# 33 Gal Discus Growout tank



## jiayaw (Jun 10, 2011)

This is a 33 gal (36in x 12 x 18), running bare bottom with a sponge filter and an Aquaclear 70. The tank have cycled and today, I've bought 6 discus from Rick. Will post pictures of the discus once they settle down in their new home. 

Planning to do 50-75% daily water changes in this tank until the discus are a good size, then I will move them to my planted 75gal eventually. 

the 6 discus I bought includes:
2 white pigeon
2 Alenquer
2 Forrest Giant Blue

Hopefully they will all do well and grow in this tank. I am super excited that I am finally keeping discus!

Thanks!


----------



## jiayaw (Jun 10, 2011)

*Pictures*

Some quick pics after initial feeding... one pic per individual fish
Forrest Giant Blue
















Alenquers
















White Pigeon


----------



## liquid_krystale (Dec 13, 2011)

Drools...

You are a bad influence, making me want to keep discus! Fortunately I've enough sense to hold off (for now). 50-70% changes every day? *faints*


----------



## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

liquid_krystale said:


> 50-70% changes every day? *faints*


That's only about 15 gallons of water changed a day or about 10 minutes.  I know there are various discus keepers on here changing about 20x that a day. 

Jiayaw, that's a great start and a good mind set. I wish you success, and please keep updating your thread on the progress.


----------



## discuspaul (Jul 2, 2010)

jiayaw, your discus look real good - healthy young-uns !

As Gary said, keep posting pics on their progress and development - will look forward to that.


----------



## jiayaw (Jun 10, 2011)

Took a few more pics after they've settled down into their new home, they now have a bit more pop in their colouration


----------



## jiayaw (Jun 10, 2011)

*more pics*

a few more pics 
whole tank








closer view








Alenquers








White pigeons
































Wasn't able to take a decent pic of the two forrest giant blues today, but will try to do so in future as they grow ...


----------



## jiayaw (Jun 10, 2011)

*more pics*


----------



## seanyuki (Apr 22, 2010)

You can put at least 6 more discus in yr tank...........I have put 15 4 ins discus in a 55 gallons without any problems.


----------



## jiayaw (Jun 10, 2011)

True, but I think I like the leeway I have right now, even though I am doing daily 80% water changes, I appreciate that if I end up skipping a water change for one day, it won't be detrimental to the discus's health, and their final home (my 75gal planted) would probably only fit 6 fully grown discus comfortably anyways.



seanyuki said:


> You can put at least 6 more discus in yr tank...........I have put 15 4 ins discus in a 55 gallons without any problems.


----------



## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

I think what Francis is implying is that you can put more in, grow them out as then as they get bigger, keep the ones you want and sell off the rest so you can get the best ones of the lot...sorry if I'm putting words in your mouth Francis.


----------



## Chappy (Apr 21, 2010)

That's a nice little group you've got there, Yoko. Good for you; I'm glad you went with stock from Rick. I love the patterns on the gill plates of the blues and they have a really nice sheen to them - very cute.

One other thing you'll want to do is invest in a tank magnet. You'll want to wipe down the inside glass of your tank often. When discus shed their slime coat, it can end up on the glass and it seems to be like caviar to bacteria. I give my tank a thorough cleaning about twice a week or more - takes no more than 5 minutes. I would NEVER recommend using a tank magnet on anything other than a bare bottom - I've seen way too many tanks scratched up with a sneaky piece of sand or gravel that gets trapped then scrapped against the glass 

Good luck with them and please keep posting on how they develop.

Shelley


----------



## zhasan (Oct 28, 2010)

Those are some nice nice discus!! Will be checking up on the progress!!


----------



## jiayaw (Jun 10, 2011)

Thanks everyone, here are some updated photos that I just took today...

Seems like out of the two alenquers, one of them seem to always show it's stress bars and appear quite a bit darker than the other Alenquer in the tank. At first, I was worried that it might be sick or stressed out but it eats normally and also chases the others around a bit (although in this tank.. the pigeons rule the tank aha), so I am just starting to think that it might be the fish's own personality to be darker, but I will pay a closer attention to it for the time being to make sure nothing is wrong.

Now the pics
The Forrest Giant blues ... (not sure if its just me and my imagination but...) I think they've grown a bit since I first got them
























The Alenquers (you can see how one likes to hide it's stress bars and the other is always a bit darker and shows more of it's stress bars but both of them seem just as active)
































and lastly the white pigeons

























Cheers!


----------



## Canadian_Aqua_Farm (Apr 21, 2010)

They are certainly starting to settle in and show their colours, that is great to see. Some discus will show stress bars more frequently than others, also juveniles tend to display them more than adults. Keep up the updates coming


----------



## jiayaw (Jun 10, 2011)

Been doing daily 90% water changes since I first got the discus, and have been wiping the sides of the tank twice a week. After a week, the discus are finally less shy than before and coming out more often to greet me.

Right now I feed at least 4 times a day (5-6 when I can squeeze in more feeding) but generally morning feed consist of a rotation between hikari frozen bloodworms, san francisco bay fresh water frenzy, and SFB spirulina brine shrimp, second and third feed consist of NLS pellets (cichlid colour 1mm and grow 0.5mm) from auto feeder, and the fourth meal consists of frozen PE mysis shrimps. So far they are loving all the stuff I've been feeding them with just a small number of individuals who are still hesistant in eating the pellets.

Now the pics...


----------



## zhasan (Oct 28, 2010)

They all look really nice! Seems like they are really happy and settling in well!!


