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Doing large rearranges of an established aquarium can be risky!

Over time dead spots form in the back of the tank, mainly under the decorations; in these dead spots detritus accumulates and anoxic bacteria forms void of oxygen. Anoxic bacteria produce hydrogen sulphide, which is a toxic gas that can be fatal to fish if disturbed!

If you are planning a large rearrange of an established aquarium it is really worth treating the tank with a dose of Aquarium Detox six weeks prior. Aquarium Detox will provide a blend of 5 different bacteria that would not normally be found in an aquarium, which is able to safely destroy dead spots!

Alternatively a full spring clean would need to be done in order to reduce this risk!

There are few things in life more beautiful than watching a heavily planted aquarium full of Discus!

Nature

Discus is a common name given to a family of Cichlid that comes from the tributaries of the Amazon river. This area has warmer water temperatures (around 30’C) and a lower pH (about 6-6.5). These fish are often gathered in schools living and feeding among plants and driftwood.

There is a few different species of Discus, the Heckel or Red (Symphysodon discus), the Green (Symphysodon aequifasciata aequifasciata), the brown (Symphysodon aequifasciata axelrodi) and the blue (Symphysodon aequifasciata haraldi). Discuses are most commonly known by their common names referring to colour.

Discus are found over a huge area and due to the large range of colours available and the markets desire for new type’s collector in the early years would not tell other people where they had found the fish. Because of this using common names for each variety became the only way of distinguishing colours, unlike fish such as the African Cichlids, where their colour was represented by a true type location. This lead to a huge array of common names in which people have made up to describe each colour of these fish and as more colour variety are becoming available so do more names, in many cases to describe the same fish.

Discus fish have been available in the hobby for a very long time and have always commanded a hefty price due to their unmatched beauty, size and large range of different colours. Discus fish are continuing to becoming more popular gathering more admirers as the colours develop and as they are better understood.

Most Discus available now are captive bred, it is very rare to see wild caught Discus now. More and more colours are becoming available on the market as people are line breeding and cross breeding in an attempt to create something new and different. Due to the price tag few shops carry a large range of Discus but many are available if specially ordered.

Many people find Discus to be very hard to keep often comparing them to reef tanks. There is certainly a few things that you need to know about Discus in order to be successful with them, which I will outline e.g. higher temperatures, lower pH, 2-4dKH, don’t feed too much protein and they love to be kept in schools.

Discus tanks are best decorated using broad leaf plants and driftwood. Be careful with rocks because if they are shape they may damage your prize fish if it runs into it.

Water quality

It is very important to have high water quality for these fish. Ensure that you have a lot of oxygen, high quality biological filter media such as Reefresh and that you have very good mechanical and chemical media such as Poly-filter to ensure maximum water quality. Products such as Easy-life will also really aid these fish.

Ensure that you keep a kH of at least 2-4dKH, even though you have to run low pH. This may require lowering pH and raising kH every time that you add water. Because of this having a large drum to be able prepare the water in is a great benefit.  This would also allow you to use an R.O filter to get your water, R.O or reverse osmosis water is the most pure water and amazing for Discus.

People serious about Discus tend to do a lot more water changes than your average person, 20% per week is common practise.

Behaviour

Discuses are actually a social schooling Cichlid and they can be housed with many of the more peaceful species that also prefer acidic water e.g. Apistogrammas and Microgeophagus. As with many other species of Cichlid they can be shy when housed in tanks with low populations. Many fish like Discus will do a lot better in a busy aquarium where they feel safe amount the populations of fish. For many fish the absence of other fish signals danger.  One of the differences with Discus is they only have a small mouth and they can be slow to feed so it is important to ensure that they are not kept with fish that are too gluttonous or they may starve.

Discuses are best kept with other fish that prefer lower pH and higher temperatures that are not too gluttonous, aggressive or jumpy. Many people claim that Discus should not be kept with Angels and this may be true for wild caught fish due to common Diseases, but I have housed them successful together many times? I have found it a risk mixing other fish with Discus unless the Discuses are kept in a large group in which time they seem to compete a lot better with other fish for food and territory.

Discus are commonly kept with sucker mouth catfish such as Plecos, but be careful that the catfish are not trying to feed on the Discuses body slim at night and stressing the Discus.

Many types of Tetra are perfect to keep with Discus but don’t be surprised if they eat any small fish that fits in their mouth as they get older.

Discus really does best when kept in a large school in a large tank! Many people find their Discus are aggressive towards each other, this is common and best fixed by adding more Discus to the tank to disperse the aggression and attention of the dominant fish. Also ensure that they are not raised on food that is too high in protein as this too may increase their aggression.

Discus can live over 10 years and are a large fish growing over 25cm so is best kept in a large aquarium. An adult Discus in a perfect world should be kept in at least a 600lt tank. If they are housed in smaller tanks their growth will be stunted. This is another reason why many people are not successful with them. They keep them in small tanks with not enough other Discus, feed them the wrong food and keep them in the wrong water parameters, with the wrong types of fish, then complain that they are hard to keep.

