Discus Fish Care Secrets

COMPATIBLE FISH WITH DISCUS FISH

2010-11-24T07:27:00.000-08:00

Discus fish, the most awesome fish in the aquarium, loves to live with a community. More discus fish you keep in a tank the better it will be. Now a days most of the discus fish keeper keep discus along with some other compatible fish with discus. Be sure that discus never lives with all types of fish. Either choose the fish that you keep with discus is a bottom dweller or live with a community. However, like many fish enthusiasts you do not want to limit yourself to only one type of fish. With a properly set up discus aquarium, you do not have to limit yourself to only discus fish. Many of experienced discus hobbyists tend to set up a planted aquarium with other type of fish called as compatible fish.

While setting up a discus aquarium you do not have to keep only discus fish. Many experts will tell you that it is not appropriate to raise discus with other fish, however if you are careful you can create a beautiful community tank. Moreover, sometimes it is seen that discus can form a community while they see a community form by other fish.
The most important thing to remember when you choose other fish to live in your discus aquarium is that they are compatible with discus fish. When you are thinking of compatibility you must remember that this applies not only to how well they get along, but also if they require the same water conditions. If two species of fish require vastly different water conditions, they will not be compatible in the same tank.
Here I give a short list of some fishes that live happily and peacefully with discus fish.

Tetras :
Tetra sp. is one of the common species that lives happily with discus. Most of the hobbyists keep tetra sp. with discus. There are different kinds of tetras that you can keep with discus. Like:

Black Neon Tetra (Hyphessobrycon herbertaxelrodi)
Black Phantom Tetra(Megalamphodus megalopterus)
Bleeding Heart Tetra(Hyphessobrycon erythrostigma)
Cardinal Tetra(Cheirodon axelrodi)
Columbian Tetra (Hyphessobrycon columbianus)
Diamond Tetra(Moenkhausia pittieri)
Emperor Tetra(Nematobrycon palmeri)
Glowlight Tetra(Hemigrammus eryhthrozonus)
Green Fire Tetra (Aphyocharax rathbuni)
Jewel Tetra(Hyphessobrycon callistus)
Lemon Tetra(Hyphessobrycon pulchripinnis)
Penguin tetra(Thayeria boehlkei)
Rosy Tetra(Hyphessobrycon bentosi)
Rummy-Nose Tetra(Hemigrammus bleheri)
Rummy-Nose Tetra(Petitella georgiae)

Neon Tetra
Neon tetra is one of the famous fish that lives with discus. It is in deed the most compatible fish with discus. Neon tetra loves to live with a community. You can keep at least 12 or more neon so that they can able to form a community. Sometimes discus fish can from their community by seeing the community form by the neon tetras.

Cardinal Tetra
Like neon tetras, cardinal tetras are also compatible and happily live with discus. These brilliantly colored fish do well with discus. Cardinals can live in the warmer, acidic water that discus fish prefers and a school of Cardinals can draw out a shy discus. Cardinal Tetras are related to the Neon Tetra, but will grow slightly longer (up to 2" or about 5cm) and are hardier at warmer temperatures. Try to keep at least 10 or a dozen in your tank. Just remember the rule of companion fish size - "if it fits inside the discus” mouth, it will end up in there. The Cardinal tetra is probably the most popular and obvious species to swim alongside Discus. In warm, neutral, water and with the benefit of the Discus high protein diet, a large shoal of these fish is a delight to behold.

Rummy nose tetra
It is a nice fish and, as with all small tetras, kept in a large shoal for best visual effect.

Corydoras:

corydorous is one of the sweet looking bottom dweller of all fish. There are different type of cory like Bronze, albino and Peppered. Specialist aquatic outlets will stock, or be able to obtain, caudimaculatus, elegans, julii, melanistius, paleatus, panda, polystictus and so on. For a discus tank you can easily keep 4-6 cory.

Pleco:

As a bottom dweller, you can easily keep Bristle-noses, Ancistrus pleco. These fish stay around 10cm/4" and will work tirelessly to rid the tank of algae. Keep three individuals per 50 litre of water. Unlike most other plecostomus, the zebra is more of a carnivore. There are several different varieties of plecostomus, some stay small, and others will outgrow small tanks. Some will develop a "taste" for the mucus on the discus skin, so be watchful. Alternatives to the Plecostomus, would be a Farlowella Farlowella species. Whiptail catfish Rineloricaria sp., the Dwarf Suckermouth catfish Ottocinclus sp., or the Bushynose/ Bristlenose catfish, Ancistrus sp.

Angel Fish:

One of the most controversial fish that we say the compatible fish with discus is the angelfish. Mixing Discus and Angels is a subject that has split the Discus community on many an occasion. Both are indeed nice looking fish. The fact that we keep angel with discus is they both able to survive in 30 deg centigrade. The opposing group says this has never happened to them. Angels can also form a community. If, you are not keeping small fish and are happy to give Angels.

Clown loach:
My favorite bottom dweller fish that live with discus is the clown loach. Clown loaches are very attractive fish and thrive in Discus-friendly water conditions. The high temperature will also keep white spot parasites under control. I do not have a problem with Discus and Clown loaches, but I have put them in "controversial" because they can grow quite big, which is not ideal. Nevertheless, I can also say that I will not prefer you to keep clown loach with discus because when clown loach grows they can eat maximum foods that you provide. In addition, sometimes discus will not able to feed. However, they are juvenile they look nice and happily live with discus.

Algae eater:

You can also keep this type of fish if your tank is planted. In your planted aquarium, you have to keep many plants and hence obviously algae can grow rapidly. Sometimes it is very tough to remove the algae. This fish is a very good algae eater and scavenger. I have rarely seen them cause any trouble with discus. Sometimes these fish are a bit skittish and that can frighten a discus, but I have only seen a couple Siamese algae eaters actually harass discus. The only fault with keeping this fish with discus is that they would rather eat the discus food instead of working for algae.

Types of discus fish

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1. heckel discus
2. albino discus
3. Marlboro discus
4. red map discus
5. red and white discus
6. blue diamond discus
7. cobalt blue discus
8. checker board discus (checkerboard green, checkerboard violet, checkerboard yellow etc)
9. terquise discus(generally red and blue terquise discus)
10. spider discus
11. calio ghost discus
12. pomparator discus
13. super melon discus
14. red melon discus
15. yellow discus
16. white pigion discus
17. red doll discus
18. royal blue discus
19. snake skin discus
20. leopard skin discus(dotted leopard,wave leopard,german leopard discus)
21. stone discus
22. white butterfly discus
23. albino red eye discus
24. snakeskin discus
25. sunshine discus (yellow sunshine, red sunshine discus)
26. eruption discus (penang eruption discus etc.)
27. altum flora discus

SOLUTIONS FROM IMPROPER WATER CHEMISTRY

2010-04-25T19:02:00.001-07:00

Therefore, you have to know about the solutions by which you can get rid of this improper water chemistry. To do this, you have to test our aquarium water to maintain a stable environment for discus fish. Unless you test your water, you cannot understand if the water is stable for discus or not. Water testing is important, and you need to do it, but from my experience, I suggest you that you should not go behind those numbers that are said by the experienced hobbyists. Some aquarists read that the pH should be X and hardness needs to be Y, and continually add chemicals and buffers to the water to alter the pH and hardness, resulting in wild swings in water chemistry. AVOID THIS! Most fishes and even your discus can tolerate up to a certain range of water chemistry, but they do not tolerate rapid changes. Maintaining stable water chemistry, and keeping it at the optimal levels for your particular fish, is difficult. Many of the parameters are interdependent, so that if you change one, the other changes as well. Being able to manage and manipulate water chemistry to provide a stable, healthy environment is the challenge facing any aquarist. The Nitrogen Cycle (Ammonia, Nitrite, and Nitrate) Three of the most important water chemistry parameters are ammonia/ ammonium (NH3/NH4+), nitrite (NO2-), and nitrate (NO3-). These three chemicals are important because ammonia and nitrite are both very toxic to aquatic life, even at low concentrations. Incidentally, neither one is great for us either. Nitrate, while much less toxic than either ammonia or nitrite, is toxic at high concentrations. More importantly, it is a great plant nutrient and thus causes algal blooms.

Now a days, many products are available in the market which that claim to detoxify ammonia and nitrite. These preparations are acceptable to use in case of an emergency, you have to stock these products too. Like when a dead discus fish causes a huge ammonia spike, but they are not a substitute for good filtration and husbandry. These things do not actually remove any nitrogenous waste from the system; they simply bind to ammonia and render it less toxic to fish. All the nitrogen is still in the system feeding other bacterial and algal populations. There is still no substitute for biological filtration and good, old-fashioned water changes. In my aquarium, I have this biological filtering system for the discus fish with great success.

Aquarium maintainance for diiscus fish

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PH level

One of the most common problems encountered by the aquarist is maintaining a constant pH level. Many hobbyists fail to understand the importance pH plays in the aquarium and what factors influence the pH reading. The Discus is a very sensitive fish. You should be very careful about fluctuating ph in your discus tank. I have a personal experience I lost my few discus due to fluctuated ph level in my early days in this hobby. You can fix it at 7. You may use a ph meter to measure it.
When considering pH, you should have a goal of stability. Although 7.0 may be the standard pH level for a discus fish, the same fish will likely thrive at a constant level anywhere between 6.6 and 7.4. It may even survive at constant levels between 6.2 and 7.8. Our goal as aquarists should be to establish a very consistent pH level, even if that level is slightly outside the “ideal” pH reading for a given species. In other words, a constant pH of 6.6 is better than a pH value which fluctuates between 6.6 and 7.0, even for a fish which prefers a 7.0 reading.
This has been a brief overview of water chemistry as it relates to discus care. This only covers the high-level basics. There are many more points where I don’t give spotlight here. These conditions can be changed when you have a breeding pair of discus.

Hence by these points you know that how to obtain a fixed water chemistry level in your aquarium. Now the main challenging matter comes -> how to maintain it. When your aquarium is comparatively new then you have no chemical or biological wastes in your tank but when you add discus or any other fish and feeding them then chemical and biological processes comes into play and degrade water quality over time. These processes include the production of acid by the nitrifying bacteria in the gravel and filter, which means that over time the pH of aquarium water, will always tend to drop. Others are the constant formation of nitrate by these same bacteria and inputs of dissolved organic compounds from fish waste and uneaten food. The way to combat these changes and keep the water chemistry stable is to have an efficient, well-maintained filter system.

Some tips for discus keeping

2010-04-06T18:00:00.000-07:00

there are some tips for discus keeping :

1. Stocking capacity:

You should be very careful for selecting the number of discus you keep and the amount of plants you provide in your tank. More you planted more number of discus fish you keep harder will be to maintain proper water chemistry. Then you have to perform partial water change more frequently and should be alert on any water parameter changing.

2. Aquarium you select new or old:

As I mentioned earlier that nitrogen cycle is very important for discus aquarium. Therefore, Water chemistry in new aquarium needs more partial water change than a well-established aquarium because the water parameter is still not reduced and can fluctuate a lot. Water changes in order to maintain balanced state. This is because; it takes time to establish the colony of beneficial aquarium bacteria that breaks down ammonia waste. Therefore, check thoroughly the water parameters like ph, ammonia and dissolved oxygen during this critical period.

3. Chlorine free water:

The primary condition of water is it should be dechlorinated. If you want to keep discus then first you must give attention the water you provide in your discus tank. Now a days in any pet shop you can get dechlorinated medicine that helps you to lower chlorine of your tank. Use that thing and dissolve it as that medicine say. You
should buy dechlorine medicine which helps you to lower chlorine of your tank.
This Chlorine is routinely added to the water supply in many parts of the world to make the water germfree. But this Chlorine is not good for discus fish and the use of chloramine can be disastrous. So use a test kit to determine the presence and concentration of this Chlorine or Chloramine. Make sure that discus can be healthy and can grow well if you provide them right water condition, which is obviously chlorine free.

4. Hardness of water:

If the hardness and alkalinity are not correct for your discus, they may be adjusted. It is easier to increase hardness and alkalinity upwards rater than downwards, but lowering these values is by no means impossible, it just requires an extra water conditioning step.

