the QT, they hadn't enough time to find the good hidey-holes. Trying to get photos of them now would be very difficult.

$11 for 15 litres from Bunnings, Christchurch

Hey Malcolm, no, I have no intention of breeding these fish. Even though the 18 and the 177 have been classified as the one species, I would not want to sully their obvious differences. If I was going to attempt to breed I would stick with a single L number. They came from Organism Ltd, Ilam Road. John and Tamara are bringing in quite a few plecs at the moment, and it is great to be able to view the fish before deciding to purchase. I was lucky because John had all three in the shop at the same time. cheers

Here are some photos of my new Gold Nugget Plecs I picked up on Friday. :happy1: L177 and L081 L081 L018 L177 cheers

As Ryan said, Dorl on Trademe sells it. It is an exceptionally good food, available in sizes from 50 micron to 1000 micron. I have used it extensively for all size of discus from 8 days old up to 16cm adults. The all love it and grow well on it as it is high in protein.

I have done it myself quite a few times. The key thing is to not let anyone from the airline know, as all of the airlines prohibit live animals on board. You will have to have the fish x-rayed to get through security, or remove the bags from the poly box to allow security to check (which is a pain and draws too much attention). The security folks are always quite interested and once they even took me around to see the x-ray image - you couldn't see a thing! No fish showed up at all in the image. One security person did get a little stroppy the last time I flew fish to Auckland, she said that the airlines don't allow fish on board, I just said that I have done it plenty of times before and kept walking. I was a little nervous sitting in the departure lounge with two adult Golden Red Melon Discus at my feet! Just get to the airport early, and make sure there are no airline staff at the screening point.

Hey Servitude, sorry to hear that he has not improved sufficiently. I had hoped the Baytril would do the trick, maybe it is too far advanced. To be honest, if his appearance is worse than a week ago, I'm amazed he is still alive. It's up to you, only you know what to do with him now.

Hi all, I am (hopefully) picking up my new Rio 400 (450l) at the end of this week. I would lke to run a decent size external filter on this tank in addition to the factory filter (which I will probably remove in the future). I was thinking of either a Fluval 405 or Eheim Professional 3 2073 (350). My question is; Do I need to make any adjustments to the size of the hose hole at the back of the tank? The hole looks a little small to be putting two hoses through? Thanks in advance.

Hey Servitude, I'm pleased that the Baytril seems to be working well for you, it has worked extremely well for me in the past. Any reduction in swelling is a good thing. Has the stomach cavity swelling also dropped away? Cheers

The usual applies, talk to a veterinary expert before using this type of product. PM sent to Servitude. Here is a link to a site that is readily available on the internet. Scroll through the PDF for information specific to ornamental fish. http://www.animalhealth.bayerhealthcare.com/fileadmin/media/baytril/pdf_companion/kap8.pdf

Furan can be administered insitu. As for Baytril, the way I have been advised to use it is in a bath. So that requires the fish to be handled twice per day for 7 days. I have used it only three times, but successfully all three times. I would suggest ringing a local vet and asking for Baytril. You may need to go and meet the vet, and taking those photos in would help. PM me if you want the dosage.

Yep, looks pretty bad. One of my pair recently developed one cloudy eye each when they had fry, it's not that uncommon unfortunately. I removed the fry pronto and started treating ithe Stress Coat and salt. Then moved onto salt and Furan 2. This worked well and they are now spawning again. However, in your males case I think you are well past the Stress Coat and salt stage. I have tried Furan 2 with a discus in the same state as yours (severe pop eye and bloated stomach due to internal infection) but it did not work and the fish died. I would recommend having a chat to your vet urgently and see if they will prescribe you Baytril, which is a broad spectrum antibiotic that works very well on internal infections. PM me if you want any more information on dosage/treatment regime for Baytril. cheers

Hi Vervo, I usually get a few fry with these symptoms, out of every batch. I have tried Epsom salts to no avail. I now put it down to deformities in the digestive tract. If they remain like this for more than a few days, I generally cull them. This may or may not be the case with your batch, sorry I can't be more helpful. Did Jim give you any hint /help? cheers

Don't put these in.

Perform a search in the forum, as this topic comes up many times. It is natural Discus hierarchical behaviour. Patience normally fixes the problem. HTH