Food

Many people continue to feed their Discus high protein foods such as bloodworms and Ox hart! These foods will promote good colour and growth in young fish but they lack all essential vitamins and are another reason why people fine these fish hard to keep. This is often done from ignorance or greed; they believe it is cheaper and quicker to grow fry using this food. The long term health problems created from feeding Discus these foods is massive such as weak immune systems, bloat and hole-in-the-head disease! You end up with big colourful fish with little immune systems.

Having a diet high in vitamins is important to the well being of these fish! In the wild these fish are a grazing fish that will feed on small amounts of food all day long. They have a small mouth right next to their eyes allowing them to swim up to a hard vertical surface e.g. driftwood or plant and sit still staring at it until it sees a small insect or crustacean move, in which time it can accurately snap up its pray. These foods tend to be low in protein but high in vitamins requiring these fish to feed constantly to ensure they get adequate nutrition.

Many aquariums are only fed once a day; in many cases this will not be enough for Discus if they are to obtain adequate nutrients to reach their full potential, unless fed at least twice a day. They will also have an increased metabolism if kept in higher temperatures. Many people that keep these fish in normal temperature tropical tanks complain that their Discuses are lethargic.

New Life Spectrum is by far the best food that you can feed Discus. If your Discuses are not eating granulated foods it is well worth weaning them onto it as it is convenient and good for them.

Frozen and live foods maybe good for a treat but is not as good as a quality granule such as New Life Spectrum food.

Never feed your fish low quality or hormone foods!

Sexing

It is very hard to tell a male from a female until the fish are large. The male is a larger more imposing, dominant fish which will form trailing whips off its dorsal and anal fin. The male will have a bigger head and larger longer body shape; the females tend to be smaller, more round in shape with shorter fins. Breeding size fish can also be vent sixed. To vent sex them you have to turn the fish upside down and inspect the vent, if the hole at the back is larger than the hole at the front it is likely a female, if it is not it is likely a male. I do not recommend vent sexing a

Discus because due to the shape of the fish it can be hard to handle and very stressful on the fish.

Breeding

These fish can be quite easy to breed once you have the conditions right! The hardest thing is to get a good pair. Large breeding pairs can be bought but at a premium price so the best way to get a pair of these fish is to select a colour and get as many babies of this type as you can for different sources to ensure you receive different blood lines and allow them to pair up themselves. This takes a lot of time but is worth it for a long term breeder.

Once you have a pair you will have to set up a tank to breed them in because they will not be able to compete in order to breed in a display tank with other fish. Most people use a bare bottom tank with some places to hide, run on a sponge filter without gravel for breeding. Fine gravel is best for the bottom of the display tank.

Watching these fish breed is one of the most amazing sights you will ever see in an aquarium and is worth any time, effort or money that it may have required. A breeding pair will form a strong bond and will select a vertical surface that they will meticulously defend and clean to lay their eggs on (ensure that any heaters in the tank are hidden or have a heater cover). Once the eggs are laid, the pair will fan the eggs with their pectoral fins until they hatch a few days later. The pair will then defend the huge batch of babies allowing them to feed off their specialized body slim (which is an amazing sight). Though you may start with hundreds of eggs 50 to 100 babies is considered a good effort for an adult pair. Many people also half dose bacterial medication once the eggs are laid to prevent them for going fungus (if they have found this to be a problem).

Interbreeding has been a major problem for this species of fish, interbreeding is where you breed closely related offspring e.g. brother and sister. This may be great for the specific colours that you are trying to get but can result in many deformities and problems for the fish both internal and external.

These fish don’t have to be hard to keep but as you can see there are things to be aware of before your get into these amazing kings of the aquarium!

Good luck and enjoy these wonderful fish!

Paul Talbot

Many people clean algae off the glass by wiping it with a magnet cleaner, a sponge or a razor blade. The problem with this is many algae are uni-cellular, which means it will re-attach once it is wiped off or more advanced algae will end up stuck in the filter or caught in the back of the tank. When the wiped off algae dies it releases its stores of nutrients such as nitrates and phosphates, which will lower the quality of the water and promote of the growth of more algae.

An alternative is to use your front algae as an algae filter. During the week algae will grow on the glass and store large amounts of nutrients, then when it is time to clean the glass you can use Poly-filter to harvest the algae and remove it from the tank, therefore removing all of the stored nutrients. Poly-filter is an amazing material that will collect the dislodged algae. Allowing you to remove it from the tank once you have finished your clean.

These same nutrients that are stored by algae are the same nutrients that cause algae to grow in the tank. So the less nutrients that you have in the tank will mean the less algae will grow in the tank!

