24 replies to this topic

[stretch5]

Hi all, moved house last week and decided perfect time to get a new tank making moving easier. Only been into aquariums around 3 months so still learning.

Picked up a 5 foot tank and bench last week to help make moving houses alot easier. Cut out some wood for the bases to give the tank some more support.

 

5' Tank so far has, decided to trying to make a tree, see how it turns out over time.

 

Stock:

5x Bala sharks

1x anglefish 

2x Red tail sharks

2x random small cheap fish but are pigs

2x snails

2x bristlenose

4x Male Gouramis

 

Later want to Add Discus fish, how many not sure need to wait for tank to cycles.

 

Just added 2x 50w LED lights for now until i get my head around co2, later want to add a DIY Co2 system. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[stretch5]

With the old 4 foot tank I picked up 20 cichilds 1-3cm big and put them in there. The way they eat they remind me of blowies 

Went down to Point perion and found a heap of rocks. Boiled each one for 5 mins before adding to both tanks. Hope thats ok...

 

Went with no sub straight as fish only young and want to grow them out, so will be feeding them lots to help... and make cleaning it easier.

 

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[BengaBoy]

you do get a few skulls washed up at Point Peron these days

[stretch5]

haha bengaboy, yeah we do. Not sure if its the locals killing each other or the pirates....

[stretch5]

back home again and finally  tank has finished cycling and im ready for some discus. PH is high but hopefully the discus will adapt to this ph as I bring them up at that level.  Lets start with 3, the yellow one is very shy so no pic.

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Edited by stretch5, 26 November 2015 - 05:35 AM.

[stretch5]

not the best pic as they are still very shy, the yellow one has better colours that what the pic represents. Wish me luck with them its my first time with discus. RO system up and running did my first water change last night with the RO water. Plan to use about 50/50 RO and normal water. Bought a new pump as well to aid with my water changes.

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Edited by stretch5, 26 November 2015 - 05:37 AM.

[MrLeifBeaver]

Hi Stretch,

 

Welcome to the Forum. Nice looking setup.

 

The high PH for Discus should be ok (6.5 - 7.5PH) as they are bread in large concrete pools overseas.

They are not the best fish to go with the rest of your choices due to being too docile and all the fast moving fish (Bala, Red Tailed) will scare them.

However, If you get them loads of cover then they will brighten up.

 

I do recomend removing the Red Tailed Sharks as they can become quite agressive and pick on other fish. They are docile to start with but as they grow...

There is quite a lot of Reviews on Forums and such, saying they are are a terrible fish (IMO). If fish start randomly dieing, they are generally the culprit.

 

Anyway good luck!

 

MLB

[Bailey]

I agree with MLB on the red tailed sharks, they can get rather aggressive

Sent from my HTC_0P6B using Tapatalk

[stretch5]

Thankxs MLB and Bailey, from little I have seen this is a really active forum and local loving it so far.

 

That’s quite interesting how the discus are bread in large concrete pools overseas.

 

I sort of regret getting the bala sharks and red tailed sharks, was a present for my 7yr old son the word shark for him sounds cool and he has a shark tooth necklace.

 

I have moved one of the red tailed sharks to the cichlid tank. In time looking for some more tanks and move them all into another tank. Wish guy in perth gumtree reply to my msg.

 

I did have a bala shark die the other day swimming in circles. The one with a really red fin is really aggressive always attacking the other red fin shark whos tail is more white than red.

Edited by dicky7, 26 November 2015 - 07:15 PM.

[stretch5]

got the discus for $40 each from pet store, very cheap especially for a pet store i though. 

seems one of the discus is a bully and always chasing the yellow one. new years ill get 3 more if these ones survive cant wait

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[stretch5]

this guy is the local bully picking on all the other discus fish....

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[MrLeifBeaver]

Yep. There is bit of a heirachy with discus and generally one of the smaller ones gets bullied, people tend to get odd numbers incase one gets picked on.

Great excuse to get another tank though for them.

 

Understandable about the mix if you have children and love ones involved everyone wants to have their own fish.

