Freshwater Aquarium

For Discus fish, there are 2 consideration in tanks - tank depth and volume. Because of their size and swimming habits, a minimum of 18″ is needed for tank depth, the deeper the better. Regarding volume, a good rule of thumb is that each adult discus will need 10 gallons of water. Larger tanks will also give more stable water conditions, and taking into account other considerations the minimum size for a discus show tank should be no less than 55 gallons. It is also advisable to use a rectangular tank. Not only are they cheaper, but are more efficient, because they maximize surface area. Surface area is the most important factor in buying a tank. Why? Because it is only at the surface of the tank that gas exchange occurs. (Oxygen in, Carbon dioxide out.) Assuming you have a seventy five gallon show tank, and it’s biological filter is working as required, up to twenty young fish 3 inches in size, or 6 or 8 fully adult discus can comfortably inhabit the tank. An outside filter may be added to large tanks to increase basic aeration and biological filtration needs.

Keep in mind that when young discus fish are small,they grow fast and become quite large in a short period of time if fed well and water quality is maintained. If your tank is too small they will not be happy and it will quickly stunt their growth. Juvenile discus should not be kept in overly large tanks. Being a social fish, Discus tend to become very skittish in large tanks. In our hatchery, we place 6 Discus up to 1.5″ in a 29-gallon tank. They will be moved tp larger tanks when they get to 2.5″, and show possible signs of “pairing off”. Always try to buy the largest tank you can afford for discus fish.

If breeding Discus is a consideration later on, tanks can be down sized to twenty gallons per pair. At our hatchery, 29 gallon rectangular glass tanks are utilized for every breeding pair.
A bare bottomed tank with at 2

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Because it is imperative that discus fish have optimal water conditions, much has been written about this subject, This is the plan put in place to insure proper PH water levels in our hatchery.

Allnut Enterprises’ breeder, Nick Lockhart of Noblesville, Indiana, has many ingenious ideas as to how to accomplish things in the hatchery. We begin our experiment with two matched pairs: two red melons, and two leopardskins. They are lovely, friendly fish, and have been getting acclimated to our tanks and the aquarist since the end of June.

Initially, we begin to prepare for the new arrivals by setting up the tanks in this manner: water was tested for PH and nitrite levels, and a proper ecosystem for active bacteria was begin by populating the tank with cichlids that Nick has been raising prior to the purchase of the discus. When we felt that the water/bacteria levels were correct, we set up the meeting with the breeder, and made the trip to Bloomington, Indiana.

Upon arrival at home base with a travel time of about an hour and a half, we immediately begin to acclimate the pairs to their new home. We were advised by the breeder to let them acclimate to the new tank water by “floating” the bags containing the fish for approximately one hour to equalize the temperatures, and to add a cup of water to the bag from the tank to equalize PH levels.

We did not, however, follow this procedure. We took approximately six hours to acclimate by adding a cup of the tank water to the bag each hour, and keeping a close eye on the discus and PH levels, because they were stressed from the trip. A Hanna PH digital meter was used for testing, which gave us a very accurate reading. As large changes in PH in a short period can shock the discus, we were careful in this approach. Our water at the time matched the water in PH levels from the breeder closely.

Because the two pair were bought for breeding purposes, Nick was not comfortable with the PH level, which at that time was at approximately 7.5, high for optimal breeding conditions of 6.5-6.9. What to do?

We had read that hanging a mesh bag of peat moss would help to lower the PH, but were not happy with the idea of having debris from the Peat in our tanks, which are kept scrupulously clean. We knew there had to be a better way to accomplish this goal.

Because Nick lives in town, and has city water, he uses a Reverse Osmosis filtering system to insure that the water is free of chemicals and suitable for the aquarium. Knowing that Peat Moss will lower the PH in an aquarium system, and having a large bag left over from making culture for Grindal and White Worms, he took a 5 gallon pail, and drilled a series of holes around the perimeter of the bottom of the pail, using a 3/32″ drill. He then lined the bottom of the pail with a think layer of regular aquarium filter floss, and topped that off with a thick layer of Peat Moss, with the finished pail being about two-thirds full.

The outlet hose from the RO system was then allowed to drain into this pail. Setting the pail over the top of the holding tank, the water slowly drained down through this medium into the holding tank.

Initial test of the recycled water showed a drop in PH to below the base of 7.0. We have been adding the water to the discus tanks slowly through water changes so as to not shock the fish, and at our business meeting this weekend, Nick informed me that the PH levels in the discus tanks are now at approximately 6.6, which is the optimal level for breeding discus.

Cost of the project? If you already are using an RO system, and have a holding tank, you will spend a twenty dollar bill getting the Peat Moss and filter floss. Not bad, considering a breeding pair of dicus can run you $425 dollars!

Alden Smith is CEO of Allnut Enterprises, a diversified company, and is involved with discus breeding. His website is http://www.kingdiscus.blogspot.com

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White worms (enchytraeus Albidus) are one of life foods that can be cultivated by the aquarist. They are small terrestrial worms, which are useful because they can be cultured easily, and so are available when needed.

Matured white worms (2cm long) are grown in boxes of damp soil feeding on pieces of bread or baby cereal food placed on the surface where they are scraped off when needed and used from a worm feeder.

Compost worms (Eisenia foetida) are another type of worms suitable for aquarium fish. They are great for larger fishes and can be chopped up for smaller fishes or processed into a jelly food.

Fish should not be fed with worms exclusively as they are high fat content and can cause obesity.

Microworms (nematodes) are another good food for fry, and can be fed to smaller fry than can brine shrimp. Microworms can be raised in plastic containers on a mixture of corn meal, water, and baker’s yeast.

Another type is Baby brine. Baby brine shrimp (Artemia spp.) are the perfect food for almost all baby fish, and small adult fish such as tetras as well. Very small fry (like those of most egg scatterers) can not eat brine shrimp immediately, but larger fry (such as livebearers and most cichlids) can start out on brine shrimp.

Brine shrimp are hatched in salt water from commercially available dry eggs. They are usually hatched in some sort of funnel with an airstone at the point of the funnel. An inverted plastic 2-liter pop bottle with the bottom cut off works well (from article titled Fish foods for dummy by Grant Gussie)

Daphnia are tiny water fleas, which are found in large numbers in ponds during the warm months of the year especially farmyard ponds that contain rotting organic matter. They are available live from very few dealers.

The animal is very nutritious and hardly any fish will refuse them. If it is used as part of a mixed diet the fish may refuse to ease other food hence, it is advisable not to mix daphnia with other foods.

Since the water fleas feed predominantly on algae from which they obtain oil, they laxative properly by relieving fishes of constipation and indigestion, hence they are confined space of any aquarium.

For more great aquarium related articles and resources check out http://fishfood.aquariumspot.com

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