Who Gives A Fish Forums

Substrate's personal preference, but sand's safer. My 60-gallon's bare except for a few river rocks, and the Discus are healthy but bored. Planning to add sand next month. Running a Rena Filstar XP3, temp at 83°F.

How old are the fry? If they're under 2 weeks, they might still be absorbing yolk sac energy. Overfeeding can crash water quality. Stick to small portions 4x a day. What's your ammonia reading? Even trace amounts can stall growth.


Good point. If they're newly free-swimming, cut feedings to 3x a ...

I've had success with fry in a 29-gallon, bare bottom for easy cleaning. Temp at 86°F seems to speed up their metabolism. Are you using RO water or tap? If tap, what conditioner? Some brands leave traces that stress fry.

My guys' feeding time - here's how it goes down: https://youtu.be/q1yyM1hifU0

Re: Heater for 5x2x2 feet barebottom aquarium

I've had good luck with this particular heater on my own 125-gallon discus tank - it maintains a steady temperature of 82F. Worth taking a look: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09NBB99ZC

Re: What makes my 125-gallon discus tank tick

Decided to share another update on my tank - call it the WOW effect. Check it out: https://youtu.be/lCjVJB7-DeM

Re: What makes my 125-gallon discus tank tick

The baskets under the intake sponge have Seachem matrix bio-media in the top one and Ultimate bio-home in the bottom. When vacuuming, I just move the pots aside to clear out any detritus - it's really easy to keep the tank bottom clean this way.

Re: What makes my 125-gallon discus tank tick

I'm with you on enjoying other people's discus tanks. For me, though, bare bottom is the way to go - it's just so much easier to maintain. I'm 73 now, and I've found that keeping things simple is the key. I've tried sand a couple of times over the years ...

Just messing around today and decided to throw together a video on my 125-gallon discus tank setup. If you're as bored as I was, check it out: https://youtu.be/1jEllSS7axo

I'll give it a go with more artificial floating plants, see if that reduces the light enough to help the pictus catfish colour.