----------



## jiayaw (Jun 10, 2011)

Thanks! Really hope they will grow out nicely


zhasan said:


> They all look really nice! Seems like they are really happy and settling in well!!


----------



## jiayaw (Jun 10, 2011)

A few more pics of the Alenquers from today


----------



## Canadian_Aqua_Farm (Apr 21, 2010)

jiayaw said:


> A few more pics of the Alenquers from today


I think I know which ones are your favorites


----------



## jiayaw (Jun 10, 2011)

Haha! Yes! Also with the recent update from your site, the brilliant turqs and the high body red turqs along with the shootign star leopards look really really nice too! This hobby is an addiction... ahaha.


Canadian_Aqua_Farm said:


> I think I know which ones are your favorites


----------



## Canadian_Aqua_Farm (Apr 21, 2010)

jiayaw said:


> Haha! Yes! Also with the recent update from your site, the brilliant turqs and the high body red turqs along with the shootign star leopards look really really nice too! This hobby is an addiction... ahaha.


Those are all good picks too. I especially like the high body shape of the red turqs. Discus sure can be addicting


----------



## jiayaw (Jun 10, 2011)

*Update*

So since I last update, one of my forrest blue jumped out of my tank while I was placing filter back into tank, one of my alenquer spooked and bashed itself into glass wall ... and the blue and the alenquer sulked for a week and didn't eat much (a lot of the other discus from same batch grew noticeably more than these two guys). Then more recently my other alenquer burned itself after wedging itself between the heater and the aquarium, the burn marks on the body are gone but fins are still recovering. All three are recovering well, and also since Jan 5th, I got my hands on two more discus from Ricks, and these are the Hi body red turks. I couldn't get a good pic of the alenquers nor the pigeon bloods today, but got some pics of my new additions and also pic of the blues... enjoy...


















































In this pic you see the jumper on top, he is a lot smaller than the Forrest blue on the bottom, due to that ONE WEEK of not really feeding








and a pic of everyone in the 33 gal grow out


----------



## April (Apr 21, 2010)

If they did that then 
Ore than like your
Ph dropped
Suddenly. Use a buffer to keep the ph even.

---
I am here: http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=49.274952,-122.835449


----------



## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

Use a Hydor inline heater, and you won't get heater burns on your fish anymore. I've switched to them in my tanks and couldn't be happier, unless the tanks are too big or too small (20 gallon not worth it and on 125 I would need 2)


----------



## April (Apr 21, 2010)

Well they only wedge behind if they are already not happy and weak. Small ones..it's the old thing which came first..the chicken or the egg. 
Good he cured .your fish are looking nice ! Keep going..gets easier as they grow.

---
I am here: http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=49.235415,-123.185147


----------



## jiayaw (Jun 10, 2011)

Thanks April, 
I'll keep that in mind. But it just seemed like the little ones were just skittish when I put my hands in the tank. Because the spooking all occured after a water change as I was putting my hands in to put the filter back on.

But I will definitely check the pH and see if there was a crash if this happens again, but thank god they seem to have settle down a bit more now!


April said:


> If they did that then
> Ore than like your
> Ph dropped
> Suddenly. Use a buffer to keep the ph even.
> ...


----------



## jiayaw (Jun 10, 2011)

more pics
Alenquer








Pigeon Blood
















Blue Giant









Enjoy =)


----------



## discuspaul (Jul 2, 2010)

Your discus are looking spectacular, and your photography skills are just as good !


----------



## jobber (May 14, 2010)

I was going to comment on the great photography skills. iPhone camera?
Nice fish. Also in admiration of discus keepers on this forum. Just pure dedication.


----------



## jiayaw (Jun 10, 2011)

Thanks for the kind comment, and for these pics, I use a DSLR and have a flash that shoots down from the top of the tank. Been trying out a new way of taking pics of the fish, before I would just use available aquarium light and high ISO from the camera.


jobber604 said:


> I was going to comment on the great photography skills. iPhone camera?
> Nice fish. Also in admiration of discus keepers on this forum. Just pure dedication.


----------



## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

jiayaw said:


> Thanks for the kind comment, and for these pics, I use a DSLR and have a flash that shoots down from the top of the tank. Been trying out a new way of taking pics of the fish, before I would just use available aquarium light and high ISO from the camera.


Very nice. I keep meaning to get a remote flash setup (need an SB700) but just haven't been able to justify it in my mind.


----------



## crazy72 (Apr 22, 2010)

Beautiful fish and beautiful pics. Great job.


----------



## jiayaw (Jun 10, 2011)

*more pics*

Just took some more pics today, and this time I managed to take a good pic of the alenquer that got the heater burn... recovering really quickly with the help of large daily water changes =D








a nice pic of the better looking of the two white pigeons I got








and some pics of the not so camera shy (or at least always hungry) forrest blue giants!

















And for other people wondering about how I took these pics, since yesterday, I've been experimenting with taking pics with flash on the top of my tank and controlling the Olympus FL50R flash wirelessly with my Olympus E3. To Diffuse the light a bit more, I used a light diffuser on the flash.

Enjoy!


----------



## gklaw (May 31, 2010)

Heater protector is cheap  Protect the expensive heater and the expensive fish.

Very nice looking discus from Rick and awesome picture.

Fatten those babies up


----------



## jiayaw (Jun 10, 2011)

*More pics*

More pics... only managed to get some decent pics of one of my alenquer, pigeon blood and one of my red turks...


----------

