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Hi Robyn

All this fish talk, there is not much I can add, you know way way way more by now about Apistos than I do know almost nothing about Discus

Well, all looks somewhat nice to me, and that is all I can say

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Hi Robyn

All this fish talk, there is not much I can add, you know way way way more by now about Apistos than I do know almost nothing about Discus

Well, all looks somewhat nice to me, and that is all I can say

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Hi Ingo,

All this fish talk, there is not much I can add

I'm sure you can add heaps when it comes time to plant the 6ft. Right now, I'm a bit of a fraud, here in the planted tank section. Tank still is planted, C02 pumps in - but tank is treated as a holding tank for plants & discus. Nothing is in any order & all is a mess, with some plants floating.

I hope that you might pop in with advice on planting, when the time is right.

Cheers
TW

... when the time is right

Robyn,

You know that the time is right BEFORE you plant it, right? You are a pro, so this is almost a hypothetical question, LOL.

And don't forget the hardscape!

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Yay, Ingo is right, of course. I hope you will share your thoughts in the planning phase regrading hardware with us.Something that would come in handy for myself ...

I will do so, as soon as I get a little time up my sleeve. Thanks for your continued interest in my long delayed plans.

Cheers
TW

you changed your avatar No fire ruby and penang eruption anymore ...

you changed your avatar No fire ruby and penang eruption anymore

Seems I stuffed up. It's meant to be changed to Wild Royal Blue discus, instead I must have set it to this older avator, a previous PT.Nigerian Red male. I'll try again tonight.

Anyway, I've seen some plants on line, but the site gives absolutely no information about them (lighting requirements, maximum height, all those things that we need to know). The links are below. If anyone knows anything about these plants, I'd appreciate your advice.

http://www.livefish.com.au/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=1806
http://www.livefish.com.au/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=1918
http://www.livefish.com.au/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=2_81&products_id=1804
http://www.livefish.com.au/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=1816

Also, I had thought that stricta & temple were the same plant, but this site lists both - so I'm thinking there must be a difference after all?


Cheers
TW

In Order:

"Curly Ivy Bunch" - never heard of it, looks aquatic, but may not be

"Peacock Swords" - does not look aquatic at all

"Cardamine lyrata Bunch" - I actually have this one. It is basically a small form of the Pennywort, with leaves the size of a nickle (now, I guess you don't know how large that would be, LOL), maybe 1.5cm across. It is not a bunch though, it is many runners tangled up in that shot, with maybe some branching. Will do fine in medium to higher light.

"Pink Ivy Bunch" - I think I have seen this one before, named something with hedge in it and not truly aquatic. But I may be wrong.

Know little about stricta & temple, except that the latter comes in different colors and maybe that is why they call one stricta and the other temple. Just guessing though.

That's it,

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Robyn:

I absolutely agree with Ingo, the 'peacock sword' is not aquatic at all. Am right now on a business trip, otherwise I would have looked up the plant in my 'window sill plant dictionary'

Poor, poor you ... training for a marathon wish I had the time

The wild blue still looks nice to me but I understand your disappointment! I found that strains of discus can look very different depending on the source.

i have your 'peacock sword' growing in my garden right now - it's from the calathea family, and definitely not aquatic.

you changed your avatar No fire ruby and penang eruption anymore

Can't fix it. I've asked the moderators for help here http://www.fishprofiles.com/forums/private.aspx?id=37017&page=1&0# Hopefully Wild Royal Blue Discus will appear as my avatar shortly.

Thanks Ingo, Claudia & Justin for comments regarding the plants. The link for the last plant wasn't working, but I've fixed it now, in case you have any comments on it.

Too bad about the sword, I thought it looked nice.

I've looked on tropica & plantgeek & couldn't find anything on either type of ivy.

Cardamine lyrata - so does it grow low then, or is it a stem plant?

The stricta & temple names are confusing. Both varieties on the site had versions that were green & others that are green with some red or mauve leaves. Remember Paulus Ingo, he once told me that stricta & temple are the same plant.

I've asked the site to confirm the plants are aquatic & to give me the scientific plant names - if they know them.

Poor, poor you ... training for a marathon wish I had the time

That's just it Claudia, I don't have the time - but I'm doing it anyway. I'm off for a 20km training run now.

