Discus in Planted tanks

I kept and bred them in this tank:

Many discus folks and a few plant folks seem to think they are incompatible.
They are very mistaken. Perhaps they failed themselves due to a lack of understanding and execution? That's what I've seen, but I've had no issues issues keeping either together for a decade or more now.

Have been listening to Discus zealots again? haha

If the goal is max sizes, max brood from breeding, where fish are the absolute primary focus, then bare tanks are good.

If the goal is having nice looking tanks with plants, nice healthy fish, then planted tanks are great.

Fish may be grown out in bare tanks and then transferred or you may raise them up in planted tanks with a little less feeding etc. Depends if you want the largest most massive fish. That's not my personal goal with any fish though.

I want them healthy, happy, and in a nice home they can live in for many years. Not 4 ugly glass walls. Same for any fish. I raise fish in nice somewhat natural environments, not cattle on a farm. But there are fish farmers trying to get the most production and size/growth out of their livestock so they give their advice, but you need to keep in mind what is your goal.

When folks say Discus and plants are not compatible?
You know they are off their rockers!

I hear this all the time on the web which is why I'm dicussing this in such terms, it's not a personal thing here directed towards you.

Discus are pretty hardy critters truth be told.
So are plants.

Most every plants can be kept at 82-84F which is about where I keep most of the SA tanks I keep and tend to.
Soft water is fine also for plants.
High light is fine, fish will hide in the plants if they are tired of it or swim under a root etc.
CO2 is fine if you also make sure the O2 is also good(they turn black/darker if the O2 drops).
Adding KNO3 is not the same as Fish waste from fish food etc, which starts out as NH4 and drains O2 levels or is used by plants directly which also adds O2 through photosynthesis.
There are other misconceptions and no Discus person to date has provided good evidence to counter the arguments I've made in the past.
I have been able to falsify each one of their claims. Thus such hypothesis must be rejected and a new alternative one is made.

Regards,
Tom Barr

 

Have some rocks, driftwood etc, they can feed from those.

Regards,
Tom Barr

 

Quite a number of folks have breed them at 82F, clearly not too wimpy if they are breeding at such temps.

I think scare methods are applied by many breeders.

Regards,
Tom Barr

 

Here's a simple routine that works well, feed BH about a few hours of that night befor eht enext day's water change.

You can feed lots of BH each day, but you also need to do large water changes, just like many breeders do in their bare bottom tanks!!!
Many do daily water changes.

Plant tanks do very well with daily water changes BTW and adding ferts back maintains very stable conditions.

Lots of work though.

Some folks do 2x a week water changes with Discus and plants.
This workls very well also with heavy feeding routines.

Point is, you can do heavy feeding in planted tanks, but you also need to do the heavy water changes in conjunction.

I suggest live brine, good flake/prepared foods, BH, Blood worms, Glass worms, Mysis shrimp, live earthworms etc etc.

Regards,
Tom Barr

 

TRather than putting up barriers to things such as water changes, feeding etc, try figuring out a simpler way to avoid work and laborious issues.

Then focus on the parts of the hobby you really enjoy.

Regards,
Tom Barr

 

BH can be fed with a white sand foreground or a cup like rock formation that should be ntural and part of the scape.

Worm feeders are bad for BH.
You also do not need to feed them a lot of BH, just mix it in every so often, fed them a little BH first, then later, feed them more.

Also, I think more current is better than less, exercise seems to help all fish eat better and humans too for that matter.



Regards,
Tom Barr

 

Like growing kids, if they are not fed good nutrition as they develop, they will not gain the same size, height etc.

When they are adults, and then get all the nuitrition, then it no longer matters. You can fed them whatever, they will grow taller.

Take a kid from a 3rd world country that grew up very poor and not well fed.
They tend to be much shorter than the their 1st generation kids in the USA, nearly 10-12" shorter.
Same genes, just poorer development.

Same with plants, same with fish, same with the development of most things.

They have critical peroids when they need good nutrients and lots of it. After, it's less of an issue.

Regards,
Tom Barr

 

Smaller than the giants I've seen in the breeder's tanks.
Just like one would predict........

Are agricultural plants larger and domesticated farm animals larger and grow faster than wild types for the trait we desire?

Of course.

Otherwise we'd use the wild type

I hope folks make this distinction, horticulture and aquaculture are not "natural", nor is agriculture. We alter things dramatically and have enormous control to optimize conditions.

Same deal with Reefs and other systems, I'm not sure why so many assume that the natural parameters and sizes etc are the best or optimal. They just are whatever critters/plants are able to survive at this point in time under those conditions.

Natural does not imply optimal.
Many miss that concept.


Regards,
Tom Barr