Lowering my GH for Discus Breeding ?

[tonitetra]

Sorry you missed what I was talking about, when I say peat I mean the brown stuff like dirt. Not peat moss.

Yeah that is what i meant too. Its like brown dirt. I didnt mean to call it peat moss lol

 

[Retired Viking]

I buy my RO from a water dealer for 29 cents a gallon. The RO is around 3ppm and mix it with my treated tap water. My PH has not really moved at around 7.8 but my hardness went from 134ppm to 44ppm.

 

[tonitetra]

I buy my RO from a water dealer for 29 cents a gallon. The RO is around 3ppm and mix it with my treated tap water. My PH has not really moved at around 7.8 but my hardness went from 134ppm to 44ppm.

I didnt even know there were water dealers. I knew you could buy like a gallon from petco but i did not know there were water dealers.

 

[Retired Viking]

My local water dealer is Calligan, they sell RO and water softeners and have a RO fill station where you can fill your own containers or buy their 5 gallon water jugs.

 

[Colin_T]

They are not wild caught discus. I mean they are laying eggs they just wont stop eating them. I also do not know if they are even fertilizing them. its their first time so i dont know if they dont know what they are doing or the eggs are not hatching because of my water levels. I feel like i have to have the birds and the bees talk with them lmao

That is standard behaviour for discus and angelfish that were reared by people and not by their parents.

In Asia the breeders remove the eggs as soon as they are laid. The eggs get put in a separate tank and the parents are encouraged to lay again, which they usually do because they don't have any eggs to look after. The eggs are hatched artificially and the fry are reared up without their parents being present.

When these fry mature and breed, they have no idea about parental brood care and usually eat their eggs a few times. Eventually most pairs stop eating their eggs but eat the babies as soon as they hatch and start wriggling. After eating a few batches of fry, they usually stop eating them and start to care for them.

Some pairs don't get it at all and just keep eating their eggs or fry. If a pair continues to do this for more than 6 batches, separate them and try them with new partners.

Having some dither fish in the breeding tank can help because the parents chase the dither fish away from the nest and spend more time thinking defence, rather than eat.

You should also feed the breeding adults 3-5 times a day and give them as much food as they can eat. Fish with full fat stomachs think less about eating eggs.

 

[tonitetra]

That is standard behaviour for discus and angelfish that were reared by people and not by their parents.

In Asia the breeders remove the eggs as soon as they are laid. The eggs get put in a separate tank and the parents are encouraged to lay again, which they usually do because they don't have any eggs to look after. The eggs are hatched artificially and the fry are reared up without their parents being present.

When these fry mature and breed, they have no idea about parental brood care and usually eat their eggs a few times. Eventually most pairs stop eating their eggs but eat the babies as soon as they hatch and start wriggling. After eating a few batches of fry, they usually stop eating them and start to care for them.

Some pairs don't get it at all and just keep eating their eggs or fry. If a pair continues to do this for more than 6 batches, separate them and try them with new partners.

Having some dither fish in the breeding tank can help because the parents chase the dither fish away from the nest and spend more time thinking defence, rather than eat.

You should also feed the breeding adults 3-5 times a day and give them as much food as they can eat. Fish with full fat stomachs think less about eating eggs.

Trust me I feed these fish to damn much. I have a variety of food too. They get anything from blood works to beef hearts to some flakes and some pellets.

the only thing is gonna I was on another thread that the need to be dewormed. I have a black ghost knife fish in the tank and I know what you are about to say, “they need a bigger tank”. I know they do I have plans to upgrade in December. I do have the deworming stuff, I think the name is like kuros or something like that. I was wondering if I could be that in the tank even though the BGK is scale less ?

 

[Essjay]

Kusuri wormer plus? That contains flubendazole, but I don't know if that's safe for black ghost knife fish.

 

[tonitetra]

Kusuri wormer plus? That contains flubendazole, but I don't know if that's safe for black ghost knife fish.