That's it for now.

Cheers
TW

Robyn ...Just a thought... have you tried this site . I've bought plants from them a few times and I've been very happy with the results .

http://www.aquaticdreams.com.au/home.asp

Garry

Thanks Garry, I'm always keen to have several on line resources. They have better plant choices than most LFS. I've saved the link with all my others. I mostly get my plants from here http://www.aquariumsuppliesaustralia.com.au/store/cart.php?m=product_list&c=9. I've always been happy. I also buy a lot of my basic supplies from here too (not the dry ferts though). They have optional pick up & as I'm close to them, that's what I do. They do ship though, as you see through check-out.

Cheers
TW

Garry, I ordered a "Minder Aquarium Monitoring Unit" from site you gave me http://www.aquaticdreams.com.au/home.asp Seen similar items elsewhere on line, for around 2X price here. Hope it helps prevent me killing another fish, by forgetting to turn the heater back on.

Here are some shots that include view of some plants. Not full shots mind you - focus is on the discus, as tank is in shut down mode. They do show some of the messy, disorganised planted tank though.





Few shots of Red Alencer - for no reason, other than pics of him never turn out. These are my poor examples of my best attempts


EDIT: Forgot to inclue this guy


Cheers
TW

Robyn...

Gotta love those discus.. Hard to keep but beautiful to view!!

Shane

Thanks for your input as always, Shane
http://thetanklog.blogspot.com/ - [ Thanks to ScottF ]
http://www.natureaquariumclubofutah.com/main.html

Hi Shane

I don't find discus that hard, other than routine regular deworming, my schedule hasn't changed at since I got them. Thanks for the nice comment.

I finally could no longer stand the mess that were the plants in this tank, so things have been tidied up. The key motivating factor was that the tank is a little overcrowded & the discus need both eating & swimming space, so all has been thinned, some plants disposed of, plus a couple of new plants purchases.

http://www.livefish.com.au/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=1815 and http://www.livefish.com.au/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=1817


Not a great deal of effort or thought put into the replanting, because anyone who has visited this log recently knows this tank is planned to shutdown, so it is really only a holding tank.

If Ingo were to pop in, I'm sure he'd say more plants are required but I find discus need an open space for feeding. Here's a full frontal shot

close up of the anubia group, complete with film canisters for apistos to hide in


Some of my cories hanging out under what was sold as pygmy chain sword.



this one was also sold as pygmy chain sword, but it's quite different (thinner / smaller). Being smaller, more likely to be the real deal I guess, but I don't really know.


Here's A.Macmasteri just hanging out


The last 2 of my Harley Rasboras


The willow fern up the back



One more full frontal shot


To finish up, here's my cardinal tetra group. 'Cause I'm worming the discus right now, I moved these guys out, as prazi can't be used with tetras. No, my discus aren't sick. Just that there are several fairly new discus in there, so it was time for a deworming process.


Cheers
TW

The LFS who sold me my Wild Royal Blue discus took some pictures of it, in the store tank, a few days before I brought the fish home. I'm going to add those pictures to my fish pictures thread Discus Pictures A sneaky preview though is my new avitar.

Cheers
TW

Those are rasbora hengeli.

Nice tank.

Hi COL, thanks for stopping by. I'm pretty sure this is what I have the raspbora espei, not hengeli. The hengeli is less red, although I agree my pic doesn't show their true colour - they look brownish, which is not accurate). In real life, they are a strong reddish colour. They also have the small black line behind the head (not visible in my pic) found in the espei & not in the hengeli. Either way, wouldn't bother me too much, as both types are very similar & quite pretty. I only have 2 survivors left & they were from my 1st batch of fish in the tank - so they're fairly old. http://www.bayfish.com.au/category26_1.htm
http://aquaworld.netfirms.com/Cyprinoidae/Rasbora/Rasbora_hengeli.htm

Cheers
TW

Planted tank owners in the US won't understand my excitement, but I've stumbled across a hobbyist selling off some of his Narrow Leaf Java Fern. Have no idea where he got it from, as it's not usually available in AUS (only the wide leaf version) & I have wanted it for a very long time. I paid dearly for it & it should be posted to me after the end of the easter long week end.

