OT: Freshwater/Planted/Discus

I don't but would love to. I've often thought about tearing down the reef for a nice planted tank with Discus and Cardinal Tetras. Anyone wanna buy a tank full of corals?:rolleyes:

ri
 
I was at Marine Oasis today... they have a VERY NICE planted tank... It was stocked with many plants and fish including about a dozen Cardinal Tetras.

ri
 
thats cool I have to get to mo next time im in rochester. I put the co2 back on mine and it is doing great I have the ph down to 6.6 getting ready to order my discus.
 
had some. it was nice until i got bord of them and didn't know what to do with the plants and babies thart they produce so i got rid of the whole thing...and move to the REEF.
 
I keep a planted freshwater tank right next to my reef. I've had this particular tank in some form or another for about 10 years now. It's so little work to keep up, and also sort of my roots in the hobby and I never could bring myself to break it down. I have it set up so aside from throwing some food in it and an occasinal glass scraping or very infrequent water change, it's vitually zero effot to maintain.

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it that an cichlids tank..if so how you keep them from not root your plants out. yes it was every easy to care for my tanks..i do miss them but i love my reef more..hehe..do you think if you use pc or vho for light the plants willl grown faster of better??? maybe the alge will go out of control??
 
there is a ciclid in there... but it's not a ciclid tank. i actually aquired him for a friend that wa breaking his tank down. i didn't want him in my tank and i put him in a 10 gallon unheated, unlit, unfiltered tank with a big chunk of java moss. He lived for months, and one day i figured what the hell, see what happens, and moved him to the big tank. than was about 6 or 7 years ago now. The bulk of the population are barbs, a variety of tetras, one good size red tailed black shark, a rainbow or two, a few mollies, and some other misc fish. when i notice the population decreasing i usually get a dozen or so serbae or some other tetra and dump them in just to keep moving things in there.

In this tanks previous incarnation, it was lit by 2 "shoplight" fixtures, with a total of 4 48" NO bulbs i got from home depot, 2 "daylight" and 2 "plant and aquarium"

I've kept planted tanks for years and years, and i'm a firm believer in natural algae control methods. the higher order plants out compete the algae for nutrients, and a couple of algea eating inhabitants take care of what's left. My upkeep routine is literally to wipe scrape the glass maybe once a month, and a 5 gallon water change 3x a year tops. the current light is a shoplight that i squeezed a VHO balast from hellolights into, and for bulbs have coralife VHO trichromatics in.
 
I have 2 planted tanks, 1 african cichlids (if you can call a javamoss carpet a planted tank) and 1 with a collection of red swords (red ruben, kleiner bar). I have a few anubias to provide green and a minor shape contrast. My red ruben is easilly 36" tall now and quite spectacular. I like having it in the same room as my reef, the contrast between the two tanks is pretty spectacular.
 
i was once a breeder of african cichild and supply pet world(fairport) and abc pet with the babies. but all the money would back into the tanks..i had over 300-400 fish at one point and about like 10 tanks up and running....but i slow pull away b/c i moved out of the house and in an apt. but i had a 55g that was planted with discus and tera and chinses algea eaters..it was nice but i could never get the discus to breed??? dunno why..but those day are long and gone...reefing baby..yeah..that where the fun is...
 
I got a 55 gallon tank in my basemant that is just waiting for me to get off my lazy butt and setup. I miss having a planted tank. I always used to maintain a tank with Altum Angels and or Discus. They are pretty simple to keep as long IMO you have a CO2 system. The only Fresh tank I have now is my daughters 29gallon Mbuna display. Its not really large enough for the Cichlids that are in it. But theres not many. Its a far cry from old 210 gallon Mbuna tank. I also had a 90 gallon Lake Tanyikya tank too. Some of those tropheus were as much as saltwater fish.

I plan on setting that 55 up with plants and Discus. The 29gallon is getting broken down and replaced with a Macro Algae/Seahorse tank....Anybody want a 6 inch Synodotis Decorus. Beatiful Catfish IMO the only scavenger to put in with the African Cichlids. Especially the territorial Lake Malawi (mbuna)

Scott
 
I also at one pt. supplied Pet World wth African and SA cichlids.. i also had an awesome Lake Malawi setup, and a awesome Lake Taginikan setup too.. i stopped doing these type of fish beacause i just had too many, too many breeding.. the last ones i had were C. Frontosa's.. they need too much room though, grow slow but need lots of room.. and yes Tropheus sp. can be very expensive.. The majority of the African cichlids in any store around here are going to be relatively cheap.. order some online and youll get the best but you'll have to pay good $$ for them.. rite now i have access to get some OB Blueberry Peacocks(Aulonocara/ Mbuna cross) awesome looking fish at maturity.. i had four males but couldnt find any females at the time..someone i know is breeding them.. I also had a pair of synodontis Eupterus when i had my cichlids..
 
Kase.... if you had chinese algae eaters in the tank with the discus, the discus may have bred(if they were paired off) and the algae eaters may have eaten the eggs.. just a thought.. seen it happen lots of times..
 
My ten gallon nano that was just broken down got me started in the hobby. First thing I had in it was a Neolamprologus Gracilis named Angus. The prettiest Lake Tanginyakan fish ever, IMO. He jumped out of a small space between the heater & the filter.
Broke my heart.

The last thing I had in it before saltwater was a partially planted cardinal tetra tank with chunks of driftwood.

I love the look of the lush planted fw tanks, that's why I've been going nuts unable to find the marine plants that I want (turtle grass, stargrass, etc.)
 
Great Guys Great now you got me thinking about how much I have wanted to do another planted tank.....There goes more money and time.

SVXH6,
I was lucky enough to live close to a Cichlid specialty breeder/importer in Daytona Beach. Some of the Africans that I saw there would take you breath away. Place was a little on the high side price wise but you could get stuff there that you couldn't get anywhere else. I paid quite a bit for a pair of Bloodfinned Psuedotropeus that were astounding. I believe they were wild caught....I miss it. I wish the guy had a website but all he does is phone wholesale orders to people out of state. Hard to tell what your getting over the phone.

Scott
 
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