Yeah I know I have been looking all over the internet for it. Is is mandatory that I use the dewormer ? And how often should I use it ?

 

[Essjay]

Discus breeders seem to say that it should be used every month but I have no idea if that's necessary in ordinary tanks with discus

 

[tonitetra]

Yeah I read that too. Maybe ill try a super low dose and see if anything happens.

 

[tonitetra]

I have a 50 gallon tank with 4 discus in the tank. My levels are almost perfect. I have no ammonia or nitrite, low levels of nitrate (b/c there are plants in the tank), 0 KH, and 6.8 ph. However, my general hardness is super high. I have tried everything. I have peat moss media in my filter, and moss balls all over my tank. I treat my water for water changes with seachem prime. I live on long island so the water in my tap is medium hard, I haven't tested it but online it says anywhere between 17-50ppm for total hardness. I know that i should get a RO system, but they are super expensive and i would need one that connects to the faucet. If anyone have any suggest for a RO system like that please let me know. Anyway, the real reason i want my GH to be lower is because my discus are breeding. It is there first time breeding, and they have been laying eggs for about 3 months but every time they lay eggs they eat them 3 days later. It could be because they are new to breeding, but i read somewhere that they need really low GH to hatch. I am really looking for some ideas on how to lower my GH! Please let me know what you guys do. Thanks

It’s funny because I came home today and look what I saw

 

[Fishgirl40]

What about the product made by API? It's a substance you put in your filter and helps to lower the GH overtime.

 

[Colin_T]

Fish should only need to be dewormed when you first get them and that should be it. Once they are in a clean tank and free of intestinal worms, the only way they can catch worms again is if you feed them contaminated food like daphnia, shrimp or other organisms from a pond that has water birds. If you use commercially prepared foods and frozen foods, there is virtually no chance of them becoming reinfected.

When you deworm fish, you treat them once a week for 4 weeks.
Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate 24-48 hours after treatment. Clean the filter too.

After 4 doses (at weekly intervals), the fish should be free of intestinal worms and that is it.

Make sure you treat all of your tanks at the same time to prevent cross contamination. And treat any new fish while they are in quarantine for 4 weeks before adding those fish to your main display tank/s.

-------------------
Praziquantel and Levamisole are both safe for scaleless fishes. I have never used flubendazole but it should be safe too. Deworming medications are generally very safe for whatever bird, fish or animal they are designed for.

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Try to avoid feeding fish with mammal or bird meat. It is harder for them to digest. Use marine based meats like prawn/ shrimp, squid and fish.

 

[itiwhetu]

Fish should only need to be dewormed when you first get them and that should be it. Once they are in a clean tank and free of intestinal worms, the only way they can catch worms again is if you feed them contaminated food like daphnia, shrimp or other organisms from a pond that has water birds. If you use commercially prepared foods and frozen foods, there is virtually no chance of them becoming reinfected.

When you deworm fish, you treat them once a week for 4 weeks.
Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate 24-48 hours after treatment. Clean the filter too.

After 4 doses (at weekly intervals), the fish should be free of intestinal worms and that is it.

Make sure you treat all of your tanks at the same time to prevent cross contamination. And treat any new fish while they are in quarantine for 4 weeks before adding those fish to your main display tank/s.

-------------------
Praziquantel and Levamisole are both safe for scaleless fishes. I have never used flubendazole but it should be safe too. Deworming medications are generally very safe for whatever bird, fish or animal they are designed for.

-------------------
Try to avoid feeding fish with mammal or bird meat. It is harder for them to digest. Use marine based meats like prawn/ shrimp, squid and fish.

Is the salt content in marine based meat safe for fresh water fish?. I have always fed discus blood worms or Tubifex

 

[Essjay]

What about the product made by API? It's a substance you put in your filter and helps to lower the GH overtime.

Do you mean the water softener pillow? I wouldn't use that. It is recharged with salt, so it replaces the hardness minerals with sodium which is not good for freshwater fish.