My small piece of the Amazon

[Tito]

Updated pics below.

[Ironman]

very nice Tito, love Discus

[CJC]

I 2nd that, very nice Tito

[AlishanAS]

When will you go back to salt water Tito? LOL

Add a school of sterbai cats and a 100 cardinals. Maybe a few appropriate plants. It will look awesome.

[Tito]

Thanks for the comments guys.

Not going back to salt water. Discus are here to stay.

I'm thinking 6 Pandas and a 25 fish school of ??????

Maybe Rummy Nose Tetras? Not sure about the cardinals because they tend to spread out most of the time.

Anybody know of a really nice Tetra that will school most of the time and look nice?

Perhaps Mark may be able to help me in this department?

Oh, I should mention thaty I am trying to simulate an Amazon setting were there is a tree trunk somewhere behind the left side of the tank. I have more branches soaking - as soon as they sink I will place them in the left side of the tank to create a more dense look - should give the impression I'm looking for. More dense roots as they near the main trunk. That's also why I have only two Amazon swords where the roots begin to become more sparse. Then a hint of open sandy bottom with some river stones and grass to the right. All I will need to complete the scene would be some Amazon Frogbits to darken the left side of the tank. Maybe Mark can helping me get those as well??

Here's another pic:
http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z87/TitoTee_2007/Photos005.jpg

[Tito]

I set this up yesterday. This morning lights on and shortly there after by instinct these domestics headed to congregate by the stone/grass area.

I can hear them saying - hay, where's the shrimp? LOL

Before I took this pic there were about five of them going over the grass looking carefully for something to dart!

http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z87/TitoTee_2007/Photos012.jpg

[TwoTankAmin]

Pandas will not like discus temps at all, sterbais do fine though. There are some other corys which can deal with those temps if you research them.

Schooling is a defensive behavior. Unless the fish perceive there is a threat, they will often meander more than school. Normally having a larger fish or two, ones which wont actually eat the schoolers, is enough to keep them schooling a lot of the time. However, if they are overly scared they will often just hide and cower rather than school. One fish that worked well for me in this respect were SAEs.

The discus should be enough to get tetras schooling. The other nice thing about many tetras, especially cards, is they can handle the discus temps as well.

If you want info on other plants that work well with discus, the Tropica site has a list. Go here http://192.38.244.204/go.asp?show=products then on the right side in the species list click the menu which says all plants and then click discus for the list of plants.

[Tito]

There has to be some other kind of cat I can put in there. Truth be told I dont favor any cories.

Any ideas on cats that stay small?

What do you guys think about glass cats? Strike the glass cats.

What else is there?

[Tito]

Well here's the final layout! I added about six more branches. Looks more dense now.

http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z87/TitoTee_2007/Discus/Photos013.jpg
http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z87/TitoTee_2007/Discus/Photos015.jpg
http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z87/TitoTee_2007/Discus/Photos020.jpg

[fischfan13]

Tito, it is taking on a really nice shape.
Ask a few of our South American sponsors about the plants that they can get you and let your imagination run wild.
I like the Cardinals as well as the Rummy Nose as tankmates.
Good luck.

[Tito]

THanks Bill.

Yea - at this point it's a toss up between cards and rummys.

[foamerdave]

I like the rummy noses. Sharp fish that stays in a nice tight school. I have about 30 in my 75 planted

[Tito]

I like the rummy noses. Sharp fish that stays in a nice tight school. I have about 30 in my 75 planted

Dave - could you post a pic of them?

[Flareside]

Beautiful job aquascaping. The pics look amazing as well as the fish.

Awesome!

[cwnaturescapes]

in the discus tank i had years ago i was breeding pandas along with my discus i made a glass divider in the back of the tank it was 5 inches high and the length of the tank i had filled with red lava rock the small panda fry used this as a refuge from the other fish in the tank,

[Tito]

Here's a nice way of them showing that they like the new furniture.

http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z87/TitoTee_2007/Discus/Photos034.jpg
Parents inspecting the eggs.

http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z87/TitoTee_2007/Discus/Photos037.jpg
Male takes a look.

http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z87/TitoTee_2007/Discus/Photos021.jpg
Female takes a look.

[chris1932]

You could try Hyphessobrycon amapaensis. I got them in because they are not your same old tetra. Dont get me wrong I keep about 500 cardinals in stock at all times due to popularity.

Other good choices
Big school of any pencil fish but Nannostomus Espei or Harrisoni are best
Nematobrycon Lacortei or Palmeri
Aphyocharax Rathbuni
Moenkhausia Takasei
Hyphessobrycon Loretoensis, Amapaensis, Axelrodi,

Catfish come in many sizes and shapes. You may do best with a whiptail cat or two
Rineloricaria
Planaloricaria Cryptodon
Bunocephalus
Platystacus

Chris
www.amazontropicalsonline.com

[AlishanAS]

Way to go Tito. Maybe you found your niche with discus.
Let's hope they hatch and you have little ones picking away at the parents.

[Tito]

Way to go Tito. Maybe you found your niche with discus.
Let's hope they hatch and you have little ones picking away at the parents.

THanks Tom.

At this point it's just neat to see them spawn in the tank on the wood. I don't think the eggs will hatch - my pH is 7.4 and I have not checked the gh or kh of the water. Hopefully with so much driftwood in the tank - the water will be soft enough to produce hatchable eggs. I'll keep ya posted.

[YoungAquaticPhotos]

Great job Tito!
Good Luck with them! Looking great!

[chris1932]

With domestic discus you should have no trouble at all with the viability of eggs. Keep an eye on tankmates. You do not want the parent pair being bothered while the wigglers are feeding on the slime coat. Otherwise you should do fine.

[Tito]

Great job Tito!
Good Luck with them! Looking great!

Thanks Ed!

So far a few eggs have turned white - the man missed! LOL

But the good news is - it appears that a good portion are fertilized. Not bad for a first time youngen.

[AlishanAS]

So Tito -what's the deal?

Did you get any fry from the spawn?

[Tito]

Hey Tom,

Nope. No fry. These guys are too young - the male is more than likely teasing the poor gurl. He doesn't have seeds in the bullets yet. My understanding is that Discus males are like human males. They can perform early but produce nothing! LOL Take a little more time to mature.

Also the pH of my TAP is highly questionably for egg hatchability. I think my TDS my be way to high with a pH of 7.5. But it's good for Africans! LOL

I also have another two that paired up and laid eggs twice - no fry of course. They are also young. But that pair I want to breed! It's a Red Turq male with a Brilliant Blue. I will let them grow some more in the group before seperating.

[Greenhacker]

Have you looked at Ember Tetras? They are small but they are the best schooling tetra I've ever kept and once they color up they would contrast nicely with the blue based discus. Pencils are sweet too!