How to Test Your Tap Water’s pH

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For any discus hobbyists ph is the most important factor.Many hobbyists test their tap water right away for pH. However, this is not a good indication of your “true” pH. To properly measure your tap water’s pH, pour some tap water into a bucket and place an air stone in the bucket to agitate the surface (to oxygenate the water). Then let this bucket of water sit out for 24 hours. After this, test the water for its pH. It is then a good idea to check it after 48 hours to see if there is any additional change. These values measured after 24-48 hours are an accurate measure of the “true” pH of your tap water.

So, why do you have to leave the water out for 24-48 hours? Carbon dioxide in the water causes the pH to drop. By exposing your tap water to the air and agitating the surface, you are causing a gas exchange at the surface of the water (oxygen goes from the air to the water while carbon dioxide goes from the water to the air). This exchange reduces the amount of carbon dioxide in your water and causes the pH to rise. This pH will be the actual one you will measure in your tank (assuming there are no other objects/chemicals in the tank impacting the pH) as the oxygen/carbon dioxide exchange occurs in your aquarium constantly.

If you find that there is a major difference between the pH of your water right out of the tap and the pH of your water after 24-48 hours, the easiest way to do water changes and not stress your fish is to buy a bucket or two, fill them up with water, add an airstone to each, and let the water sit out for 24-48 hours. The pH will then be adjusted to its actual value and you can use the water for your water change.

The importance of water for discus aquarium

2010-03-23T18:49:00.000-07:00

When it comes to discus fish care, it can be a quite complicated task to make sure that you fish are happy and healthy and getting everything that they need, discus fish are not really recommended for beginner aquarists but if you would like to give it a try, then there are some important factors that you should consider when it comes to discus fish care, and one of the most important factors in the health of a discus fish is the water. fish come from the Amazon River and so they are used to warmer and more acidic water types. The ideal temperature for a discus water tank should be around 26-31 C for adult fish and for baby discus and young discus fish, the ideal temperature of the water should be kept at 31 C. it is important for the water to be soft and acidic with a pH lever of between 5.5 and 6.5, and this is an ideal pH level for wild caught fish to maintain their health. Many aquarists think that the water in a discus fish tank should be changed often (this is the same with any fish tank) but if you maintain a well planted tank that includes adequate filtration, lighting and bottom dwelling fish to clean up the mess that discus leave behind after eating, then this should keep the tank a lot cleaner and the water clearer for longer and you can simply top up the tank every other day with RO water. When it comes to the plants and other fish that you decide to keep in the water with your fish, you should choose fish and plants to compliment the discus so that they are able to thrive and do well.

RAISING DISCUS FISH AS A HOBBY

2010-03-15T17:55:00.000-07:00

Form all over the world it is seen that a very few hobbyists keep discus fish in
their aquarium. There are so many people in this hobby, but they do not how set up a healthy discus aquarium due to lack of knowledge. It is truly rewarding to see that what started with discus as a hobby has turned into a lifetime experience and a true friendship. What is so special about discus as a hobby? Apart from the great beauty of these fish, discus is unique in their social and loving behavior.

Raising Discus Fish is not an easy work for the aquarium hobbyists. Discus fish is very sensitive and you should be very careful for choosing the compatible fish with discus fish. The single most difficult task Discus enthusiasts tackle is finding the right partner, most Discus fish like finding their own partner in the tank and moreover you may keep with other discus-friendly fishes. When you spend the money to start up this enjoyable hobby, it is no wonder you want to start breeding and raising Discus fish to cut down on the cost. Discus fish loves to live with a community form. Before set up a discus community aquarium, you need to learn:
• Inside tips for discus community aquarium
• Protect your discus with right water chemistry
• How to adjust ph level in your aquarium
• What is the best filter that works well with discus fish
• Different types of discus fish food you feed
• How to keep healthy discus fish
• How to prevent discus disease from invading your discus fish
• Compatible fish with discus fish

Those who breed discus as a hobby will be more than surprised to notice that the discus show signs of connection to the environment outside the tank. For instance breeding discus as a hobby implies spending lots of time around the tank, cleaning, feeding or simply watching the discus. They are said to recognize the owner in time and they can get as close to you as to eat out of your hand. When breeding discus as a hobby, some owners have noticed that the discus will watch you move around the room or even react to TV noise.

Apart from such social behavior, discus loves to form a community. If you take discus as a hobby, you may want to take into consideration that they prefer living in close communities that is together with several other members. The other fishes, which you can keep along with discus, are neon and cardinal tetra, clown loach, black ghost knife. The dominant discus would be the first to couple, followed by the others if proper conditions are met. Even if you breed discus as a hobby you may still have to separate the couples in a different tank allowing them to raise their fry.

It is important that all the proper living conditions be kept under constant observation. You should not use for instance a too powerful light for your discus. Conventional rule say that use 2-3 watts per gallon. As a hobby, you like to keep them in the spotlight, but this warms the water above the accepted level and reduces the oxygen quantity. There is a short step to take between breeding discus as a hobby and breeding them at a professional level, after all, discus require the same attention no matter your devotion.
Once you understand these concepts and tactics for maintaining a proper discus fish environment in your tank, you will start enjoying this hobby more and more. You should know that raising Discus fish will take some time to learn but once you have gained the tactics, your fish will grow healthier and maintaining your discus will be so much easier.
Did you know Discus fish are prone to disease? So you should be careful for maintaining discus, otherwise this hobby can cost a lots of money.
When you learn to raise the fry and they grow into beautiful specimens, your hard work will have been paid off.

How to cure discus fish from fungus disease

2010-02-26T19:47:00.000-08:00

Discus fish is not easy to keep. That’s why it is seen that experts in this aquarium hobby keep discus fish in their tank. There are some rules and regulations to keep discus fish. The most important thing to keep discus is to keep them in a 100% purify water. The ammonia, nitrite level must be zero ppm in your tank. You have to do 30%-40% partial water change after every 3 days to keep your aquarium ammonia, nitrite free.

But what will you do when you see that your discus have fungus problem? What is fungus? Fungus is classified within their own kingdom - The Kingdom Fungi, while some are in The Kingdom Protista. A fungus is neither a plant nor an animal. It is similar to a plant, but it has no chlorophyll and cannot make its own food as a plant can through photosynthesis. They get their food by absorbing nutrients from their surroundings. Recently I have faced with this same problem. This fungus disease influenced my blue diamond pair. In this disease, the body of my blue diamond turned into black body. The upper and lower fins of discus were squeezed. They stayed on the upper portion of my tank and it seemed that they would dead after a few moments. But now they are all cure from that fungus problem. I will tell to how to cure your discus fish from that disease.

Whenever you see that your discus face this problem you will have to do some medical treatment. There’s a brand of AZOO anti-bacteria powder (Polvo Antibacteriano) is available in the market. It’s a 4 mg pouch pack. This medicine works well for gram positive and gram negative bacteria. This medicine can cure fin rot, septicemia, red mouth, dropsy disease. There are some rules and regulations to treat this medicine and that’s why I cure my discus from that fungus problem.

1. For a preventive treatment please add 2 grams of that medicine (mind that it’s a 4 mg pouch, that means half of that pouch) per 200 liter water and medicated it in 24 hours. Your aquarium water will turn into yellow when you introduce that medicine. Since it’s a yellow colour medicine.

2. After one day do 30% partial water change and then add 1 mg of that medicine. And medicated 24 hours again.

3. After 1 day do 10% partial water change and then add rest of the 1 mg of the medicine. And medicated 72 hours now from then.

4. During this period please remove the active carbon from your aquarium.

I am successful with this medical treatment for my discus. If you also ever face this problem, do this treatment. I am sure that you will also success from that disease.

NECESSITY OF CO2 IN A PLANTED AQUARIUM

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In any planted aquarium Carbon dioxide (CO2) is essential for better growth of plants. CO2 in the water comes from fish respiration, or is dissolved from the atmosphere. But in a dedicated planted aquarium you need more CO2 from outside for better growth of aquatic plants. So you need to do the same so that the plants get enough CO2. The amount of dissolved CO2 is not proportional to the amount of dissolved 02. These two factors are independent of each other. Proper aeration and circulation of water will ensure that requirements for both gases are met.

The growth rates of aquatic plants are related with availability of carbon and the plant's affinity for carbon uptake. Because carbon availability is normally the limiting factor to growth, addition of CO2 to a planted aquarium will always result in large increases in growth. Without additional CO2 the growth rate will be dependent on the rate at which atmospheric CO2 equilibrates into the water. CO2 will dissolve into CO2-free water to a degree that is dependent on the air pressure, temperature, pH and bicarbonate/carbonate content of the water. The final concentration of CO2 in the water depends entirely on those factors. Once that concentration is achieved, the level of CO2 will not change unless the plants remove it or one of the other factors is altered.

Increased growth of aquatic plants may be realised by injecting CO2 from an external source. This type of injection provides a method of controlling the pH (acidity) of the aquarium water and providing the plants with extra CO2 to stimulate growth. CO2 may be injected from a gas cylinder or by a small fermentation unit. The gas cylinder method requires a lot of hardware and is not recommended for a casual enthusiast. The fermentation method may be easily made as follows:

Take a 1.5 or 2 litre plastic cola bottle, poke a hole in the bottle cap and fix an airline tubing to it, making sure that this attachment is air tight. Half fill the bottle with water, and add 1/2 cup of sugar and 1/2 teaspoon of baking yeast. The mixture should be fermenting within hours. The gas generated during fermentation is fed through the air line to the aquarium and dissipated through an air stone. This will last about 15 days and you will need to discard it when the gas output visibly decreases, and mix up a new batch. Use a non-return valve on the air line to prevent the water from getting sucked back into the bottle. Do not fill the bottle more than half way, or you may end up with the yeast and sugar mix overflowing into your aquarium.

Night flow???

One of the most controvertial questions that is often asked that will an aquarist put on the CO2 cylinder even at night? Yes. If you want your system to be stable it must operate pretty well with the solenoid stuck either open or closed (the two failure modes). This means there must be some carbon dioxide (the night flow) happening all the time. And there must not be way too much carbon dioxide even with the solenoid stuck open.
You can achieve this by using a tee connection. To follow the description below, draw a little diagram as you read. Connect one branch to the regulator. Connect the second branch to a needle valve. Connect the third branch to a second tee. Connect the second branch of the second tee to the diffusor (reactor). Connect the third branch of the second tee to the needle valve. Put a solenoid on the line connecting the two tees directly.
When the solenoid is open, the diffusor is connected directly to the regulator and sees full regulator pressure. When the solenoid is closed, the diffusor is connected thru the needle valve and has lower, restricted flow. Either way, your system is safe.

Aquascaping

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The term aquascape is used to describe the aquarium hobby of arranging aquarium plants and other features such as rocks, driftwood, and other natural decorations and ornaments into a beautiful picture. There are endless ways to go about the task of aquascaping, but that is half the fun! Many people start by having a few random aquarium plants, but then get the urge to try to artfully arrange them into a more aesthetically pleasing view. Thus, the hobbyist becomes an aquarium aquascaper!

In recent years the term aquascaping has become better known by aquarists all over the world. The big man from Japan, Takashi Amano started with his books, a new style in aquaristic art. The simple gathering of plants, beautiful stones and driftwood is no longer the goal of many aquarists. Aquascaping has become a valued art.

Nature Aquascaping ->

The nature aquascape style was made famous by aquascaper Takashi Amano. The goal of this style is to mimic a scene from nature. Typically, there is heavy use of large pieces of driftwood and aquarium rocks. By fixing various mosses and anubias plants to the rocks or wood the scene gains a degree of balance. Ferns may also be used for this purpose. Many aquarium ferns, mosses, and other plants are able to grow directly onto rocks and driftwood. The aquascape should try to mimic a scene from nature as much as possible. As you can imagine, this style results in bold, natural, and wild scenes in a freshwater aquarium.

Jungle Style of Aquascaping ->

The jungle style of aquascaping is best described as a blend between the Dutch method and nature aquascapes. This style borrows aspects from the dutch style including the avenues of plants. Like the nature aquascapes, though, rockwork and driftwood are often used, though not as extensively. Finally, the plants in a jungle aquascape are usually allowed to grow wild and untrimmed until the hobbyist's goal is achieved.

Choosing the shape of your future layout

There are several composition types:

1. The concave setup (high on either side or low in the middle)
2. The convex setup (the opposite of the one above, so low on either side or high in the middle)
3. The triangular setup (high on one side, getting lower to the other)
4. The rectangular setup (high everywhere). This is the one you should avoid. It does not give you areas of free space.