I'm very excited

Cheers
TW

This tank is now sitting on one of those removalist type trolleys in the middle of the loungeroom. It's counting down it's final days. Won't be long before these guys move to their new home.

A few full tank shots.



Cheers
TW

I gotta tell you Robyn, I love looking at your
photographs, your fish, and your tanks.
You do great work!

Frank


-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

agreed! so what are you gonna do with the tank once the discus move out? looks like maybe another tank in the coming...???... can't wait to see the new tank with all your discus in it!!!

\\\\\\\"an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of the cure\\\\\\\"

Robyn I agree with Frank ...love those big round fish ...bet they will love their new home .

Garry

I gotta tell you Robyn, I love looking at your photographs your fish, and your tanks. You do great work!

Thank you Frank, coming from someone with your experience, that's real nice of you to say so

so what are you gonna do with the tank once the discus move out? looks like maybe another tank in the coming...???...

Hi brandeeno, this tank is destined to be sold on ebay. Yes a new tank is planned. Not very much to see yet, but this is thread of the new tank's journey into being http://www.fishprofiles.com/files/threads/37492.1.htm?0.6397477#

Hi Garry, I hope my round fish will like it

Cheers
TW

Robyn:

Simply awesome! you are the person I feel the worst about for dissappearing, can't say that I am back, this will take a couple more weeks but wanted to pop in and congratulate you on your tanks!


Claudia

hey claudia, great to hear from you. I've missed having another "round fish" lover popping in. On that other forum, my wild royal blue discus is a finalist in a picture comp - yep even with my crappy camera. Top six are now being voted for by forum members. Unlikely to win, but pleased to be a finalist. Prize is a confirmed pair of discus.

If you pop in again in the near future, tell me, how do you find java fern in a discus tank? Tropica says it's fine up to 30 Celsius, but some Aussie discus hobbyists tell me it slowly dies off for them.

Hope after you are all settled, we will see you & your round fish in a thread here soon. Keep well.

Cheers
TW

Robyn!!
WHERE is the link to admire the pic of your fish?! I keep my fingers crossed for you in the contest! Is this the wild blue your initially so dissapointed about?

Regarding the java fern: I have to admit that I can not contribute my own experience - remember I admired your fern so much. Almost all plants grow well in my discus tank except java fern. I can not conclude that it is the temperature alone, the plant does not thrive in the lower temperature Apisto tank. The only one it does extremely well is the 10G with the dwarf puffers where it is kept with little light and lower temperature.

Discus loving members of my Chicago society claim that java fern does very well in their tanks. However, you have to keep in mind that none of these guys is really into planted tanks and many pf them end up with 'silk' plants. The rumored successful keeping I was told about might be nothing but slow death. On the other hand, there was always a vendor for aquatic plants at the meetings and these guys had the most awesome plants (limited selection but what they had was fantastic) and one special of theirs was the 'java fern hedge for the discus tank'. According to the owner, java fern does well at high temperatures...

Sorry for the rambling, bottom line is that I don't know but I will eagerly follow your thread to learn about your experience

Claudia

Robyn,

I tried to support your wild blue on that other forum but there is something wrong with the poll - I simply can not vote!!! Seems to work for some as the number of votes has increased sinced I checked last but still not for me

Hi Claudia, thanks heaps.

There was an error in the set up of the poll. They couldn't fix it in that thread. A new thread has been created. Here is the link. http://www.discusforums.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=131808#131808

My fish is Entry 2. If you want to vote for mine, just select entry 2.

Once again, thanks heaps.

Cheers
TW

Done! Good luck

robyn,
i was looking arround on plantgeek.net and was looking at the non-aquatic species that re sold to hobbyist and LFS as follery and saw that plant with the purple undersides of the leaves... this plant is non aquatic and will supposedly foule your water after it begins to rot... i dont know if it is accurate, but it is just a heads up... beautiful tank cant wait to see the final product after the move!

\\\\\\\"an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of the cure\\\\\\\"

Thanks for the plant tip brandeeno. I had already decided this plant wasn't going to make it into the discus tank. It did lose leaves quite quickly, plus the leaves are quite big & no longer will suit the look I'm after.

It's annoying when non aquatic plants are sold as aquatic

Cheers
TW