 

Those discus were cheap as they are 'mongrel' styled breed, there are 9 main paternations of discus and those ones are a mix of two or more.

Even though in the wild there are actaully only 3 main types, the 9 is actaully from controlled breeding and colour selection.

 

I love the dwarf gourami, he would be fine with Discus.

Edited by MrLeifBeaver, 27 November 2015 - 12:39 PM.

[sandgroper]

Only keep one red tailed shark in a tank and they need to be put in with more aggressive cichlids, like rift lake cichlids as they will bite him back and keep him in check. I love the red tailed black shark, very vivid colour but they quarrel amongst themselves, so only one per tank and not with anything wussy like discus and the likes.

[stretch5]

Thanks for that MrLeifBeaver, Im already eyeing off a 5x2x2 to replace that bottom tank. Yeah understand with the family members, I haved  moved one of the red fin sharks to the cichild tanks as well as one of the bala sharks to see how things go. Also the two unknown fish as they kept eating my plants little buggers. Left the dwarf gourami (daughters fish) with the Discus. They water changes seems to make their colours so strong more so than with the Discus fish.

 

Sandgroper, I have moved one into the cichild tank like you said so one in each tank. I guess in time once they start getting bigger ill sell the one in the Discus tank. Side note how there is less fish in the Discus tank might have to get some more for christmas then 

[MrLeifBeaver]

Get some Dither fish for the Discus tank, Cardinal Tetras, Rummy Nose Tetras. Bottom feeder fiosh, then it will look nice and full.

[stretch5]

How many would you suggest to add, I might be getting another 4-6 discus babies soon. Was thinking as they get bigger moving all the other fish out.

What sort of numbers would you recommend of the above suggested fish to add?

[MrLeifBeaver]

About 6 - 12 of each. depends if the tank looks full or not.

[stretch5]

awesome deal on gumtree 5cm discus $20 each so i got 11 today. Also finally after 3 months of waiting got all my stuff off alliexpress for co2 setup arrived.

Tanks pumping now. Had an accident doing water changes 3 bala sharks went out the window didnt know untill a few days passed and i was where they at... watching tank now when doing water changes.

Have moved the other 2 bala sharks to second tank and angle fish as well. 

snails have gone mad 3x size in a month or so shredding their shells have to get more

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[stretch5]

well few big updates 

 

Firstly the 5 foot tank I have sold the 5 bala sharks and one of the red tail sharks to give the discus a more friendly environment. The other red tail shark is in with the cichlids.  Got a cabinet to sit the tank on also. Its amazing some of the discus havnt really grown at all and a few others are about 9cm now. Most of the discus came from the same supplier. Water quality always perfect changed few times a week. PH a little high around 7-7.2. Got some PH down coming to slowly lower that see if things improve.

 

Moved the tree to a smaller 70L tank and have a light on it helping it to grow faster. The CO2 ran out and havnt got around to getting some more. Tree seems to be going just fine without the co2 so far in the smaller 70L tank.

 

The 4 foot tank had a little disaster the other day, the glass support bar in the top middle section of the tank cracked when I first got the tank. I super glued an aluminium bar across it some 4 months ago and has been just fine since. Well for some reason im guessing not enough support on the glass the front section of the tank smashed and I woke to find this Lucky I had the 70L tank and put all the fish in there for now. Only lost 6 cichilds  of the 20. Must of only just smashed before I work up.

Took a few hours to soak up all the water and remove all the glass. Lucky the room was tiled and no real damage except one chip in a tile.

 

 

 

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[malawiman85]

Sweet tanks. I like the gouramis... cool little fish.
Im not a discus guy but my advice on pH is dont mess with it. Its more complicated than just adding pH down.
Basically the critical factor is keeping the pH stable. If you mess with it, it will fluctuate unless you go to a lot of effort preparing water in a big arse reservouir prior to adding it to the tank... The most reliable way (ime) of doing this is a mix of tap and RO water. All of it is too hard basket mid to long term. There are some good threads here on PCS about KH and the effect on pH.
Is the co2 going on the same tank you want the pH dropped?