Maintenance ->

Setting up an aquascape is one thing, but maintaining and enhancing its beauty is completely different. Only regular pruning and water changing as well as getting the right balance of nutrients/light/CO2 will make you achieve your goal. Sometimes when your plants grow in, you may even have to change a group of plants, because it does not look like your original imagination. You just have to try it and believe in yourself. You may even have to change a group of plants, because it does not look like your original imagination. You just have to try it and believe in yourself.

Materials for planted discus aquarium

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One can keep discus fish in a bare bottom aquarium. You can see these bare bottom discus tank for breeders and many discus hobbyists. But a few hobbyists keep their discus in a planted aquarium. For planted discus aquarium, you have to set up your aquarium carefully. Here are some things you have to do in a discus planted tank.

substrate:

1- 18 liters Power Sand
5- 9 liter Aqua Soil "Amazonia" normal type
1- 15kg river sand

Filtration:

Eheim external canister filter
Biological filter
Trickle filter
10 liters BIO RIO
5 liters NA CARBON (will be removed when discus are added)
ADA Lily Pipe outflow (P-6 17mm)

Lighting:

Florescent lighting
Coralife fixture
3- 150 HQI ADA NA lamps 8,000K regular (4 hours per day)
4- 96 watt Coralife 10,000K power compact fluorescent (10 hours per day)

CO2:

via reactor

Plants:

Echinodorus species
Anubias sp.
Anacharis sp.
Cabomba sp.
Cryptocoryne sp.
Vallisneria sp.
Hygro sp.
Java ferm

LIGHT IN A PLANTED AQUARIUM

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A planted aquarium is always the best-looking aquarium that can be anywhere seen all over the world. The conventional rule says us that one can provide between 0.5 and 1 watt of fluorescent light per litre of water in the aquarium. But there are some plants like echinodorous sp., anubias sp. which need more light while others do well even under low light conditions. For proper growth of aquatic plants you should not use incandescent lamps. These lamps will add unwanted heat to the aquarium, which can raise the temperature to unbearable levels during summer, and they consume a lot of electricity with low light output. Though cost factor is one of the major problem regarding this matter. It is happy to hear that the compact fluorescent lamps becoming cheaper everyday. This light is the best for plants growth. Better results may be had by using two fluorescent lamps of different colour temperature. Use one bluish (white) and one yellowish (warm) lamp in a two lamp set up.

It is known to us that one should not keep his/her tank under direct sun light. But due to proper growth of plants they need light in the same way as the sun provides. The light must be switched on in the morning and switched off in the evening. Depending on the different regions in the world the amount of hours that you switch on your light varies. For cold region 10-14 hours is the usual amount. For tropical region one can switch on light even 12 hours day/night, while plants from temperate regions are used to short days in winter and long days in summer. So do not leave your lights on indiscriminately at night. But for planted discus aquarium I’ll recommend you to keep this light on in the evening and off it in the night. On occasional evenings when you have guests the light may be left on for few hours extra to "show off" your aquarium.

Lights may be turned off for a few days to control algae outbreaks. A few days of low natural light will not do much damage to your plants but will control some types of algae. Aquatic plants need the same nutrients as garden plants. Fish excretion provides the macro nutrients Nitrogen, Phosphate and Potassium. But plants also need iron, nickel, zinc, boron and traces of many others. These are not easily found by the plants in an aquarium. In nature most water bodies are very large or are constantly being replenished as in rivers. Such sources have all the nutrients for the plants. In limited aquatic environments like the home aquarium some trace nutrients are provided by regular weekly partial water changes.

Lack of macro nutrients will result in stunted growth, yellowing or even holes in leaves. These may be caused by very low fish load in the aquarium or too little water changes. Do not think of adding garden fertilisers, these contain large amounts of phosphates which will result in algae outbreaks, and excess nitrates will stress your fish. It's best to add micro-nutrients only. Pre-formulated micro-nutrient solutions are available at aquarium shops. Do not overdose, or you may end up killing your fish. Follow instructions carefully and if in doubt ask a fellow aquatic planter for advice.

HOW TO MAKE YOUR AQUARIUM COMPATIBLE WITH FISH

2010-02-09T04:27:00.000-08:00

You know that partial water change is very necessary and primary to get proper water for discus aquarium. Hence the question comes how much to change the water and how regular to do it? For discus community tank from my experience, I suggest you to perform 40% of water change in every 5 days and replace with fresh water back to the same level. However, there are some more factors, which may alter the frequency and amount of water to take out. Here I discuss some of these factors:

1. Stocking capacity:
You should be very careful for selecting the number of discus you keep and the amount of plants you provide in your tank. More you planted more number of discus fish you keep harder will be to maintain proper water chemistry. Then you have to perform partial water change more frequently and should be alert on any water parameter changing.

2. Aquarium you select new or old:
As I mentioned earlier that nitrogen cycle is very important for discus aquarium. Therefore, Water chemistry in new aquarium needs more partial water change than a well-established aquarium because the water parameter is still not reduced and can fluctuate a lot. Water changes in order to maintain balanced state. This is because; it takes time to establish the colony of beneficial aquarium bacteria that breaks down ammonia waste. Therefore, check thoroughly the water parameters like ph, ammonia and dissolved oxygen during this critical period.

3. Chlorine free water:

The primary condition of water is it should be dechlorinated. If you want to keep discus then first you must give attention the water you provide in your discus tank. Now a days in any pet shop you can get dechlorinated medicine that helps you to lower chlorine of your tank. Use that thing and dissolve it as that medicine say. You
should buy dechlorine medicine which helps you to lower chlorine of your tank.
This Chlorine is routinely added to the water supply in many parts of the world to make the water germfree. But this Chlorine is not good for discus fish and the use of chloramine can be disastrous. So use a test kit to determine the presence and concentration of this Chlorine or Chloramine. Make sure that discus can be healthy and can grow well if you provide them right water condition, which is obviously chlorine free.

General care of some aquarium plants

2010-02-04T17:44:00.000-08:00

For a planted aquarium it is generally said that provide 2-3 watt light per gallon of water...so for a 35 gallon aquarium i'll recommend to provide 70 watt light and

1.java moss->

Water Conditions
* Fresh water to lightly brackish water
* Very little light to direct bright sunlight.
java moss can survive in a very wide temperature range but it does best between 70° and 85°F. It can do well in a wide pH range, between 5.0 and 8.0.

2.Fissidens Fontanus->

This Fissidens Fontanus lives well in a higher temp. 24-24 deg centigrade.it lives well with amazon and anubias sp.

3.Blyxa Japonica->

It's very easy to handle.Easy to grow under moderate to high light.The only care that one have to keep in mind that do 30% partial water change per week for this plant.

4.Amazon Frogbit and Amazon Sword->

I think this is the plant that everyone want to keep in their tanks.it lives well with in the temp. range of 20-28 deg cel. and ph range of 6-7.5....

5.Anubias Barteri->

Anubias sp. is also a high temp. plant and this plant is very hardy. i'll say that one can add a driftwood in one's tank and keep this plant attach with that driftwood...

6.Elodea->

Elodea is a cold water plant. it lives well in 10-18 deg cel..so i recommend you to not to keep this plant...

7.Hornwort->

Hornwort is easy to maintain.it can also survive in high temp. it's a floating plant everyone know and it works best for juvenile fish or fish fry...

8.Duckweed->

Duckweed is very sensitive with light and temp. so one have to do partial water change in every week and have to check the water parameter.

9.Cladophora->

Cladophora lives only in 26-30 deg cel.so for keeping this plant one have to be careful about selecting the proper fish because many fish don't live in this high temp....

Sex identification of discus fish

2010-01-27T06:30:00.000-08:00

Discus fish is the most beautiful fish of all, but it is funny that one of the biggest question asked frequently of the discus breeder is "how do I determine the sex of my fish?" There are very few easy identifiers in this process. It’s very astonishing that sometimes even I don’t understand which sex of the discus is.
For juvenile discus fish, sex determination is almost impossible. It is only when they begin to pair off that an opportunity arises to help in the determination of sex. Juvenile discus fish, both male and female, have a rounded dorsal fin, and it is not until they begin to mature that a difference can be detected. Therefore, you have to observe your discus carefully to find which sex it is.
The male discus will have thicker lips to aid him in his fight to protect the female, and male discus can become more aggressive. The male will be larger than the female, his forehead is thicker, and we have observed that if the discus is a bit shy, the male will have a tendency to stay between the female and the observer.
Moreover, we can distinguish the male and female discus by anus and the spine of the anal fin. Closer is female (Near the anal fin). The anus of the female is boarder for the tube to deliver eggs.
Check the colour and pattern of your discus fish; compare the discus to one another in the tank. Some fish will have more intense colour and some discus will have more pattern. Male discus fish tend to have less intense colour but have more pattern while the female tends to be more colorful but with lesser pattern.
Sexing Discus is the most difficult. The easiest way to do so is to raise a group of at least six to eight discus, so that they can form community and allow them to pair off when ready. It is a beautiful sight to see this happen, and makes the hobby well worthwhile.

Plants in discus aquarium

2010-01-19T05:34:00.000-08:00

If you decide to keep plants in your discus community aquarium then you have to very careful of choosing plants. Because discus fish is very sensitive and they cannot live well if you choose improper plants. The best plants that favor discus fish are:

1.Amazon(Echinodorous sp.)
2. Anubias sp.
3.Anacharis sp.
4.Cabomba sp.
5.Cryptocoryne sp.
6.Vallisneria sp.
7.Hygro sp.
8.Java ferm

These types of plants are very hardy and survive even if 30 degree Celsius, which is the conventional temperature, level for discus tank.

COMPATIBLE TETRA SP. WITH DISCUS FISH

2010-01-08T18:35:00.000-08:00

There are many tetra sp. that are compatible with discus fish.they are:

Black Neon Tetra (Hyphessobrycon herbertaxelrodi)
Black Phantom Tetra(Megalamphodus megalopterus)
Bleeding Heart Tetra(Hyphessobrycon erythrostigma)
Cardinal Tetra(Cheirodon axelrodi)
Columbian Tetra (Hyphessobrycon columbianus)
Diamond Tetra(Moenkhausia pittieri)
Emperor Tetra(Nematobrycon palmeri)
Glowlight Tetra(Hemigrammus eryhthrozonus)
Green Fire Tetra (Aphyocharax rathbuni)
Jewel Tetra(Hyphessobrycon callistus)
Lemon Tetra(Hyphessobrycon pulchripinnis)
Penguin tetra(Thayeria boehlkei)
Rosy Tetra(Hyphessobrycon bentosi)
Rummy-Nose Tetra(Hemigrammus bleheri)
Rummy-Nose Tetra(Petitella georgiae)

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2010

2010-01-01T03:00:00.000-08:00

Wish you a very very happy new year 2010 to all the readers who have read in this blog.I promise to all of you that in this year this blog will grow more than this.My earnest endeavor is to post more valuable tips and methods to keep discus fish in your aquarium...discus fish is my best fish and i will be happy if all of you keep discus fish in your tank.In this year you will see this blog will be more popular than the before year....
thank you all,wish you a very very happy new year 2010 again....

SOLUTIONS FROM IMPROPER WATER CHEMISTRY

2009-12-26T21:26:00.000-08:00

You have to know about the solutions by which you can get rid of this improper water chemistry. To do this, you have to test our aquarium water to maintain a stable environment for discus fish. Unless you test your water, you cannot understand if the water is stable for discus or not. Water testing is important, and you need to do it, but from my experience, I suggest you that you should not go behind those numbers that are said by the experienced hobbyists. Some aquarists read that the pH should be X and hardness needs to be Y, and continually add chemicals and buffers to the water to alter the pH and hardness, resulting in wild swings in water chemistry. AVOID THIS! Most fishes and even your discus can tolerate up to a certain range of water chemistry, but they do not tolerate rapid changes. Maintaining stable water chemistry, and keeping it at the optimal levels for your particular fish, is difficult. Many of the parameters are interdependent, so that if you change one, the other changes as well. Being able to manage and manipulate water chemistry to provide a stable, healthy environment is the challenge facing any aquarist. The Nitrogen Cycle (Ammonia, Nitrite, and Nitrate) Three of the most important water chemistry parameters are ammonia/ ammonium (NH3/NH4+), nitrite (NO2-), and nitrate (NO3-). These three chemicals are important because ammonia and nitrite are both very toxic to aquatic life, even at low concentrations. Incidentally, neither one is great for us either. Nitrate, while much less toxic than either ammonia or nitrite, is toxic at high concentrations. More importantly, it is a great plant nutrient and thus causes algal blooms.