This way you are not just cleaning your algae, you are cleaning it for good, improving your water quality and reducing the amount of algae that will grow in the future!

Good luck and enjoy!

By Paul Talbot

Holiday tips – How to ensure your tank survives while you are away

Are you worried about what to do with your fish while you are on holidays?

Many people go away on holidays unprepared and end up coming home to dead fish. This is the best way to spoil a great week away!

With some basic preparation you can ensure that your tank is safe while you are away.

Friendly Helpers

If you are getting someone to look after your tank while you are away, it is very important that you write them detailed instructions and never assume that they know ANYTHING about your tank, even if they have experience in fish keeping. I hear story after story about things that have gone wrong with people’s aquariums after they had been looked after by someone who knew about aquariums, while they were away. It is safer to assume that your friends don’t know anything about aquariums and write everything down, regardless of their experience. Remember, no one knows your tank like you do.

Feeding

If you are going away for a week or less, you can place in your tank a seven day food block which will slowly dissolve and release food that will feed your fish. The block will not dissolve well when the pH is high (above 7.8), but if you have gluttonous fish like cichlids they will often continuously bite the block, extracting the food over time even if the block does not dissolve. 14 day blocks are also available.

Another solution is to purchase an auto feeder which sits over the top of your tank and releases a set amount of food at intervals. If you are planning to use one of these devices it is worth testing it for a period of time well before you go away to ensure it is working effectively and is correctly set up. This will also give you an idea of how long the food you put in it will last.

If you are lucky enough to have someone on hand that can feed your fish, here is a way to make sure your fish get the right amount of food.

Get an ice cube tray and place the amount of food that you would normally feed your fish every day in each section of the tray. Add any pellets, flakes or frozen food you like, then add some tank water and freeze the tray. Tell the person to come in every second day and feed the fish one cube. This way you set the type and amount of food and the fish are getting half the amount of food that you normally feed. Less food means less waste for your system to deal with when you are away. It is better to come home to healthy hungry fish, than to over fed dead fish.

Lastly, hide the food container! It is important not to let your friend get hold of the food jar because despite what you tell them, people always like to give fish just a little bit more food. Make sure to explain to the person that it is normal for fish to always seem hungry.

Many predatory fish enjoy eating feeder fish, so you can add an amount of them to the tank before you leave so your fish can feed on them while you are away. It is important to know your fish well before deciding whether to do this, as some fish will eat all the fish on the first day and pollute the tank. Once again, it is worth testing the idea before you leave to see how your fish will react.

Many fish enjoy eating plants so it can be a good idea to add extra plants to your tank before you leave so your fish can munch on them while you are away if they get hungry.

Lighting

If you don’t have plants or corals you can keep the lights off while you are away. If you do need lights, it is best to have them on a timer, running slightly less light than normal.

Filters

If you are away for more than a week, you may have to teach the person minding your tank how to clean your filter. In most cases this will not need to be done for at least two weeks. Using a quality mechanical media like Polyfilter is a good idea because it does not clog as easily.

Make sure you replace any cartridge or carbon filters before you go.

Water quality

Think about what you would normally do during the time you will be away and leave detailed instructions for anyone looking after your tank.

As a precaution, add a heavy dose of Easylife to help stabilize the water while you are away. If you follow the advice above and only have your tank fed half as much food as normal, the water quality should remain normal during this time.

Just before you leave, do a water change and clean your gravel using a gravel siphon to further minimise any potential water quality problems.

Trace elements

Most aquarium systems can do without trace element feeds for a short period of time. If you will only be away a few weeks, this should not be a problem.

Back up

Keep some Prime handy and tell your friend to add some to the tank if they are worried about anything. You cannot overdose Prime and it will fix many general problems in an aquarium. Easylife can also be dosed heavily before you go away and while you’re away.

Having a battery powered air pump handy can be a great idea, because if there is a power outage while you are away, someone else can at least add oxygen, which will help keep the fish alive for the short time until the power is returned.

If you have an expensive set up it is worth installing an alarm on the power supply, so you will be notified if the power is interrupted. This will allow you to take action before you lose stock.

Lastly, leave a Majestic Aquariums business card with the person looking after your tank so that they can get advice if needed. It is also worth leaving the details of a maintenance person that can do 24 hour emergency call outs if necessary.

Checklist

•    Purchas feeding block or autofeeder or prepare ice cubes

•    Consider adding feeder fish for predators

•    Stock up on plants

•    Set light timer

•    Clean your filter

•    Add buffer

•    Add a heavy dose of Easylife which will help stabilize the water while you are away

•    Double dose Prime

•    Do a water change using a gravel siphon

•    Replace mechanical filtration and consider a high quality media like Polyfilter

•    Purchase a battery powered air pump

Now you’re set. Just enjoy your holiday! I hope these hints help give you peace of mind while you are away.

Good luck and enjoy

Paul Talbot