Discus/American Cichlid Tanks Journal

[Shadow]

On 8/2/2023 at 4:55 PM, Lennie said:

I LOVE congo tetras. Actually they are hands down my favorite. I haven't kept them before because I couldn't find a good stock like I wanted.

I'm excited to see your end results

Well, I have a friend in a fish DM group I was added to on IG....she is a real popular aquarium designer specializing in Black Water. She has an awesome all Congo Tetra tank and its soooo lovely! Lemme find it, she is the reason I want them as my next Tetras...I think I am kinda getting hooked on tetras, haven't found one I didn't like...YET. 

[Shadow]

@Lennie 

 

Her fish room: 

 

 

[Lennie]

On 8/3/2023 at 1:47 AM, Shadow said:

@Lennie 

 

Her fish room: 

 

 

yes! I've seen both of these. Gorgeous fish 

[Shadow]

On 8/2/2023 at 5:50 PM, Lennie said:

yes! I've seen both of these. Gorgeous fish 

Yea, she is the one advising me on the congos currently. She definitely is concerned as I am about them being in a tank with Discus. One, in her opinion(mine as well), she believes they should be the feature fish. Also thinks their swimming characteristics might clash with Discus while sharing my concern on the feeding patterns interrupting my chance at target feeding the Discus. So now I am rethinking Tetras to both tanks...wondering what are your, anyone's thoughts on possibly ring training them at the surface along with feeding Massivore Delights or something like that to draw them away from the Discus? 🤔

Edited August 2, 2023 by Shadow

[Guppysnail]

This may help with target feeding discus. Several types of fish I have trained for feeding with a coral feeder (long skinny acrylic turkey baster type gadget). They take turns coming and plucking worms or live brine right out of the end. @Elodie Rose recently Got to see me feed the fish room this way 💕
Honey gourami, German blue rams, Lemon bn pleco, my solo laetacara curviceps, guppies, Apistogramma and Sewellia lineolata.  
***I do it out of fun not necessity 🤣

Also all my GBR and their offspring (earth eaters that sift sand normally for food) easily became adapted to eating floating food from a ring. 
 

 

[Lennie]

On 8/3/2023 at 1:54 AM, Shadow said:

Yea, she is the one advising me on the congos currently. She definitely is concerned as I am about them being in a tank with Discus. One, in her opinion(mine as well), she believes they should be the feature fish. Also thinks their swimming characteristics might clash with Discus while sharing my concern on the feeding patterns interrupting my chance at target feeding the Discus. So now I am rethinking Tetras to both tanks...wondering and what are your, anyone's thoughts on possibly ring training them at the surface along with feeding Massivore Delights or something like that to draw them away from the Discus? 🤔

I would follow her experience if she is someone you trust opinions of. I would personally trust the experience of @Guppysnail more than something  I read online. 

you get me?

It is also a common practice to not keep slow feeders with fast eaters due to competition issues.

 

And to me she sounds right on paper. I only have a discus pair, not with a big school of fast eaters and never kept congo tetras, so I can't speak certain. But I can tell my discus are the slowest eaters ever. I've tried everything, target feeding, sticking freeze dried food on glass, using worm feeder cones, preading frozen food, floating frozen food/fd food cubes ...

Mine legit wait for food to fall to bottom, get smooth and then they push them from the ground by creating a water movement with their body/mouth and eat it that way. If I'm not mistaken, they should be preferring to eat from surfaces but nope. Maybe mine brought up being fed like this 🤷🏼‍♂️ I got them as pair so hard to know.

But a school of any fish would %100 outcompete mine for food. That's for sure 🤣

Btw, I wouldn't do discus in both tanks myself. They will be limiting. Try something new, why not? 

 

Discus are even limiting at adding decorations to the tank. I think you should give yourself some space on one tank and enjoy discus on another

Edited August 2, 2023 by Lennie

[Shadow]

On 8/2/2023 at 6:03 PM, Guppysnail said:

This may help with target feeding discus. Several types of fish I have trained for feeding with a coral feeder (long skinny acrylic turkey baster type gadget). They take turns coming and plucking worms or live brine right out of the end. @Elodie Rose recently Got to see me feed the fish room this way 💕
Honey gourami, German blue rams, Lemon bn pleco, my solo laetacara curviceps, guppies, Apistogramma and Sewellia lineolata.  
***I do it out of fun not necessity 🤣

Also all my GBR and their offspring (earth eaters that sift sand normally for food) easily became adapted to eating floating food from a ring. 
 

 

I know exactly what you are talking about as ages ago I had a saltwater tank. Also, I really want to target feed them as I find it fun. I you my planting tweezers to feed my Angelfish frozen bloodworms on the weekends. 😍

On 8/2/2023 at 6:03 PM, Lennie said:

I would follow her experience if she is someone you trust opinions of. I would personally trust the experience of @Guppysnail more than something  I read online. 

you get me?