Now a days, many products are available in the market which that claim to detoxify ammonia and nitrite. These preparations are acceptable to use in case of an emergency, you have to stock these products too. Like when a dead discus fish causes a huge ammonia spike, but they are not a substitute for good filtration and husbandry. These things do not actually remove any nitrogenous waste from the system; they simply bind to ammonia and render it less toxic to fish. All the nitrogen is still in the system feeding other bacterial and algal populations. There is still no substitute for biological filtration and good, old-fashioned water changes. In my aquarium, I have this biological filtering system for the discus fish with great success.

DISCUS FISH CARE SECRETS

2009-12-19T16:43:00.001-08:00

Discus is the most expensive and beautiful of all fishes in any aquarium tank. To maintain discus community tank is not so easy. There are some rules and regulations to maintain discus tank. Here I am going to tell about some does and don’ts of discus tank.

1. Discus loves community, the best way to keep a good and healthy discus tank. More the no of discus fish you keep more they schooling, more that will be fascinating.

2. For discus tank, the growth of discus is very important. Therefore, you should keep all discus of same size. The bigger discus can obviously take most of the food, and the smaller one cannot take the food and that smaller one can die with in a few days.

3. Water and ph condition is obviously important. The ph level should be 7 and do 20 % water change in every week. The ammonia and nitrate level should always be 0.

4. For a discus community aquarium, you should keep some bottom feeders like Cory, clown loach etc. because they eat the uneaten food.

5. It is important to say that discus does not tolerate high power filtering system and they may die due to that. The best way to keep discus is along with an external or biological filter.

6. Discus can need high temperature. They need 30 deg Celsius temperature. In a high temperature most of plants do not live, some plants can survive with this high temperature. Those plants are amazon or echinodorous, anubias, anacharis etc.

Go through these points and I hope you will make a discus community aquarium. For any query, you may ask me for anything details.

DISCUS FISH-WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW BEFORE KEEPING DISCUS FISH

2009-12-08T18:55:00.000-08:00

Discus fish, the king of the aquarium, is not at all easy to keep. This discus fish is extremely considered as high-level care taking fish in aquarium. Generally for the newbies we don’t advice to keep discus fish in their tank. Before keeping a discus fish some points and tips, you have to follow.

The first point you have to keep in mind that discus loves to live with in a community. So keep at least 6 adult discus so that they can form a community. Discus fish With a compressed rounded body shape and gorgeous colors of green, red, brown and blue, (There are 4 ‘real’ discus variants, with their own Latin name. The rest of the color variants are captive bred and the list of these color variants is nearly endless. They have exotic names like, ‘White Diamond’, ‘Blue Diamond’ ‘Snake Skin’). The only wild discus is heckel discus and it is directly found from Amazon River basin. Make sure you know everything about the needs of this fish breed before even thinking about keeping them, though discus fish are not very fragile, they still require a lot of care.

As I mentioned earlier that discus loves community, you can also keep some compatible fish along with discus fish. The best compatible fish you can keep is any kind of tetra species. Like neon tetra, cardinal tetra, rummy nose tetra etc. Normally discus fish are very serene creatures; they are a bit sensitive to stress and a disturbing environment but most fish are. To maintain a good discus aquarium you have to keep in mind that you should keep same size discus in your tank, if you keep juvenile discus then the adult discus can’t provide to feed the juveniles. It is also totally unadvisable to combine any variety of discus fish with catfish, arowana, oscar, senegal etc. Like all aquarium creatures, discus fish require careful living conditions; otherwise they are exposed to disease and may die.

As the natural water temperature the discus fish are used to, is around 26-31 degrees Celsius (79 to 88 °F). In my own discus community aquarium I provide 30 degree Celsius. You will have to recreate and maintain very similar conditions. The hardness of the water ranges from 3 to 10° dGH. Additionally, in the wild, the environment discus fish live in is slightly acid, so I don’t recommend you to keep wild discus like heckle. If you keep heckle then you should keep only heckle. Make sure you adjust the pH values between 6 and 7. the pH is completely friendly to your pets. If the discus fish were bred in captivity they may just as well adapt to higher pH values, but not during the mating season when you really have to provide optimal conditions.

AQUARIUM MAINTAINANCE(PART 2)

2009-11-30T23:47:00.000-08:00

BACKGORUND

Use an aquatic landscape picture for the background. And make sure the lighting is adequate since light acts s a stimulus to the fish and it also helps in photosynthesis.

FILTER AND PUMP

An undergravel filter is placed below the bed and filter pumps and aerators are placed in the corner of the aquarium. The filter cleans the water and along with aerators, they circulate the water to increase the amount of oxygen available to the fish.

OTHER EQUPIEMENT

You will need some other equipment like a pair of tweezers, tongs or forces to reach the bottom of the tank, a siphon tube to change water, a magnetic scrapper to clean the glass and a pair of hand nets.

FOOD

If you want to feed your fish live worms, they should be fresh and cleaned properly. Some common dry foods are tetra bits, tetra crisps, omega one flake food, blood worm, humpy head.

DISEASES

Even you maintain your aquarium in perfect condition the fish might suffer from certain diseases from time to time. So how do you know when your fish is sick? A fish may have swollen belly, sores on the body or may have lost its colour. The other hint is change in behavior- hiding, having trouble to swim or rubbing itself against a hard object. Keep a hospital tank to care that sick fish. Add common salt in your tank before administering the medicine. This will open up the pores of the fish and help the medicine to penetrate.

AQUARIUM MAINTAINANCE(PART 1)

2009-11-20T21:17:00.000-08:00

An aquarium not only enhances the beauty of a room, it has a lot of other benefits as well. For one, the medical fraternity acknowledges that underwater world acts as a medicine for patients with nerve disorders.

But maintaining an aquarium is not an easy task. Once you have decided what kind of you want to keep in your aquarium- freshwater, brakishwater, or marine water fish. You have to provide them with the right atmosphere. Common freshwater fish are guppy, platy, molly, goldfish etc. the experts in this hobby keep angel or discus in their aquarium. Here in this segment I discuss about how to maintain an aquarium:

TANK

If you get the right tank then half of your job is done. Go for the aquarium sets available at most of the pet shops. These come with all necessary accessories- heating, filtering, lightning. The ideal aquarium size is 3-4 ft.

WATER

The water you provide in our aquarium should be clean and most importantly free from any kind of germs. If you are using chlorinated water, it should be aerated overnight and then added the aquarium. Every month, one fourth or partial water change should be done. Be careful that the water you provide in your aquarium will have zero ppm of ammonia, nitrite and nitrate level. When you do partial water change, take out the fish and put them in other tank with the old water. Pour clean water into the tank and wait for about an hour until the temperature will be same as the older water. Now transfer the fish from the other tank. You can add “rid all blue” or”rid all red”. If your water have iron then add “rid all blue” otherwise add “rid all red”.

If your water turns cloudy, the filter is either malfunctioning or there are too much food in your aquarium. Change 30% water change immediately and repeat this process after 2 days. If your water turns yellow, the cause could be the accumulation of waste and organic matter. If your water turns green, the cause is proliferation of planktonic algae. In both cases, the solution is to change 20% water change of water.

AERATION

An air pump should be used along with an air diffuser stone or air ball. The air bubbles diffuse oxygen into the water and drive out carbon dioxide.

TEMPERATURE

Use an automatic thermostat to maintain the temperature of the water and the aquarium. Optimum temperature of the water should be between 28 and 30 degree Celsius. Most fish die during winter and hot summer due to variation of water temperature. When introducing new fish in your aquarium, immense the plastic bag in your aquarium, keep it for 30 minutes so that it becomes the same temperature as the water outside, and release the fish.

COMPATIBLE FISH WITH DISCUS FISH

2009-11-05T21:39:00.000-08:00

Discus fish, the most awesome fish in the aquarium, loves to live with a community. More discus you keep in a tank the better it will be. Now a days most of the discus fish keeper keep discus along with some other compatible fish with discus. Be sure that discus never lives with all types of fish. Either choose the fish that you keep with discus is a bottom dweller or live with a community. But like many fish enthusiasts you do not want to limit yourself to only one type of fish. With a properly set up discus aquarium, you do not have to limit yourself to only discus fish.

While setting up a discus aquarium you do not have to keep only discus fish. Many experts will tell you that it is not appropriate to raise discus with other fish, however if you are careful you can create a beautiful community tank. Moreover, sometimes it is seen that discus can form a community while they see a community form by other fish.

The most important thing to remember when you choose other fish to live in your discus aquarium is that they are compatible with discus fish. When you are thinking of compatibility you must remember that this applies not only to how well they get along, but also if they require the same water conditions. If two species of fish require vastly different water conditions, they will not be compatible in the same tank.

Here I give a short list of some fishes that live happily and peacefully with discus fish.
Tetrastetra sp. is one of the common species that lives happily with discus. Most of the hobbyists keep tetra sp. with discus. There are different kinds of tetras that you can keep with discus. Like:

Neon Tetra :
Neon tetra is one of the famous fish that lives with discus. It is in deed the most compatible fish with discus. Neon tetra loves to live with a community. You can keep at least 12 or more neon so that they can able to form a community. Sometimes discus fish can from their community by seeing the community form by the neon tetras.

Cardinal tetra :
Like neon tetras cardinal tetras are also compatible and happily live with discus. The Cardinal tetra is probably the most popular and obvious species to swim alongside Discus. Just like neon tetras they also can community. In warm, neutral, water and with the benefit of the Discus high protein diet, the Cardinals will grow to around 4cm/11/2". A large shoal of these fish is a delight to behold.

Rummy nose tetra :
It’s a nice fish and, as with all small tetras, kept in a large shoal for best visual effect.

Corydoras :

corydorous is one of the sweet looking bottom dweller of all fish. There are different type of cory like Bronze, albino and Peppered. Specialist aquatic outlets will stock, or be able to obtain, caudimaculatus, elegans, julii, melanistius, paleatus, panda, polystictus and so on. For a discus tank you can easily keep 4-6 cory.

Pleco :

As a bottom dweller you can easily keep Bristle-noses, Ancistrus pleco. These fish stay around 10cm/4" and will work tirelessly to rid the tank of algae. Keep three individuals per 50 litre of water.

Angel :

One of the most controversial fish that we say the compatible fish with discus is the angelfish. Mixing Discus and Angels is a subject that has split the Discus community on many an occasion. Both are indeed nice looking fish. The fact that we keep angel with discus is they both able to survive in 30 deg centigrade. The opposing group says this has never happened to them. Angels can also form a community. If, you are not keeping small fish and are happy to give Angels.

Clown loach:

My favorite bottom dweller fish that live with discus is the clown loach. Clown loaches are very attractive fish and thrive in Discus-friendly water conditions. The high temperature will also keep white spot parasites under control. I don't have a problem with Discus and Clown loaches, but I have put them in "controversial" because they can grow quite big, which is not ideal. But I can also say that I will not prefer you to keep clown loach with discus because when clown loach grow they can eat maximum foods that you provide. In addition, sometimes discus will not able to feed. But they are juvenile they look nice and happily live with discus.

HOW TO START AN AQUARIUM

2009-10-28T01:15:00.000-07:00

Now a days, it is quite pleasant that lots of people are in this aquarium hobby. This hobby is famous in Europe. From all over the world people now show their interest in aquarium. There are some few tips that will describe how to start a new aquarium. The first and foremost thing of your aquarium before introducing fish is your aquarium is properly nitrogen cycled or not. So you should buy starter kits to check whether the ammonia, nitrite and nitrate level is zero or not. Fish naturally produce such chemicals and sometimes for the planted tank the dead leaves too, yet the chemicals must be balanced so that the fish will not become ill or die.

Starter kits are available in the market, the API master test kit is famous now a days. But be aware that after a period of six months or more this starter kit does not function well and shows wrong reading. Since, fish tanks require zero ammonia, the starter kits are ideal for beginners. Before introduce costly fish in your aquarium or during the nitrogen cycle period, you may keep some Starter fish. For freshwater tank, the starter fishes are guppy, platy, molly, goldfish, pleco and cory. In addition, for saltwater tank those starter fishes are clown fish.

