My girlfriend got me an early x-mas present...

Nice looking discus! You need to fatten that pigeon blood up some. Lots of frozen bloodworms!! Ramshorns will not harm your discus. Too bad you didn't hold on to the clown loaches a little bit longer, but if you dont want a snail infestation, catch them now and take them out! How big are they and did he give you the names of what strain they are called? And I'd lose the SAEs too in favor of a bristlenose or a rubber lip pleco.
 
Is a clown pleco an ok replacement for the SAE's? I like their coloration more than the rubberlip. Bristlenose are cool, but I've yet to find anywhere out here that sells them. I don't mind the snails, just wanted to be sure they would not harm my discus at all. :) I aim to do everything I can to make them as healthy and happy as I can. :D Oh, and the bloodworms will be flowing into the tank. :-P The pigeon blood ate half a cube of hikari frozen bloodworms this morning, and I'm going to go feed again in about 20 minutes.
 
Well, I've got yet another update. (hahaha... I feel like such a little kid with my discus :-P) Feeding time went well for the blood parrot and the reddish discus, however, the blue one (the banding suggests potentially wild-caught fish? I'm not sure..) did not seem interested this time. I know new fish may or may not be enthusiastic about their first meal, so I was pleased to see the reddish one eat, but was slightly disappointed that the blue one did not also eat. I'll be feeding them again in 3-4 hours to see what happens. Oh, I put the plants in the tank too... the pennywort looks great. :-)
 
The blue one looks a bit like a brilliant turq. There are so many varieties and different names, but I was recently looking at some young ones and yours resembles it. It is not wild. Clown plecos are ok, I had one for a while in my discus tank. They're not great algae eaters and they hide A LOT. They need driftwood to eat also.
 
pinkertd said:
The blue one looks a bit like a brilliant turq. There are so many varieties and different names, but I was recently looking at some young ones and yours resembles it. It is not wild. Clown plecos are ok, I had one for a while in my discus tank. They're not great algae eaters and they hide A LOT. They need driftwood to eat also.
Click to expand...

I'm good there... I've got approximately 25 lbs of driftwood in my tank. :-P Hahaha... check out the thread http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=133162 for pics of my tank and its progress.

I'd like to be able to see the pleco... I'm sad that it would hide a lot. :-( Are the rubberlips more active? Do they hide as frequently?

Are the bands a sign of stress? I know that its their natural defense to help camouflage themselves, and he is new to the tank, same as the other two.
 
Plecos are nocturnal feeders so you won't see much of them during the day or when the lights are on in the tank. I think RedScare has a rubber lipped pleco so he can help you out with info on that one. I've never had one. I have bristlenose.....lots, cause I'm breeding them. When they are young, they are out in the tank all the time.

I don't think what we're seeing in your fish are stress bars. And yes, some varieties of discus, not all, will show stress bars when stressed. Yours looks to be part of the coloration of that particular strain so I wouldn't worry about it. I think all three of them are going to color up gorgeously as they get bigger!
 
pinkertd said:
Plecos are nocturnal feeders so you won't see much of them during the day or when the lights are on in the tank. I think RedScare has a rubber lipped pleco so he can help you out with info on that one. I've never had one. I have bristlenose.....lots, cause I'm breeding them. When they are young, they are out in the tank all the time.

I don't think what we're seeing in your fish are stress bars. And yes, some varieties of discus, not all, will show stress bars when stressed. Yours looks to be part of the coloration of that particular strain so I wouldn't worry about it. I think all three of them are going to color up gorgeously as they get bigger!
Click to expand...

I'm very much looking forward to it! :-) I think I will be taking the SAE's out of the tank tomorrow morning. (wish I had another tank I could put them in... I could give them to my gf, but she wouldn't be able to house them for long in her 10g anyway, so probably best not to stress them like that)

I may try a few amano shrimp to see what they do with them... if they eat them, no big deal. Heck, maybe I'll just get a few ghost shrimp and see what happens... less of a loss if they get eaten. (they're something like $2.50/each at my lfs for amano, and $1/10 for ghost shrimp) I'd love to get a few cherry or crystal red shrimp for my tank, but at $5/each... I'm not sure I want to risk them becoming snacks.
 
My rubberlip rarely comes out during the day. I only see her about 2x a week if I'm not looking for her. At night she is very active. Always cleaning the glass and rocks but not the plants much. Typically not cleaning the plants is a good thing but I want this DAM hair algae to DIE!!!
 
RedScare said:
My rubberlip rarely comes out during the day. I only see her about 2x a week if I'm not looking for her. At night she is very active. Always cleaning the glass and rocks but not the plants much. Typically not cleaning the plants is a good thing but I want this DAM hair algae to DIE!!!
Click to expand...

That's why I kinda want to try the amano shrimp... because I know how good they are at cleaning plants. My anubias always end up with these spots of very dark algae that is really tough to just rub off, so I end up leaving it on there so I won't damage the plant trying to remove it.


I do have some good news to share though. The brilliant turquoise finally ate last night! I was determined to make sure all 3 got some food, so from the "last" feeding I planned last night at about 11pm, I saved a little bit of blood worms and re-froze them. At 4am when I finally went to bed, I kept the tank light off, and gave them the last few blood worms. At first he completely ignored them... but then he decided to pick one off of the sand... and suddenly he realized "oh, these are good!" He started eating a few while they were floating about the tank, though he was still a little timid around the other two.
 
you will find tha tdiscus like to forage for food..I feed mine color bits (tetra) theysink and the discuc will pick them up after a few minutes.


vary their diet..if the discus are young feed them beefheart you can either make your own or purchase a blend (frozen)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
AquariaCentral.com
Top Bottom