It is also a common practice to not keep slow feeders with fast eaters due to competition issues.

 

And to me she sounds right on paper. I only have a discus pair, not with a big school of fast eaters and never kept congo tetras, so I can't speak certain. But I can tell my discus are the slowest eaters ever. I've tried everything, target feeding, sticking freeze dried food on glass, using worm feeder cones, preading frozen food, floating frozen food/fd food cubes ...

Mine legit wait for food to fall to bottom, get smooth and then they push them from the ground by creating a water movement with their body/mouth and eat it that way. If I'm not mistaken, they should be preferring to eat from surfaces but nope. Maybe mine brought up being fed like this 🤷🏼‍♂️ I got them as pair so hard to know.

But a school of any fish would %100 outcompete mine for food. That's for sure 🤣

Btw, I wouldn't do discus in both tanks myself. They will be limiting. Try something new, why not? 

 

Discus are even limiting at adding decorations to the tank. I think you should give yourself some space on one tank and enjoy discus on another

Cheers for the advice as always Lennie...means a lot! I honestly have learned so much from all of you on here that I trust your judgement. I remembered today that she kept Congo Tetras, so I wanted her opinion on it. Honestly, you may be right and maybe I should do something different with Tank #2 aka the 75 gal....maybe more schooling fish ie CTs. 🙂 

[Shadow]

So...plants arrived today. I have them in cool, freshly prepared water with a light on them as its hot AF outside here and even in a well insulated package I am afraid of them being too far overheated(which luckily the insulation looks to have done well combined with my Mom seeing the package early today before the heat really kicked in. 

Here's what I have going in Tank #1...

Cryptocoryne 'Tropica' x2

Cryptocoryne Balansae x3

Echinodorus Xinguensis x3

Echinodorus Marble Queen x2

Java Fern Mother Pot x1

Java Fern Fleming x5

Nymphaea Tiger Lotus x2(on the way)

Bucephalandra Brownie Ghost x3 

I went for heartier plants, some of which do not have to be planted and can be weighted or glued to hardscape. Longer plants to go along the back and provide some hideaway space or separation if need be while allowing plenty of swimming room for the 55 gal. Went with about 1/3 of the plants that I put in the 48 gal as to leave sufficient space for the Discus to swim around. 

[Lennie]

On 8/4/2023 at 1:05 AM, Shadow said:

So...plants arrived today. I have them in cool, freshly prepared water with a light on them as its hot AF outside here and even in a well insulated package I am afraid of them being too far overheated(which luckily the insulation looks to have done well combined with my Mom seeing the package early today before the heat really kicked in. 

Here's what I have going in Tank #1...

Cryptocoryne 'Tropica' x2

Cryptocoryne Balansae x3

Echinodorus Xinguensis x3

Echinodorus Marble Queen x2

Java Fern Mother Pot x1

Java Fern Fleming x5

Nymphaea Tiger Lotus x2(on the way)

Bucephalandra Brownie Ghost x3 

I went for heartier plants, some of which do not have to be planted and can be weighted or glued to hardscape. Longer plants to go along the back and provide some hideaway space or separation if need be while allowing plenty of swimming room for the 55 gal. Went with about 1/3 of the plants that I put in the 48 gal as to leave sufficient space for the Discus to swim around. 

Probably all those crypts and echinodorus will lose their leaves and grow new submerged ones in your tank environment. Don't worry if this happens, as long as the roots are healthy, they grow back.

 

best of luck mate

 

 

[Shadow]

On 8/3/2023 at 5:12 PM, Lennie said:

Probably all those crypts and echinodorus will lose their leaves and grow new submerged ones in your tank environment. Don't worry if this happens, as long as the roots are healthy, they grow back.

 

best of luck mate

 

 

Thanks @Lennie! Not my first Crypt planting, so I am aware on especially the longer leaved ones like the Balansae. I have had pretty decent luck from this plant company with their crypts...my Pink Flamingos are nice in my other tanks, almost bought em again! 😂

I am getting excited for Saturday now...ready to start, hoping the last few things arrive by then. 🤞

[Lennie]

On 8/4/2023 at 1:19 AM, Shadow said:

Thanks @Lennie! Not my first Crypt planting, so I am aware on especially the longer leaved ones like the Balansae. I have had pretty decent luck from this plant company with their crypts...my Pink Flamingos are nice in my other tanks, almost bought em again! 😂

I am getting excited for Saturday now...ready to start, hoping the last few things arrive by then. 🤞

My balansaes never melted! Maybe I was lucky enough to get submerged ones? who knows 🙂 

 

I guess they commonly sell submerged crypts here. I can't remember having melting issues really, except one try of in vitro ones. And Idk how many crypts I have in total! 