When you first purchase your aquarium and fish, you want to make sure the nitrogen cycles are sufficient to provide fish the zero ammonia and nitrite. Tanks typically include plants, which plants will help in purifying your tank by absorbing chemicals and providing oxygen. Plants also break down ammonia and water, which the plants will filter ammonia and bacterial in the water. Since, fish produce nitrates or ammonia, the plants will help you maintain a balance. If you ammonize your tank with starter fish, make sure you avoid overfeeding the fish. Use your test kits to check the level of ammonia in the water. You can purchase starter kits, or products that will help speed up the process so that you can add more fish.

Before purchasing a tank, you have to make a stand to hold up the aquarium. You want to avoid situating the stand/aquarium near windows, doors, or heaters. Moreover, don’t keep your aquarium from where it can get direct sunlight. This will only increase algae build up, which will make your maintenance job tougher. The best place to keep your aquarium in a quite place. Because aquarium fish generally loves to live in a quite and calm place.

Once you tank is setup you can add gravel. But rinse it and clean it properly. Moreover, you can also keep plant your tank. Then you have to give sand in your tank. If you purchased pre-washed gravel you will not have to boil the gravel before putting it into the take, still you will need to rinse. For instance, undergravel filters require that you use lower levels of gravel near the front of the tank. It is recommended that you install the filters and heaters last after setting up your tank properly. On the other hand, if you purchased powered filters, you should install the filters before adding gravel. Also, be sure that not all fishes live in the high power filtering system, like for discus fish you should not keep them with power filtering. You should provide biological and external filter. After you add your gravel, you can add ornaments and plants. Make sure you purchase marine based plants. At the start, you should only fill your tank halfway, and then completely fill it after you have added your additives. You want to use pre-treated water, to fill the tank halfway. Once the tank is full, put your thermometer in place. Next, prime the filters, which you will have available instructions with your purchase.

DISCUS IDENTIFICATION

2009-10-20T18:18:00.000-07:00

This is the BLUE DIAMOND discus.

This is the COBALT BLUE discus.

this is the BLUE TERQUOISE discus.

This is the ROYAL BLUE discus

There are lots of varieties of discus fish are available now in the market or in the pet shop. If you see a blue discus then you guess that it may be blue diamond or cobalt blue or royal blue or even the blue turquoise discus. Sometimes you may buy a blue diamond discus from pet shop but actually, it is a royal blue discus. Similar thing happens when you see the checkerboard variety. Here I can tell you some of the tactics to identify then actual species of discus.

Blue colour discus fish is quite common now a days. In general, there are four varieties of blue discus. They are –
1. Blue diamond discus
2. Cobalt blue discus
3.Blue turquoise discus
4. Royal blue discus

1. Blue diamond discus -> Blue diamond discus has bright sky colour in its body. Its fins are bright sky colour while its belly and body is light blue or blueish white. This blue diamond discus is brighter colour than cobalt blue discus.

2. Cobalt blue discus -> As the name say this has cobalt blue colour of its body. Cobalt blue discus has 2-3 light black vertical strips in its body. But you may not find this black strips all this time. This has dark bluish colour body than blue diamond discus. The cobalt blue is comparatively in round shape than blue diamond discus.

3. Blue turquoise discus -> Blue turquoise discus has blue striations in their whole body. This striations is even for dorsal and anal fin it has the disc shaped body with nine dark vertical bands.

4. Royal blue discus -> Royal blue discus has bright blue colour of its whole body. Its fins, belly or the whole body has bright blue colur. It also has no strips like blue diamond discus.

DIFFERENT TYPES OF FOOD FOR AQUARIUM FISH

2009-10-17T17:00:00.000-07:00

Choosing of proper food is one of the toughest matters in this hobby. Many fishes cannot survive well and stop growth due to lack of proper diet. For discus fish many discus are stunned and stopping growth due to this. Now a days, there are large verities of food are available on the market. Some of them are very effective for aquarium fish. Especially you should be very careful about discus fish food. Keep in mind that for discus fish you should provide them 2 types of food. One is frozen food like “tetra bits”,”omega flake food” and other is live food like bloodworm, tubifelx. In order to cover their needs as fully as possible, fish can also be served small, which are similarly available commercially and are an important source of vitamins and mineral salts. There are other possible options: white meat and mussels. The different types of food that you may choose for your aquarium is:

Freeze-dried food
This freeze dried food is available on the market with a large number. It is possible to buy freeze-dried food items - small animals, shrimps, worms, or plankton. In which the water content has been greatly reduced so that they can be preserved more effectively. This treatment does clearly make them expensive, but they are at least as nourishing as flakes and very popular with fish. They must be stored in a dry place; sometimes you may store that in your refrigerator. Feed them to the fish according to the manufacturer's directions and do not exceed the quantities recommended. For discus fish, you can feed them one time in each day.

Frozen food
You can also use frozen foods like shrimps, fish, worms, and plankton. They have a very high quality value, you can also freeze this food but they do not modify their composition. They are obviously stored in the refrigerator and must refrozen after thawing, in order to reduce the risk of microbial contamination. They are more expensive than freeze-dried foodstuffs.

Homemade food
This homemade food is another variety of food that you can feed to your fish. Any aquarist can easily make his or her own fish food. This homemade food is the heart of live animal like chicken, mutton, turkey etc. you can take some cooked white meat (chicken, turkey) and some seafood (mussels, cockles), also cooked. Then take this food in a pallet and pour a slight of water in that pallet, then mixing it thoroughly, you may mix it by mixing machine to make a homogenous paste. A vitamin supplement, available from aquarium stores, can be added during this process. This mixture can then be mixed with gelatin (from a sachet of powder, for example) so that the paste does not break up in the water, as this may become a source of pollution. you make some small balls of these mixture and feed to your fish. After One portion can be distributed immediately, while the rest can easily be frozen in ice trays. The models designed for small ice cubes are particularly recommended for making a large number of small portions. Once frozen, they can be slipped out of the ice trays and bagged up in freezer bags for use as required.

Bloodworms
Bloodworms are not worm in true sense but these are the aquatic larvae of various species of mosquitoes. Sometimes at the time of fishing from lake or pond, we do use these bloodworms to attract fish. Most of the aquarium fish and discus in particular loves to eat this food. If you feed them live bloodworms then you can see that discus grow very fast and they become healthy. Although it is sometimes thought that they live in mud, they are actually found in the water of areas that are well endowed with organic matter. They are sold in the aquarium trade. They keep for a few days in the refrigerator, wrapped in moist newspaper. They are a good source of nutrition, as they are rich in protein. Now a days, many expert aquarium hobbyists culture this bloodworm for discus food. If you feed frozen dried food and bloodworms then discus can grow well. I also feed these 2 types of food for my discus.

Tubiflex worms
There are two types of Tubiflex worms, red Tubifex, and the black Tubifex, which are raised and sold as fish food. It is one of the popular fish foods in the tropical region. These worms are gathered from the mud in environments rich in organic matter. However, many hobbyists think that their fish will be in high risk when they are introduced this tubiflex into an aquarium, as they may carry undesirable bacteria. If you feed tubliflex to your fish then your fish can grow rapidly but they cannot show their natural colour. So most pf the aquarists feed tubifelex as a secondary fish food. Some pet stores sell Tubifex as ``Live Bloodworms'' which is a misnomer because Bloodworms are the larvae of a type of fly. This risk is very slight, however, and there have been no reports of any serious incidents. The specimens, which are commercially available, can be kept for a few days in the refrigerator, in domestic water, but it is essential that this water is changed every day. You may also use a pot where keep those tubiflex worms and keep this pot beneath tap water with little droplets of water flowing continuously. Though from my personal experience I can say that discus fish cannot eat this food and they can stop growth if you feed them tubiflex.

TEMPARATURE FOR AQUARIUM

2009-10-13T22:10:00.000-07:00

Temperature is one of the major factors for health of fish, without maintaining proper temperature in your aquarium, fish can die. The temperature helps the growth of animals and plants and maintains a balance in your aquarium. However, different fish needs different temperature level but beyond a certain temperature level, they cannot survive.

Some species are more sensitive than others are to variations in this parameter. Discus fish is one of that species. If you keep discus in your tank then you should be very careful about temperature. You should provide 28-30°C for discus aquarium. The temperatures of fresh tropical waters, ranging from 20 to 30°C, are characterized by less significant variations than those found in temperate regions. The mean temperature most often recommended for aquariums is 25°C - 28°C. Fish are even capable of withstanding even more significant variations for brief periods (under 24 hours).

From the dissolution of the oxygen in the air the oxygen of aquarium comes. You can use air pump to generate dissolve oxygen in your aquarium. By wind, currents, or downward flow you can move oxygen through every corners of your aquarium. The more water is stirred, the more it is oxygenated. Plants also provide oxygen, which they produce through photosynthesis. However, some problems may be occurred. Like your nitrate and ammonia level may go up. Then you need a CO2 diffuser in your tank. The maximum amount of oxygen that water can contain is determined by its temperature: the higher this is, the less oxygen the water can contain (at 25°C there is 18% less oxygen than at 15°C).

Oxygen in your aquarium is measured by mg/liter. The most turbulent, and therefore the most oxygenated, water contains 8-10 mg/liter, while the most deficient water sometimes has less than 2 mg/liter. The oxygen content in an aquarium is usually at its maximum, providing the recommendations for stirring the water be followed. The rare problems which do occur are the result of negligence as regards the overall balance of the aquarium (overpopulation of fish, number of plants), or non-functioning of equipment due to forgetfulness, breakdown, or a power cut. Sometimes during the power, cut ammonia and nitrate level may go high. Oxygen supply is just the primary stage for any aquarium. Many a times due to lack of oxygen fish may suffer from disease. Carbon dioxide derives from the respiration of fish, plants, and bacteria. Carbon dioxide is quite rare in an aquarium. It is therefore vital to establish a permanent equilibrium between oxygen, carbon dioxide, plants, and fish, although this balance changes at night, when plants stop producing oxygen. Carbon dioxide is also one of the main factors affecting the pH. Now you can see a list about Maximum oxygen content
of water as a function of temperature.

Maximum oxygen content of water as a function of temperature

T°C ------------mg/liter

15 ------------->10.1
16 -------------->9.9
17 -------------->9.7
18 ------------->9.5
19 ------------->9.3
20 ------------->9.1
21 ------------->8.9
22 ------------->8.7
23 ------------->8.6
24 ------------->8.4
25 ------------->8.3
26 -------------->8.1
27 -------------->7.9
28 -------------->7.8

Symphysodon sp.

2009-10-12T02:31:00.000-07:00

Symphysodon Aequifasciata

There are several natural varieties of discus, technically known as subspecies: -
Brown- Basically brown, with blue streaks on head.
Green- With a lighter body and blue-green belly; the head and upper back show blue, wavy stripes.
Blue -Much of whose body, especially the finnage, is covered with blue streaks. Three other strains of discus have been bred selectively:
RED - Which has a red back and belly; the pelvic fins are black, as opposed to red in other varieties.
ROYAL BLUE - Blue body with brownish-red streaks.
COBELT BLUE - as the name, it is cobalt blue colour and a light strip of its boy.
Size: 10-15 cm.

Symphysodon discus discus :

The Heckel discus has only three dark transverse bands. Unlike its cousins - the subspecies and varieties of Symphysodon aequifasciatus, which are mainly raised in captivity - the Heckel discus is usually procured from the wild. Tens of thousands of fish of these species are exported every year; there is little data concerning the influence of these culls on the natural population, but these Cichlids do not appear to be endangered. As a matter of interest, the Heckel forms a modest food resource, on a very localized basis, for certain native populations.
Size: 10-15 cm.

DIFFERENT TYPES OF FILTERS IN YOUR AQUARIUM

2009-10-07T17:26:00.000-07:00

Most of the newcomers face this problem that which type of filter they will use for their tank. Filtration is the life support system of the aquarium. Without filtration, your fish would soon die from the toxicity of their own waste and even if you choose inappropriate filter your fish die. Like discus fish cannot bother high power filtering system. I have a personal experience about that incidence.

