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need more fish. :)


candy

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I have a intresting situation with my tank.

I have 3 fish, a BGK, a pandon butterfly and a polypterus delhezi ( bichir)

The tank is semi planted with swords and has two huge bits of drift wood in it. I also had some tetras ( size of a full growen congo) 8 of them.. well in the last 3 weeks a few have disapeared over night (eated by the bichir)

Now i realy need some more mid water fish that 1. dont eat plants. 2. wont fight with my other fish 3. or get eaten.

Tanks specs are 4x2x2 foot ( have no clue how meany L) i relise i wil need a new tank in the next few years.

So my question is. if this was your tank whatwould you do?

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I water change and gravel vac every week. plus tank is over filtered if anything. I understand most people like to keep their tanks understockedbut i think with this tank and the way i run it having a few more fish wont cause to much trouble.

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It wasn't the number of fish I was thinking of, it was the fact the bichir will eat anything under the size of a full grown congo and that is fairly large! As he grows, so will the size of fish he can eat :wink:

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Hi

Discus at 4 to 6 x 70mm body..Its not how many fish but if nitrites are high you can expect trouble..

So good water is the key factor..Test kits are not to expencive..

I can keep 12 adult Discus in 270 L with no trouble as we do a lot of water changes..

Your tank is around 420 Litres..

Cheers Phill :-?

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I would love discus but A. dont they grow better in a bare bottem tank? and B. where can i get quality stock?

Small discus should be grown up in a BB tank, as it is easier to keep the water pristine. Once they are of bigger size they can go into a normal tank quite fine

Discusguru has amazing discus, very healthy and very cheap. PM him

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how big would the need to be to be ok growing in a non-bare bottem tank?

Iv only realy seen smallish ones at fish/pet shops that are that impressive very brown or sooty looking. but looking through here for all the pic some of you have stunning fish.

makes me get the i wants

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Hi

I have just on 180 tanks about 40 thousand litres..And all on under gravel filters with fine punus river sand and pad on filter to keep seperated.

We have been down this track before on forum about whats best..But..

There is no place in bare tank for good bugs or enzymes to live..But in bare tanks discus can actually ingest droppings from others.

In gravel or sand there is billions of places so makes sence that water quality is going to be better with ug filters.

Air operated 24 x7 x365 and dont ask for day off..

I also have emzymes that eat all droppings and rarelly see them on bottom.

But just amagin trying to syphon my tanks..Dont work unless your in a different country..

EDIT - Alan- This is not a thread for sale promotions thanks Phil.

I deleted a paragraph on promotion.

Cheers Phill Collis

New Zealand Discus :D

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NZ Discus man. i have seen you trades on trade me and have offten sat and wondered how they get on after they have been sold.

Discusguru i see u live on the shore and if u win my jardini i might get to meet you tomrrow. maybe we can talk more about the discus then.

All i can say is that if i go ahead with discus i want to provide them the best home possible but at the same time i want quality fish not runty little things.

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Hi

I have breed more Discus than i guess anyone in nz and out of the last 1000 young i think i remember 2 bottom skidders that cant swim ..

In fish breeding i have breed millions being the past owner of a major goldfish farm..Breed Discus years ago and now its my retirement business ..Some retirement with 80 square meter fish room..

Its like i said not the size but the actual quatity of breeding stock..And dont believe such a thing as Runt but a very sick Discus..

Visitors that come here cant believe how Discus come racing up demanding to be feed..Even by hand...

Cheers and good luck with what ever you pick..Remember..

Discus are the King of the a aquatic world..

But any way,Question was what can i add..

Lets keep to that..Phill

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I think anyone selling disus at 3cm is being greedy and trying to get rid of stock before it dies. I've bought discus from just about every breeder in NZ and recommend Discusguru and Discus Haven but DO NOT recommend the rest due to use of hormones and extremely dangerous chemicals like hydrochloric acid to drop the pH to 3 or 4 and kill off all bacteria. Some call that a "trade secret", I just call it an extreme lack of care and negligence.

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3 PH will kill all living fish and no one uses hormones now days note even over seas breeders..

3 to 4 cm is just the right size to move them away from the parents..

But i did start the answers to question here on forum and also requested to stay on subject..

What to add to tank is the subject..

Cheers Phill Collis

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yes thank you..

Lets please stay on topic. i want to know about older/ larger discus not babies as we have allready come to the point i need large ones so my non-bare bottem tank and other fish wont affect them growing healthy.

at the end of the day i do want something healthy and happy

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Hi

Yes hopefully we are back on Just " Discus as i posted.."

To tank first..Why not cover the bottom and use ug filters or Power filter as well..Then even add the likes of Amazon swords that suit just about most types of waters..

After all its water quality you need to keep all in good health..And plants have a major affect to removing nitrates..And look nice..

EDIT - More self promotion and has nothing to do with the thread. Alan MOD

But i enjoy being able to give free advise and after all im 65 and been involved in fish for the last 40 or so years..

If us oldies dont help the hobby for most will be going backwards..

Cheers and good fish keeping..Phill

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the tank has small dark brown gravel in at the mo. I'm not willing to pull it all up to add undergravel filter because have some beautiful extablished plants like marbled queen sword, amizon swords, rose sword ect.. running a canister filter that is very sufficuant and also have apower filter i could add if wanted.

one thing about discus that realy confuses me is colours and types. i understand there are quite a few true types as well as lots of crosses.can anyone point me towards a web page or simular with named images of the diffrnt types?

talking to the other half we where thinking of blue or the red/orange ones with white squiggles.

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Candy - you can raise discus in planted tanks with no problems, but be sure and get nothing smaller than a 5cm body size. You can get 5cm discus from breeders for as low as $50 (rather than $35 for a 3cm fish) and will save you about 3 months of growing, about 50% of casualties, and you'll end up with better quality of fish as you will be able to see the markings developing rather than just getting some tiny little silver discs that you HOPE will grow into the strain promised/sold.

Mod Note:

Paragraph removed, as you are seeking an unfavourable reaction from another member.

Stay on topic please.. and start another thread if you want to discuss other issues. Thread is being monitored.

Bill Mod.

Hormone treatment is still happening overseas, ask people that have visited/worked overseas. Imported fish are only worth anything if wild caught, in my opinion. The "asian fish farm" discus all may be wonderfully coloured, but have some serious health issues later on and die for no apparent reason when locally bred fish survive with no problems. That's enough for me to buy local bred rather than imported.

As for size issues, you can move young discus away from the parents at 3cm, but transporting them that early/young/small has very high risks. They're discus, and should be treated better. They stress out easier than other fish and need to be handled with kid gloves. These aren't goldfish.

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Hi

Seems everyone has gone down the Discus trail. They are beautiful but can be a bloody nightmare too. Look at all the discussion on this thread on the pro and cons of them. Don't get me wrong I love mine, if you get it right, great if not ...Arrrgh

What about some Angels, there are some cool ones around, from my experience a little more hardy- from your tank description they would suit as well. Perfect mid water displayers, I wonder if you would get the same from young discus. which ever way-Good luck!

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iv tryed angels.... they drove me nuts.. i managed to get a breeding pair lol and they became quite snooty.

blue and kim thank you for clarifying the size i would need if i do go ahead. I will be wanting to see the fish before buying and im lucky as to where i live there are quite a few people with good quality stock.

i think i will be going for blue ones and red squiggly ones :).

what about my fish i have now? some one pointed out that discus cant/should not live with a bgk and a bicher. Why? i find both of my fish are more relaxed and less territorial then my old pleco.

maybe because of what i feed them? any left over food is removed from the tank asap.

any idears?

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