Echinodorus almost always melt on me at first tho 🤷🏼‍♂️

[Shadow]

On 8/3/2023 at 5:25 PM, Lennie said:

My balansaes never melted! Maybe I was lucky enough to get submerged ones? who knows 🙂 

 

I guess they commonly sell submerged crypts here. I can't remember having melting issues really, except one try of in vitro ones. And Idk how many crypts I have in total! 

Echinodorus almost always melt on me at first tho 🤷🏼‍♂️

This is my first go with Echinodorus, so hopefully they don't melt on me. 🙃

[Lennie]

On 8/4/2023 at 2:46 AM, Shadow said:

This is my first go with Echinodorus, so hopefully they don't melt on me. 🙃

they always come back beautifully! dw 😄

[Shadow]

Boiling hardscape today...most everything I wanted to add to this tank is here. Looking like I might have it up and started by weekend's end. 🙂 

[Shadow]

Well....today looks to be the day in between doing smash burgers for my family for Sunday lunch as everyone is coming over per usual. So might have an audience with this one...more later today! 

 

[Shadow]

Hardscape in... 

Went with a black backing as after watching a few videos I heard that Discus prefer black backing to whiter back even if it does cause them to pepper a bit, it makes them more comfortable & also I felt the colors of all the fish would pop while hiding the gabillion hoses/cords coming from it. 🤣

P.S. I almost killed someone installed that black background...would not lay down no matter how many sprays of water I gave it 🙃

[Shadow]

Well, 8 hours of work and finally done with planting, filling the tank and getting all the essentials running. I will say this now...I am a FAN of Oase. WOW, how easy was their canister...100x easier to operate and put together than Fluval. Here's some pics and I will follow it with a video...hope y'all dig it! @nabokovfan87 @Guppysnail @Chick-In-Of-TheSea @Lennie @Fish Folk 🙂 

 

[Fish Folk]

Awesome! I've had good experience with Oase canisters too. I love the rising air. So will your fish!

[nabokovfan87]

On 8/6/2023 at 6:07 PM, Shadow said:

 

The only thing I would adjust is push more air on the sponges.  The one on the left especially.  My sponges look a bit like your airstones do 😂

I am excited for you.  I can't wait to see how much enjoyment you and those around you get from this tank!

[Shadow]

On 8/6/2023 at 8:09 PM, Fish Folk said:

Awesome! I've had good experience with Oase canisters too. I love the rising air. So will your fish!

I actually got it from watching your videos...I think @Guppysnail or someone else suggested the bubble wall. I actually have that on the way. Will give a little more air output than the two air stones as well. Plus I think it looks so cool just with the air stones, with that wall should be awesome!

[Shadow]

On 8/6/2023 at 8:41 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

The only thing I would adjust is push more air on the sponges.  The one on the left especially.  My sponges look a bit like your airstones do 😂

I am excited for you.  I can't wait to see how much enjoyment you and those around you get from this tank!

With the Ziss air stones inside, do I tighten them or loosen them? I turned the air supplies up all the way just now. They are the battery backup ACO ones. I prefer them in case the power goes out. 

[nabokovfan87]

On 8/6/2023 at 8:13 PM, Shadow said:

With the Ziss air stones inside, do I tighten them or loosen them? I turned the air supplies up all the way just now. They are the battery backup ACO ones. I prefer them in case the power goes out. 

I have mine on "fine" not really a course size or anything, but you should be able to just leave the stones as is (make sure not too tight) and then turn up the air pressure (output).

[Guppysnail]

On 8/6/2023 at 11:06 PM, Shadow said:

I actually got it from watching your videos...I think @Guppysnail or someone else suggested the bubble wall. I actually have that on the way. Will give a little more air output than the two air stones as well. Plus I think it looks so cool just with the air stones, with that wall should be awesome!

Not my idea but it sounds lovely. 

[Lennie]

I was too sleepy to comment last nite. Now here I am

 

I loved the tank. My only suggestion would be, maybe adding some dwarf sags around stones and stuff to complete the naturalistic look. What do you think? 

Like this:

 

 

 

Also I would probably crowd only the background with vals and not sides, potentially shooting them roots everywhere can be messy 

Edited August 7, 2023 by Lennie

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 8/6/2023 at 9:07 PM, Shadow said:

Well, 8 hours of work and finally done with planting, filling the tank and getting all the essentials running. I will say this now...I am a FAN of Oase. WOW, how easy was their canister...100x easier to operate and put together than Fluval. Here's some pics and I will follow it with a video...hope y'all dig it! @nabokovfan87 @Guppysnail @Chick-In-Of-TheSea @Lennie @Fish Folk 🙂 

 

@Shadow it looks so amazing. The music in this video wasn’t as sexy as the other video’s music. 😂 That’s ok though.

On 8/6/2023 at 1:33 PM, Shadow said:

Well....today looks to be the day in between doing smash burgers for my family for Sunday lunch as everyone is coming over per usual. So might have an audience with this one...more later today!