The Nitrogen Cycle
In the aquarium, nitrobacters, the beneficial bacteria, colonize in the biological filter media and on every surface of the tank. They consume the toxic ammonia that is produced by decomposition of fish waste and other organic matter like the waste of plants. The ammonia is then converted to nitrite. Then nitrite is converted into nitrate. This process is your biological filtration. The nitrate is removed from the aquarium by your partial water changes and consumed by live plants. So during the cycling period of your tank you may do 40-50% water change and also check the nitrite, ammonia, nitrate and ph level of your tank. This process can take up to a month and a half. It’s best to perform a fishless cycle and don’t add fish until the cycle has completed and your tank is showing Nitrates. But if you want to keep some fish during the cycling period then you can add danio,platy,molly,cory.

Mechanical Filter
Mechanical filter removes large floating particles of uneaten food, fish waste, and plant waste. We can do this in various ways: sponges, pads, floss. practically any inert mesh-type material that will capture the dirt. Simple filter floss is very inexpensive and effective. Depending upon the style of filter you choose, the prefilter media is situated where the water first enters the filter. It may be that you use a small sponge filter on the intake tube of your power or canister filter. Some filters have special chambers for prefiltration media. Undergravel filter is this kind of filter. In this filter the wastes go inside the places of this filter. Mechanical filters must be changed or cleaned weekly. So whichever method of mechanical filtration you choose, keep it clean. This is one area where you don’t have to worry about preserving your bacterial bed. Just wash, rinse, or replace that mechanical filter media as often as possible.

Biological Filter
Biological filtration is that bacterial conversion of nitrogenous compounds described above in the nitrogen cycle. Where you want to clean your mechanical filter often, the biological filter performs best when it can be left strictly to its own devices with a constant flow of particle-free, oxygenated water through the media. For my discus aquarium I use a biological filter. In this biological filter, there are many biological balls, which can create good nitrogenous bacteria. There are many types of biological filters. The Eheim canister filter, which has preferred by most of the advanced hobbyist, the trickle filter, the simple box filter, which is used with tremendous success by experienced fish keepers, etc. Some tanks are maintained for years with nothing more than a simple sponge filter and air pump. The sponge filter is gently squeezed in a bucket of tank water once a week and the resident nitrobacters do a fine job of converting the ammonia and nitrite. Regular siphoning of uneaten food and fish waste goes a long way to helping you keep a healthy tank with a very simple filtration set up. As many different types of biological filter as there are, there are more types of media. Some examples of biological filter media include plastic hair curlers, bio balls, gravel, sand, ceramic noodles, and so on. Biological filtration is necessary to the health of your fish. Whichever media you employ to harbor your nitrifying bacteria, remember that you want to keep the bacteria safe from harm. It takes about six weeks for the nitrobacters to establish themselves in the filter. During this critical period, the ammonia and nitrite will reach high, maybe toxic levels. Keep your fish load very low in the new aquarium and be very careful not to overfeed. Because the uneaten extra food generally goes downwards of your aquarium and forms wastes full of ammonia,nitrite. There are current products on the market that can be used as a fishless cycle. The water may cloud up when new and that is called new tank syndrome which is a build-up of healthy bacteria. This is normal and will clear up once your filter bacteria have become established. To maintain a healthy bacterial colony in the biological part of your filtration system, treat the media with gentle care. When cleaning the media, use only tank water. Do not use hot water or fresh tap water. A gentle rinse with tank water should be all you need to do if you have set up the system properly. The goal is to maintain the bacteria as undisturbed as possible on the media. If your tank is without power for any length of time, it is entirely possible that your biological filter will crash. This happens when the bacteria are without oxygen for a period. This time varies depending upon a number of factors, but should you find that the filter has been off for a day, smells foul, and the fish are gasping for air at the surface, do not simply turn the filter back on! The filter has become toxic and must be thoroughly cleaned and the media replaced before it can be used on the aquarium.

Chemical filter
The main thing for this chemical filtration is Activated carbon. Activated carbon in granular or powdered form provides one type of chemical filtration. Activated carbon removes discoloration, dyes, colors, phosphate, chlorine, arsenic, chromium, hydrogen peroxide, potassium permanganate, some of the heavy metals and many other toxins in varying degree. It also removes many fish medications at the end of therapy. It is ideal for prefiltration of the tap water to remove most of the residual toxins left after municipal water treatment and some of the toxins that have been added in water treatment! Activated carbon does not remove ammonia, nitrite, or nitrate, so do not expect it to take the place of biological or mechanical filtration. Once it has been used to remove toxins from the water, it should not be left in the aquarium to serve as a biological media. There are other, more appropriate media for this purpose.

Power filter
Power filter is another type of filter which is very famous today. This power filter by its power drags the wastes of your aquarium towards itself. It also helps the water circulation of your aquarium. In this filter there is a motor which helps this filter to work. But before use this filter make sure that the fishes you keep in your aquarium will be capable to live in this high power filtration system or not. For example, discus fish never lives with power filter. For a discus aquarium, you have to avoid this filter.

Peat in the Aquarium
The active compounds in peat are also present in the natural black waters of the discus. It is all-natural and does wonders in the discus aquarium. True, peat filtration will color the water, but if the behavior of discus in peat-filtered water is any indication, discus really like amber-colored water. Peat filtration often triggers spawning and is available in aquarium shops and garden centers. It even comes in neat little pellets that are easy to use and economical. Use bag and seal the bag. Slip this bag into your filter or place it in an area of the aquarium where water will flow through the bag. Replace the peat frequently, about every 30 days.

HOW TO ADJUST PH LEVEL OF YOUR AQUARIUM

2009-10-05T04:21:00.000-07:00

The biggest ever problem faced by the aquarist is maintaining a constant pH level. Many hobbyists fail to understand why a constant pH level is necessary in the aquarium and what factors influence the pH reading.
Why ph is important for your aquarium ->
For a good and healthy aquarium maintaining a constant ph has many influence for water of your tank. For instance, if your pH drops below 6, the nitrification bacteria that keep your ammonia and nitrites (toxic compounds to fish) at 0 ppm, will begin to die off.

If you don’t maintain a constant ph level then the ammonia level of your tank will fluctuate. The total ammonia is a combination of ammonium ions (NH4+) and ammonia (NH3). The pH of your water is the major factor in the relative concentrations of these two compounds. More ammonia (the more toxic of the two compounds) will be present in alkaline water while more ammonium ions (the less toxic of the two compounds) will be present in acidic water. After the cycle is completed, there should not be any ammonia in your tank anyways.

Which ph you will maintain for your aquarium ->
When considering pH, you should know which ph you will maintain for your aquarium. Like discus fish loves to live in a high ph level,7.0 may be the optimal pH level. the same fish will likely thrive at a constant level anywhere between 6.6 and 7.4. for their breeding you should keep 6-6.5 ph level. For a marine aquarium, you should keep more than 7 ph level. In other words, a constant pH of 6.6 is better than a pH value which fluctuates between 6.6 and 7.0, even for a fish which prefers a 7.0 reading.

How to Test Your Tap Water’s pH ->

Many hobbyists test their tap water right away for pH. However, this is not a good indication of your pH. To properly measure, your tap water’s pH, pour some tap water into a bucket and place an air stone in the bucket to agitate the surface. Then let this bucket of water sit out for 24 hours. After this, test the water for its pH. It is then a good idea to check it after 48 hours to see if there is any additional change. These values measured after 24-48 hours are an accurate measure of pH of your tap water.

In this time, Carbon dioxide in the water causes the pH to drop. By exposing your tap water to the air and agitating the surface, you are causing a gas exchange at the surface of the water. This exchange reduces the amount of carbon dioxide in your water and causes the pH to rise. This pH will be the actual one you will measure in your tank.

If the fish you want to keep have very special pH requirements, like discus fish needs a constant ph level, which is reasonably close to the pH your aquarium water is naturally buffered to, then I do not recommend you make any changes. On the other hand, if your fish have pH requirements which are far from the values in your tank, then you have to do some methods and steps.
Check Your Test Kit ->

Many newbies in this hobby have this problem. The test kit they use does not give correct reading. This can be frustrating and they think there is a pH problem, but actually is not and do lots of thing to stabilize the ph level and ultimately their fishes die. Therefore, if you are getting a reading that is either too low or too high for your taste, the first step is to investigate the test kit you use is either correct or not.

Most test kits have its own life (usually 6 months). If your test kit is older than this, it may be providing inaccurate results If you are sure the kit is not out of date and that you followed the directions exactly then you can be confident that you are obtaining an accurate reading of the pH.

Ways to Raise Your pH ->

As stated above, it is generally a better idea to acclimate your fish to the pH of your water than to adjust your water to suit the pH preference of your fish. There are certain steps to raise ph level of aquarium.

● Water Changes – if you do not change the water of your aquarium, the pH in your aquarium will drop. The most effective method to raise it back up to the level of your tap water is to do regular water changes. If you notice that your aquarium has a fluctuating or deviating ph then do 30-40% partial water change of your aquarium.
Vacuuming all of the uneaten food and waste will also help to counter the tendency for the pH to drop over time.

● Rocks or driftwood - Add some rock or driftwood in your aquarium for raising the pH. Crushed coral is used as the substrate in many African cichlid tanks (African cichlids prefer a high pH of 7.0). Limestone and petrified coral will also do the trick. If you do not want to add these rocks, you can add a bag of crushed coral to your filter or hide some of these rocks behind the rocks you do want to showcase. For a discus aquarium, you cannot keep rocks where as you can keep driftwoods.

● Aeration – Increasing the oxygen concentration in your water will serve to drive down the carbon dioxide concentration. As discussed above, less carbon dioxide translates to a higher pH. Therefore, you can increase the aeration in the tank to raise the pH.

● Baking soda – Adding baking soda will also raise the pH, but if you add backing soda once an just forget it then its purpose is not served yet. So you have to add backing soda in your tank constantly. You also need to be careful not to add too much at one time and cause a severe spike as this could kill your fish. It is best to gradually adjust the pH if you decide it must be adjusted. A general rule is 1 teaspoon per 5 gallons. For example I have 63 gallon discus aquarium so I give 13 teaspoon. Dissolve the baking soda in some water before adding it to the tank

● Chemicals – There are several commercial buffers currently available on the LFS. However, these are generally not recommended as they can lead to large spikes in your pH and usually only serve as a temporary fix. They will not in general, maintain the pH in your aquarium

Keeping Disease Free DISCUS FISH

2009-09-27T01:45:00.000-07:00

Most of the discus lovers have a question how to keep their discus disease free. Lots of things you have to do if you want to keep your discus fish healthy . In this blog I am going to give you a few tips on how to keep discus fish disease free as:

One of the most common assumptions with discus is that they easily get disease and die. This is not true. They will only get disease if you don't provide them the proper set up.

The root of the problem is stress, if you cause discus stress there immune system will lower and make them venerable to disease. It is important to keep stress to a minimum so below I have made you a check list of things to do.

1. Make sure all water is free from chlorine and heavy metals. It is important that you invest in either an RO unit, water purifier or use a good quality tap water condition.

2.Give your discus a good varied diet including frozen bloodworm and slow sinking granules. I give “TETRA BITS” and tubiflex for my discus. (http://discusfishcaresecrets.blogspot.com/2009/10/different-types-of-food-for-aquarium.html)

3. Don't place your discus aquarium near a door or a noisy area because all the movement will cause them stress. Discus fish loves to live in a quite and calm place.

4.If you are keeping young discus, keep in groups of no less than six. Discus loves community. More discus you keep in your tank more healthier they will be.

5.Make sure there are no large changes in pH, hardness or temperature when changing water. Discus loves to live with a PH range of 6-6.5(http://discusfishcaresecrets.blogspot.com/2009/10/how-to-adjust-ph-level-of-your-aquarium.html) and temperature of 30 degrre centigrade.

Above are just a few things that you can do to make sure your discus fish live a happy life and remain healthy. Remember discus are not hard to keep, they just require regular water changes and a good varied diet like most other fish.

DISCUS FISH

2009-09-24T17:27:00.000-07:00

Scientific Name: Symphysodon aequifasciatus

Common name: There are various discus fish. like blue diamond,cobelt blue,royal blue, marlboro,albino,terquise,checkerboard discus etc.

Category: Heroini.

Distribution: Native to amazon river basin.

