Jessica. Posted October 14, 2020 Share Posted October 14, 2020 (edited) Some women have children. I have discus. 😉 Though I'd start a journal for my planted discus tank. It's been running a few years now, and these fish are my babies. The tank sits next to my desk, and I work full time from home. We all spend a lot of time together. Photo from Spring 2020 (and the best photo I've gotten of this tank!) Here's the tank in Dec 2019, a few weeks after planting The layout for the tank was inspired by an ADA tank I saw in a youtube video, this tank: (this photo is a screenshot from a youtube video of the ADA gallery in Japan. It is not my tank) Stocking in the tank is currently 10 discus, 5 Sterbai Cories, 4 oto cats, 10 Amano Shrimp, and some random guppies who snuck in on a net as fry and grew up in the tank. I had 12 discus, but decided to re-home two who were pairing off and picking fights a few months ago. I hear some people say discus are skittish. That is not my experience. They are nosy, always up in my business when I'm trying to do maintenance. I end up pushing them away so I can see what I'm doing.. lol! Thanks for reading! I'll keep updating as the tank evolves. Edited October 14, 2020 by Jessica. typos 10 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alexa Posted October 14, 2020 Share Posted October 14, 2020 Your tank is gorgeous~ I want to keep discus now more than ever 😭 Especially with that nice shoal size and awesome scape! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garren Posted October 14, 2020 Share Posted October 14, 2020 Really awesome tanks!! The fish are very majestic in the tank. Thank you for sharing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steph’s Fish and Plants Posted October 14, 2020 Share Posted October 14, 2020 Wow this tank is an aquarists dream 😍 absolutely stunning, I’m excited for more progress updates. I love discus and would love to keep them someday, and now I’ll definitely have this tank in mind when I start planning and building that tank Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy's Fish Den Posted October 15, 2020 Share Posted October 15, 2020 Your discus tank is beautiful! the green of the plants with the bright colors of the discus makes for a beautiful display. What plants do you have in there and do you run CO2 ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jessica. Posted October 15, 2020 Author Share Posted October 15, 2020 1 hour ago, Andy's Fish Den said: Your discus tank is beautiful! the green of the plants with the bright colors of the discus makes for a beautiful display. What plants do you have in there and do you run CO2 ? Thanks @Andy's Fish Den These are the plants in the photo. This picture is from spring, and I've switched out a few (not because the didn't do well, but for aesthetics). I'm aiming to do some maintenance this weekend and get a current photo. I do inject co2, but I do it a very low a level (about one bubble every three seconds, on for 8 hours a day), and I also run two ziss bubble filters in the back. I'm not sure the co2 is doing anything at all. I had a drop checking in the tank, it would always stay blue. The discus probably produce more co2 than what in inject. I could maybe take it off, but I've got the balance keyed in on this tank and hesitate to change anything. I also fertilize with micros only and potassium sulfate (I don't add any nitrates or phosphates, the discus produce enough, and get unhappy when nitrates climb). My tap well water has 5ppm nitrates, the tank stays between 10-20 ppm nitrates. I water change 2-3 times a week, depending on how heavily I've fed that week. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jessica. Posted October 26, 2020 Author Share Posted October 26, 2020 (edited) A little update. This photo is an in progress shot (aren't aquariums always in progress? Feels that way), since taking it shows me a few things I want to change. Did some glass cleaning last night, and refreshed the white sand in the front. So future things to change: The val is taking over the back left more than I'd like, and has choked out some of the giant haigrass. Looking at the pic from 6 months ago, the hairgrass was almost double the width it is now. I think next water change, I'm going to pull out a bunch of the giant val and replace it with some giant hairgrass to grow in. I also added 3 crinum natans in the back left. They're growing in slowly but surely. I hope they'll one day be large enough to replace the val in this corner and drape across the top. They're very slow growing though, it'll probably be years until the get to be that big a size. And, I added some mini velvet buce on driftwood to the foreground. Just did this last week, so it needs time to grow in. Edited October 26, 2020 by Jessica. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irene Posted October 26, 2020 Share Posted October 26, 2020 Lol, that video of you pushing the discus away! I love how inquisitive they seem. The picture labeling all your plants is very helpful too. I may just have to push discus to the top of my "large aquarium" bucket list now. 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jessica. Posted October 27, 2020 Author Share Posted October 27, 2020 (edited) 4 hours ago, Irene said: I may just have to push discus to the top of my "large aquarium" bucket list now. @IreneI can't recommend them enough, if you have the inclination and budget. I'd certainly enjoy any videos you made keeping them. I get so much enjoyment from this tank. They develop their own personalities, the beg for food incessantly when I'm around. There can be a learning curve, and I did lose a few when I first got them as 3" fish. But, watching them grow and bonding with them is so enjoyable for me. I often handfeed them for fun- Edited October 27, 2020 by Jessica. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ruud Posted October 28, 2020 Share Posted October 28, 2020 Hi Jessica, your tank and Discuss truly look amazing. They look healthy and happy, which is the best you can hope for as a fish caretaker! Can I ask what size is your tank? Thank you, all the best from Spain Ruud 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jessica. Posted November 1, 2020 Author Share Posted November 1, 2020 On 10/28/2020 at 5:57 AM, Ruud said: Hi Jessica, your tank and Discuss truly look amazing. They look healthy and happy, which is the best you can hope for as a fish caretaker! Can I ask what size is your tank? Hi Rudd! The tank is 120Gal. Thanks for the kind words. I appreciate it. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jessica. Posted November 1, 2020 Author Share Posted November 1, 2020 (edited) Sunday maintenance day update! I did a big trim today and replant. I pulled out and trimmed val, replanted the hairgrass background plant to extend it further to the left, and removed some java fern and replaced it with stauro to extend that carpet. Before and afters: It took about 8 months for the val in this tank to start growing well, but now (1.5 years of being in this tank), the val gets huge, wide leaves. This is giant "americana" val. Edited November 1, 2020 by Jessica. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fonske Posted November 2, 2020 Share Posted November 2, 2020 What a stunning tank. Looks even more beautiful after the trim. Thanks for sharing. (is there fish other than discus there? A small fish on the first photo?) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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