New Member Sharing Discus picture and discussion

[yh88]

Hi All,

Thanks for ur postings re:discus - hope to be able to follow some of ur ideas.

I have just started keeping discus (13/4/08) - 3 of them about 2 ins in size, 1 a bit smaller, noticeably (how do I insert a pic here permanently, without having to refer to a URL?) in an AC 215 litres (55US gals) together with a population of 10 tetra rummy noses, 8 Cardinal tetras + 3 Neons, 6 glowlites, 1 small bristle-nose catfish + 2 Corys. Just wished that I havent that many small fishes, cos with them around it s hard to concentrate on feeding the discus (they don't seem to be hungry after the 3rd day) and it s very hard to feed the smaller discus perhaps it may have been bullied when the LFS kept the fish for me in a separate tank before my tank was ready). I have a plastic cone fr which I feed the discus, cos the smaller fish will eat the Spectrum food pellets before it even get to them!! Only 1 discus(yellow, red) comes out all the time to feed though it doesn't seem to be eating much just nipping at the bottom only to let the other fishes hovering below the cone eat them when the food falls out or it spits it out, sometimes. This discus is not the dominating fish. It is only 'equal' to another striped bluish red. The one that dominates all now hides and doesn't come out as often just like the smallest discus. My tank has 3 plastic plants, 2 amazon plants, 2 'sunken boats', one sort of 'cave' in the shape of a mountain. The plants are grown in ceramic and plastic bowls. I don't have any gravel other than those in the bowls.

The 4 discus only come out to swim together only towards evening perhaps because the place where I have my tank is too brightly lit because there is a glass block window and a wooden door that has a sort of leadlights glass openings to it. So I am having a hard time to get the smaller discus to eat - I am now trying to feed them live worms when they are swimming together in the hope that the smaller discus gets a bite of the live worms.

I also feed the smaller fish with flakes and the catfish with vege wafers.

Any comments would be welcome.: Btw, those of u who use auto feeders, are they any good? For one who may be going travelling soon?:balloon:

[XPLOSV]

To attach a picture/s:

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[zar]

what an information overload, novel-like detail mate in your post
Your tank size is good for the amount of fish you have. No gravel will be of great benefit when it comes to cleaning.
It's hard to say why your fish dont' have great appetite but i think the best thing for you is to read up on this forum as much as you can, get an idea of existing diseases medications, preventions and just monitor your fish. Keep your temp at 29/30 degrees, don't stress them with ph fluctuations and keep doing your regular water changes the more the better.
otherwise,yeah, reading all the sub forums is probably the best thing for you to do now.

[Matt15]

Welcome to DiscusForums yh88............


I would reconsider the variety of food your feeding your discus.

Have you said that your feeding the following which I would either change or throw away and start from scratch.
- Spectrum food pellets
I'm guessing your using the Spectrum Discus Formula which is good to use but certainly shouldn't be there main source of food.
- Live blood worms
Live BW's aren't highly recommended but if you do feed them be sure to worm your fish regularly.
- Flakes
Are NOT good for discus, but Discus will most proberly pig out on it anyway.


I'd recommend your purchase
- Beefheart mix. (You can either make your own or buy it pre-made. There are loads of recipes here http://www.discusforums.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=6)
- Frozen brime shrimp
- Frozen black worms
- Freeze dried blackworms

Also adding crushed Garlic liquid to there foods can help there appetite. I wouldn't worry too much about your smaller fish. They will snap up all the small pieces of these foods before they even hit the bottom of your tank.

[ILLUSN]

There are some very good flake foods out there, MAC's breedersblend flake is pure GOLD, its got great color enhancing propperties plus it doesn't make your fish go orange, like color bits can.

[Matt15]

Very true Illusn.
My comments are directed more at the general flake food, which i have presumed yh88 is using.

[AHC]

Hi

Just wanted to add that if you are using frozen blood worms - some people defrost them with boiling water in a shot glass before putting them in the tank. Eliminating the nasties (so i have heard?)

[yh88]

Thanks all for the replies.

My discus fish are ok for now except that they are only attracted to live worms, when I finish with these I ll change to beefheart/brineshrimp/blackworms. Is daphnia good for them?

The Spectrum food pellets were recommended by the LFS - they were feeding their discus with these. I supposed they were showing the feeding in order to make a quick sale knowing that I was about to collect my discus that were kept with them for a week

I know now why I couldn't upload my pic cos it s size exceeded the 128 KB limit - got to find someway of cropping it

[AHC]

If you have Microsoft then its Microsoft Office Picture Manager.. On my computer its:

Start
All Programes
Microsoft Office
Microsoft Office Tools
Microsoft Office Picture manager

Use this to edit the picture.

HTH

[Matt15]

And if you don't have Microsoft Office...

Simply RIGHT click on the file.
Choose EDIT
MS Paint will open
CTRL + W
Then change the % for Horizontal and Vertical under STRETCH.
I normally do this twice @ 50% each time. Works a treat....