Temperature: 28-30 degree centigrade.(http://discusfishcaresecrets.blogspot.com/2009/10/temparature-for-aquarium.html)

pH: 6-7. (http://discusfishcaresecrets.blogspot.com/2009/10/how-to-adjust-ph-level-of-your-aquarium.html)

Care level: Modarate to tough,generally an experienced hobbyist can keep discus fish.

Temperament: Peaceful.discus is famous for its peaceful temperament.

Potential Size: An adult discus can grow upto 8-10 inch.

Diet: Frozen blood worm, "tetra bits", tubiflex.(http://discusfishcaresecrets.blogspot.com/2009/10/different-types-of-food-for-aquarium.html)

Tank Zone: Middle level of tank.

Minimum tank size: Conventional rule says that provide 10 gallon per adult discus.

Sexual Differences: For sexing discus you should find out the anal, dorsal, and caudal fins. Extend imaginary lines from the anal and dorsal fins toward the caudal fin. If the lines intersect on the caudal fin, it is most likely a female. If they intersect past the caudal fin, most likely a male.The male will have thicker lips to aid him in his fight to protect the female, and will be more aggressive. He will be larger than the female, his forehead is thicker, and we have observed that if the discus are a bit shy, the male will have a tendency to stay between the female and the observerThe dorsal fin of the male will be pointed, and the female's dorsal fin will be rounded. Note that in juvenile discus, this is not apparent.The breeding tube of the female, between the anus and anal fin, is broader and rounder than the male, and will have a sharp tip. The male has a smaller, sharper breeding tube. Be aware that this is only evident during spawning, and you should observe it closely.

(http://discusfishcaresecrets.blogspot.com/2009/09/how-to-determine-sex-of-discus-fish.html)

Breeding: The best and primary way to breed discus is to keep breeding pair of discus. So that you should buy adult discus. The common name of adult discus capable of breeding is known as “breeding pair discus”. You should Keep either 2 adult discus in your aquarium or keep 1 male and 2 female discus together. Most discus breeder keeps the bare bottom tank to breed discus. The female lays her eggs (up to 200) on a vertical support (PVC pipe, plant pot, aquarium glass), with hatching following in about three days; the fry remain attached by their heads and only start swimming two or three days later, under the supervision of the parent fish. Other type of aquarium, which is used to breed discus, is the planted tank. Planted tank means an aquarium is full of natural plants. But it is very important to note that in discus aquarium only a few types of plants can survive. Those plants are echinodorous sp. and Anubias sp. Most discus can lay eggs on the echinodorous sp. plants. The large leaves of these plants are very attractive to them.(http://discusfishcaresecrets.blogspot.com/2009/09/how-to-make-discus-breeding-environment.html)

General Comments: Discus fish is a master loving fish.discus by its colour is famous for now a days. there are various types of discus. discus love to live with in a community.so you should keep a discus community aquarium.

DIFFERENT TYPES OF ANUBIAS SP.

2009-09-23T19:00:00.000-07:00

Anubias are the most common plants in aquarium,they are expensive too…it can live even in 30 deg temp.since discus live in 30 deg temparature. only echinodorous and anubias live in that temp.here i tell some of the anubias sp.

1.anubias afzelii

2.anubias barteri var angustifolia.

3.anubias barteri var barteri

4. aubias barteri var barteri “broad leaf”

5.anubias barteri var barteri “marble”

6.anubias barteri var barteri”variegated”

7.anubias barteri var barteri”coffefolia”

8.anubias barteri var barteri”wavy”

9.anuias nana

10.anubias barteri var nana”marble”

11.aniubias barteri var nana”eyes”

12.anubias barteri var nana”yellow heart”

13. anubias barteri var nana”gold”

14.anubias barteri var nana”petite”

15.anibaias barteri var nana”narrow leaf”

16.anubias barteri var nana”variegated”

17.anubias barteri var nana”stardust”

18.anubias barteri var nana”wrinkled leaf”

19.anubias gigantia

20.anubias greacilis

21.anubias heterophyllia

22.anubias garbon

23.anubias congensis.

among them anubias nana is most common sp. that you find in auqarium shop…

POINTS TO KEEP IN MIND FOR DISCUS LOVERS

2009-09-18T21:56:00.001-07:00

Discus is the most expensive and beautiful of all fishes in any aquarium tank. To maintain discus community tank is not so easy. There are some rules and regulations to maintain discus tank. Who ever not spell bound to see a discus community aquarium. I have my discus tank for 3 years. Now a days, I only concentrate only this discus fish. Here I am going to tell about some does and don’ts of discus tank.
1. Discus loves community, the best way to keep a good and healthy discus tank is to keep at least min of 6 discus. More the no of discus fish you keep more they schooling, more that will be fascinating.
2. For discus tank, the growth of discus is very important. Therefore, that you should keep all discus of same size. If you keep 1 discus of 2 inch size you should keep all discus of that 2 inch size. The bigger discus can obviously take most of the food, and the smaller one cannot take the food and that smaller one can die with in a few days. I have a personal experience about that. I lost one of my discus due to that.
3. From my personal experience I see that discus loves ”tetra bits”. Previously I gave them live worm but whenever I give them tetra bits they only take this food. Feed them twice per day. They know the time when I give them food, and that time they all come near the aquarium. Discus is always a master loving fish. But it is also important not to give them over food.
4. Water and ph condition is obviously important. The ph level should be 7 and do 20 % water change in every week. The ammonia and nitrate level should always be 0. (http://discusfishcaresecrets.blogspot.com/2009/10/how-to-adjust-ph-level-of-your-aquarium.html)
5. For a discus community aquarium, one should keep some bottom feeders like Cory, clown loach etc.
6. It is important to say that discus does not tolerate high power filtering system and they may die due to that. The best way to keep discus is along with an external or biological filter. which type of filter you choose for your aquarium may read from this link...http://discusfishcaresecrets.blogspot.com/2009/10/different-types-of-filters-in-your.html
7. I forget to mention you that discus community aquarium should be min of 4 ft size. Many conventional rules say that 10 gallons for 1 discus fish. The bigger will be the tank the more easily they move so that it is easier to growth.
8. Discus can need high temperature. They need 30 deg Cecilius temperature. In a high temperature most of plants do not live, some plants can survive with this high temperature. Those plants are amazon or echinodorous, anubias, anacharis etc.
9. Discus does not live with some fishes like mono angels, Senegal etc. they best live with angels, neon tetra. Because they are also schooling type fish so discus can school to see their schooling..
Go through these points and I hope you will make a discus community aquarium. For any query, you may ask me for anything details.

HOW TO MAKE A DISCUS BREEDING ENVIRONMENT IN YOUR TANK

2009-09-17T23:43:00.000-07:00

Any aquarium hobbyist wants to keep discus fish in his/her aquarium. However, discus fish is not only costly but also it is very hard to maintain a proper discus community aquarium. If we want to keep discus community aquarium, at first we have to set up discus friendly atmosphere. We have to keep special type of plants (echinodorous sp. Anacharis sp. Anubias sp(http://discusfishcaresecrets.blogspot.com/2009/09/different-ypes-of-anubias-sp.html). etc) and hiding place. We select those plants because discus can need 86-88 deg Fahrenheit temperature. But, in this high temperature many plants can’t survive. However, these plants can be used for one more purpose. Discus fish can lay eggs on the leaves of these plants. Moreover, many a times we see that behind the driftwood discus lay eggs.

The best and primary way to breed discus is to keep breeding pair of discus. So that you should buy adult discus. The common name of adult discus capable of breeding is known as “breeding pair discus”. You should Keep either 2 adult discus in your aquarium or keep 1 male and 2 female discus together. Most discus breeder keeps the bare bottom tank to breed discus. The female lays her eggs (up to 200) on a vertical support (PVC pipe, plant pot, aquarium glass), with hatching following in about three days; the fry remain attached by their heads and only start swimming two or three days later, under the supervision of the parent fish. Other type of aquarium, which is used to breed discus, is the planted tank. Planted tank means an aquarium is full of natural plants. But it is very important to note that in discus aquarium only a few types of plants can survive. Those plants are echinodorous sp. and Anubias sp. Most discus can lay eggs on the echinodorous sp. plants. The large leaves of these plants are very attractive to them.

For a breeding pair of discus the selection of food is also very important. You should use “tetra bits” or frozen blood worm to feed them. Proper selection of filter is also very useful. I say you that do not use power filter because discus cannot survive in the high power filtering system. You can use biological or peat filter. For a discus breeding tank 86-88 deg Fahrenheit temperature is used. Moreover, the ph level which is used is 6.5-7(http://discusfishcaresecrets.blogspot.com/2009/10/how-to-adjust-ph-level-of-your-aquarium.html). The nitrite and ammonia level of the tank must be zero.

Inside tips for a discus community tank today

2009-09-12T18:49:00.000-07:00

Keeping a Discus fish aquarium can be a battle or it can be a rewarding pastime. Usually, the only reason it is a battle is because we don’t understand the natural tendencies of the fish we are keeping. Although temperature, water chemistry and lighting are all correct, sometimes this is just not enough. However, once we start to observe our fish and examine how they are built, and how they behave, we begin to develop larger insight into their requirements and can make the needed changes to create a thriving aquarium.

One of the most important tips for keeping Discus fish, is to be ready to act fast when problems arise. A fish tank is a completely closed ecosystem, so small problems spread quickly and affect the entire ecosystem. Check your discus aquarium on a daily basis. If you can catch a problem and fix it right away, you have good chance containing it.

Most people would probably choose to ignore the internal workings of the discus fish; out of sight, out of mind. However, if we understand how the digestive system of a species works, and whether it is a herbivore or an omnivore, we can be sure to provide a suitable diet. Discus fish are not picky eaters but this doesn’t mean you should take their diet lightly. Some foods can carry parasites, and these must be avoided at all costs, as they may make your fish very sick. Because of this, many discus owners will not feed their fish any live food other than brine shrimp.

At the end of the day, if you take the time to learn how to treat discus fish well; maintain correct water chemistry and temperature, provide a proper diet, put them with compatible tank mates and give them enough space, and stay on top of potential disease, you will be rewarded with an aquarium full of some of the best fish in the world.

I hope you have realized that gaining an insight into learning how Discus fish ‘tick’ will turn ownership of this wonderful fish into a rewarding experience. With proper knowledge, anyone can build and maintain a thriving aquarium full of Discus fish, or any other species. Good luck with your adventure!

How to Determine the Sex of Discus Fish

2009-09-01T18:40:00.000-07:00

Most of the discus hobbyists face this problem when they choose for breeding pair discus. Most of the people do not know how to sexing discus fish. Here in this blog, I tell you how you identify the sex of discus fish.

For sexing discus you should find out the anal, dorsal, and caudal fins. Extend imaginary lines from the anal and dorsal fins toward the caudal fin. If the lines intersect on the caudal fin, it is most likely a female. If they intersect past the caudal fin, most likely a male.

The male will have thicker lips to aid him in his fight to protect the female, and will be more aggressive. He will be larger than the female, his forehead is thicker, and we have observed that if the discus are a bit shy, the male will have a tendency to stay between the female and the observer
The dorsal fin of the male will be pointed, and the female's dorsal fin will be rounded. Note that in juvenile discus, this is not apparent.
The breeding tube of the female, between the anus and anal fin, is broader and rounder than the male, and will have a sharp tip. The male has a smaller, sharper breeding tube. Be aware that this is only evident during spawning, and you should observe it closely.
The conventional rule say us that the male discus fish will tend to have a less intense color and more pattern while the female tends to be more colorful but with lesser pattern.

Discus Fish: The secret behind their appearance

2009-08-17T19:07:00.000-07:00

Before keeping discus fish, it is important to know what a discus fish should look like when they are healthy and fully grown, as well as the various different colors that discus fish can come in so that you are able to keep discus fish happy and healthy, and they can be a rewarding fish for your aquarium.
Discus fish are a little like cichlids of the symphysodon species. This means that they have a laterally compressed body shape and they also have a rounded shape to them. Their body shape is where they get their name discus from. The sides of the discus fish have patterned shades which can come in various colors including green, brown, red and blue. The length and height of a fully grown discus fish is between 8 and 10 inches, so they can grow quite big which is why when keeping discus fish you should have a tank large enough for them.
There tend to be three layers of color on discus fish which is comprised of the base color which ranges from red-brown to cream, a secondary color which is often a metallic color which is either blue or green and the third layer which is black pigment and makes up the vertical bars and can allow the discus fish to lighten and darken whenever they want to. Most discus fish that you can purchase have a red or yellow base color and the second color is in stripes down the side of the fish although it is possible for different strains of discus fish to have a secondary color which will end up covering most of the body of the fish.
There is nothing which constitutes a perfect variety of color or what the name of it is; most of the common breeds of discus fish are true breeds. There are several different color varieties of discus fish and these include; brown which is the commonest color of discus fish in the wild and they tend to have a brown base color with a secondary color on their head and fins, blue or green which is quite similar to the brown wild discus but they do tend to have more of a secondary color, and you can also find a red spotted green discus fish which has a red base color with a green color on top with holes in it which is what produces the spots. This breed is very rare in the wild and is mainly produced specially by breeders.

Raising Discus Fish as a Hobby

2009-08-08T19:03:00.000-07:00

Just as dogs make great companions, discus fish make a great show. Breeding discus as a hobby has become so popular that aquariums all over the world have become the home of this king of the exotic species. For some breeders, discus as a hobby means an immense satisfaction particularly when one manages to get some baby discus too. It is truly rewarding to see that what started with discus as a hobby has turned into a life time experience and a true friendship. What is so special about discus as a hobby? Apart from the great beauty of these fish, discus are unique in their social and loving behavior.

Those who breed discus as a hobby will be more than surprised to notice that the discus show signs of connection to the environment outside the tank. For instance breeding discus as a hobby implies spending lots of time around the tank, cleaning, feeding or simply watching the discus. They are said to recognize the owner in time and they can get as close to you as to eat out of your hand. When breeding discus as a hobby, some owners have noticed that the discus will watch you move around the room or even react to TV noise.

Apart from such social behavior, discus enjoy silence and a close community with other fellows from the same species. If you take discus as a hobby, you may want to take into consideration that they prefer living in close communities that is together with several other members. The dominant discus would be the first to couple, followed by the others if proper conditions are met. Even if you breed discus as a hobby you may still have to separate the couples in a different tank allowing them to raise their fry.

For everyone who takes discus as a hobby, it is important that all the proper living conditions are kept under constant observation. You should not use for instance a too powerful lamp for your discus; as a hobby you like to keep them in the spot light, but this warms the water above the accepted level and reduces the oxygen quantity. There is a short step to take between breeding discus as a hobby and breeding them at a professional level, after all, discus require the same attention no matter your devotion. Even if you take discus as a hobby, you still have to pay attention to their needs all the times.

Discus Fish in a Community Aquarium

2009-07-28T18:41:00.000-07:00

Are you bored with other fishes in your aquarium? So go for discus fish. Discus, without any doubt, is the best-looking fish. Discus has so many varieties. So what do you think? Keep discus alone in the aquarium or keep with other compatible fishes, plants, and driftwoods?

Generally, discus hobbyists can be classified into 2 parts. One type of hobbyists keeps discus and nothing else. They set up discus tank in a bare bottom aquarium without gravel and any kind of decoration. Other hobbyists keep discus in a decorated, planted and in a community aquarium. That is they use their tanks for domestic environment. Since the aquarium is planted so generally it looks good, well decorated and discus feel more comfortable there.

Most of the discus hobbyists or experts suggest that discus can grow well in a bare bottom tank and without any varieties of fish. But if you carefully set up your community aquarium with other compatible fish then it will be the best of all. I have discus community aquarium for last 5 years, obviously planted and decorated.

But before set up a discus community aquarium first you have to know which fishes can live well with discus and do not disturb discus and hence form a community. The best option is tetra varieties. Generally, most hobbyists go for neon and cardinal tetra. These tetras with a group of 15-20 fishes together form a community. Moreover, their schooling nature also encourages discus to from a community with other discus. It is very important in a discus community aquarium is to keep bottom feeders. So you may keep clown loach, pleco, corydorous etc. not only these are good looking fish but also they eat the uneaten food that discus or tetras can not able to eat.

Be aware that all fishes are not at all compatible with discus. You must avoid parrot, Senegal, oscar, arowana, cichlid etc. so do a little research before set up a discus community aquarium. Then your tank will grab attraction of all.

The secret of breeding discus in your own aquarium.

2009-07-24T17:50:00.000-07:00

The best and primary way to breed discus is to keep breeding pair of discus. So that you should buy adult discus. The common name of adult discus capable of breeding is known as “breeding pair discus”. You should Keep either 2 adult discus in your aquarium or keep 1 male and 2 female discus together. Most discus breeder keeps the bare bottom tank to breed discus. The female lays her eggs (up to 200) on a vertical support (PVC pipe, plant pot, aquarium glass), with hatching following in about three days; the fry remain attached by their heads and only start swimming two or three days later, under the supervision of the parent fish. Other type of aquarium, which is used to breed discus, is the planted tank. Planted tank means an aquarium is full of natural plants. But it is very important to note that in discus aquarium only a few types of plants can survive. Those plants are echinodorous sp. and Anubias sp. Most discus can lay eggs on the echinodorous sp. plants. The large leaves of these plants are very attractive to them.

For a breeding pair of discus the selection of food is also very important. You should use “tetra bits” or frozen blood worm to feed them. Proper selection of filter is also very useful. I say you that do not use power filter because discus cannot survive in the high power filtering system. You can use biological or peat filter. For a discus breeding tank 86-88 deg Fahrenheit temperature is used. Moreover, the ph level which is used is 6.5-7. The nitrite and ammonia level of the tank must be zero.

How To Maintain A Healthy Aquarium

2009-07-20T18:11:00.000-07:00

It is an aquarium, which can make a house looking more beautiful. The scientists and doctors suggest that an aquarium may be able to cure many people from disease, specially the mental patient and distressed person. To set up an aquarium is not an easy task. There are so many people in this hobby, but they do not set up a healthy aquarium due to lack of knowledge. There are some tips, which can help set up a healthy aquarium.

Different types of aquarium

First, there are two types of aquarium. i.e. freshwater aquarium and marine aquarium. Freshwater aquarium can be classified into three types. One is planted aquarium, which classifies the aquarium full of plants. There are so many advantages for a planted aquarium. Many fishes can live well in a planted aquarium. They love to hide themselves behind the plants. The second type of freshwater aquarium is bare bottom aquarium. It means that the bottom of that aquarium is naked. In the bare bottom tank, there are no gravels, rocks, or even plants

Another type of aquarium is marine aquarium. We can consider marine aquarium as saltwater aquarium. Marine aquarium is comparatively harder to maintain than freshwater aquarium

Common fishes

This is very important to know while setting up an aquarium. Having fully conversant with the nature of fishes, one should introduce fish in the aquarium. Because there are many types of fishes not compatible with one another and hence one with one another does not feel comfortable. A freshwater fish does not suit with a marine water fish. Both the marine water and freshwater fishes need different water conditions, different ph level, different filtration etc. Moreover, even some freshwater fishes are not compatible with each other. e.g., discus fish does not live comfortable with cichlids, arowana, or flowerhorn.

Filtration

After setting up an aquarium, selecting a good filter is very important. Different types of filters have different purposes. For a freshwater fish aquarium, there are so many filters. The common one is under gravel filter, this filter can set on the bottom of the aquarium, the wastages from fishes can absorb by this filter. Another type of filter is power filter; this filter by its power takes the wastages towards it and purifies the water. The most popular filter for a large aquarium is the external filter. This type of filter can set outside of the aquarium. It takes water from the aquarium and gives back the purified water in the aquarium. Most common external filter is Eheim Cannister filter.

Since set up of marine water aquarium is more complex than freshwater aquarium so, the filter selection is also crucial. Now a days the common and popular filter is Protein Skimmers, Top Reverse Osmosis filter.

Food and number of times to feed fishes

Selection of proper and hygienic food is important for not only their growth but it also helps fishes look more colorful. Different types of fishes need different foods. It is pertinent to mention that there are two types of food. The fish food can be classified into two parts, one is live worm fish food and the other is frozen worm type fish food. Many fishes like to eat live worm where as many like frozen worm. For marine water aquarium, the foods are like “dainichi fish food”, “osi fish food” etc.

Now it is also important that how many times one should feed fishes. Most expert aquarium hobbyists suggest to feed them twice per day, once in the morning and other in the evening, and in a particular time. At the time of be feeding, you have to check if the food goes to the bottom of the aquarium or not. If it goes then you have to be siphoned it out. Otherwise, it can raise the ammonia and nitrite level high.

Conclusion

You have to cultivate on these factors before set up an aquarium. After set up an aquarium, you can decorate it with your own imagination. You can give a light for your aquarium. Proper lighting also helps to growth the plants rapidly. If you set up aquarium in this fashion then everyone will be spell bound to see healthy and beautiful fishes.

10 things you should do maintain a healthy Discus fish aquarium

2009-07-19T18:14:00.000-07:00

Discus by their colours is the most costly and beautiful of all fishes. Discus is also a master loving fish, usually when I give food to my discus I give hands to discus’s bodies. In this blog I will say you how to maintain a discus community aquarium.

1. DISCUS IN A COMMUNITY AQUARIUM
The primary thing for keeping discus is to keep discus in a community aquarium. There are minimum of 6 discus in a tank, so that the community form by them, and all discus can move all together. If you keep a community tank for discus aquarium that is the best thing for all, if your discus form community then half of your job is done.

2. BIG TANK
For a very well set up discus tank, you must see that the size of tank is of minimum 4 ft. Discus can grow very fast, so obviously, they need more and more space to move around in the aquarium. If discus can move freely in your tank, then you can easily say that that discus can grow very fast as it is also very healthy fish, which is out of any diseases…

3. FIXED TEMP AND PH LEVEL
Discus is a very sensitive fish. discus needs a fixed temp and ph level…for the first day of my discus keeping I keep 30 deg centigrade temp and ph level 7. I am very successful for that…many people say that discus can also live 28 deg temp.. However, I will go for 30 deg temperature. You should buy a thermostat and fixed at 30 deg temperature. Many people also keep a digital meter to see the temperature of the aquarium.

4. TOXIC LEVEL
For discus or any aquarium, the NH3 and nitrite must be zero.
Steps taken to remove toxic level
1. You change 40 % water change in every week, also provides some medicines needed for discus. I give “rid all” (red) after changing the water.
2. You can but a siphon to remove the wastes from fishes…because the wastes can cause high the toxic level…there are too many things to reduce toxic level.. iltering in a proper way is also helps you to remove it…

5. FILTRATION
For discus aquarium, the most important thing is filtration. the best is obviously the external filter…those who don’t use it(as I also) use biological filter or undergravel filter but not the power filter because discus can’t survive in high power filtering system. You can see that the juvenile discus is near the filter because due to the power the filter drags the discus towards it. Hence, the discus cannot swim freely and may die due to this. I have an experience about that…

6. FOOD
Feeding discus also an important part to be a successful discus keeper…from my experience, I say that discus loves to eat frozen warm like “tetra bits”. My discuses are always eager to take this food. Discus can eat 3 times max but not more than that. Be sure that when you give food to discus the extra food that must not go to the bottom because it causes toxic level high. it is an experience of lifetime that discus feed from your hand but it happens if you keep your discus very well. When you go to your aquarium all discus come near you…my discus also do that.

7. HIDING PLACE
You should know that discus loves to hide, so that you should provide driftwoods and plants in your aquarium. But most importantly keep your discus in a calm and cool atmosphere…specially for the juveniles and the newer discus when attacked by other discus go to the hiding place and hide. if you don’ provide hiding place discus can die…

8. COMPATIBLE FISH WITH DISCUS
The discus you can keep neon and cardinal tetra, angel, clown loach, pleco, cory, black ghost knife, Asiatic, elephant nose etc... However, never keep gold fish and others.

9. PLANTS
Too many plants but selective plants can give in a discus tank. They are anubias sp, echinodorous sp, java moss, anacharis sp …be sure that the plants you give in a disus tank is well matched for the discus or not…because most of the plants don’t survive the high temp needed for discus(30 deg temp).

10. SIZE FACTOR OF DISCUS
For discus aquarium, you should see that there is same size of discus; this has some advantages… when you keep all same size discus then the discus can’t fight with each other and hence all discus can live well, so that they can grow rapidly. where as if you keep different size of discus then the juveniles are attacked by bigger one and many a times they die due to this, if not die the are stunned discus, because lack of food they stop their growth. So keep all same size discus.